That time a detectorist told me to slow down, rusty cents taught me why

I used to dig every signal within seconds and move on, came home with 40 coins a day but most were crusty modern memorials. A guy at a park hunt in Akron watched me for ten minutes and said, 'you're robbing your own ears, spend 30 seconds over each target before you dig.' I laughed it off at first, but then I tried his way on a 1908 Indian Head penny hiding next to a nail. The extra time let me pinpoint the exact spot, so I didn't clip the edge with my digger, which ruins the date on older copper. Now I only pull maybe 12 targets a trip, but the keeper rate tripled and my fingers don't ache from digging junk all day. Anyone else find that slowing down actually nets better coins, or is that just luck for some sites?

2 comments

2 Comments

james6611mo ago

That digging wide is a familiar story, man. I've had plenty of days where I left a hole the size of a dinner plate for a corroded zinc cent, and it makes you wonder why you even bothered. The slow approach is the only way I keep my sanity now, especially on old sites where one bad swing can scar a nice coin forever.

kai_west1mo ago

Yeah, I once dug a hole so wide trying to hit a pull tab that the park guy thought I was planting a tree.