I know many of you did not have a good year detecting so please excuse me if I seem to be gloating about mine. I had my 2nd best year since 2018 in gold finds and by far my best hunt to gold ratio in all my years detecting. Even with vastly reduced crowds when the beaches reopened. My goal for 2020 was 2 gold finds a month for a total of 24 for the year. I found 19 golds but that includes the few months of closed beaches and my 3+ week bout with Covid. I had only 42 hunts for the entire year. To put it in perspective, last year I had 68 hunts and managed 11 golds (2018 had a better ratio though). I also had 23 silvers, 7 Ray-Bans, 3 iPhones (1 returned the other 2 sold on Ebay to overseas buyers), and a very nice solar Casio G-Shock. A very good year for me!
I have given some thought to why 2020 was a successful detecting year for me when it really shouldn’t have. First, I gave a lot more patience to working an area that showed any kind of erosion. Not my normal hunting style but it paid off it seems. I will be continuing to force myself to slow down more. Second, I selected beaches and hunts by the weather and surf conditions that were presented to me. If I knew a beach was going to be unworkable then I selected one that I could. And when most hunters stayed home because it would be rough – I knew the wet sand might produce like it did on my last hunt. Third, I saw many less hunters out there last year which I am sure relates to the pandemic. (But there were also many less depositors). The forth, and last part of my theory has to do with digging the iffy and weak signals. I did a lot more of that this year and I know it paid off in a few of the finds. My detecting goals for 2021 are the same - 24 golds for the year – 2 a month - and to get out there as much as I can!
I have given some thought to why 2020 was a successful detecting year for me when it really shouldn’t have. First, I gave a lot more patience to working an area that showed any kind of erosion. Not my normal hunting style but it paid off it seems. I will be continuing to force myself to slow down more. Second, I selected beaches and hunts by the weather and surf conditions that were presented to me. If I knew a beach was going to be unworkable then I selected one that I could. And when most hunters stayed home because it would be rough – I knew the wet sand might produce like it did on my last hunt. Third, I saw many less hunters out there last year which I am sure relates to the pandemic. (But there were also many less depositors). The forth, and last part of my theory has to do with digging the iffy and weak signals. I did a lot more of that this year and I know it paid off in a few of the finds. My detecting goals for 2021 are the same - 24 golds for the year – 2 a month - and to get out there as much as I can!
