The more you dig or the less you dig, what is better at the beach?

There will always be two camps in beach hunting, the people who tell you to dig it all and the people who skip the obvious trash targets.

You can count me in with the last group, because I believe in using a little discrimination at the beach.

I used to be embarrassed about being spot on with target IDs using metal detectors without screens. 

Knowing a bottle cap, pull tab, bobby pin or crusty penny just by the sound of it.

Heck I can even tell the shape of things before I dig them up, the roundness of a ring, the fluttery double bump sound of a pull tab as my search coil passed over it  and the spongy sound of a crimped bottle cap. 

All easy to identify targets buried in the sand, to a person who has dug thousands of them using good metal detectors for years.

Time is money if your a tourist type beach hunter, and longer you have been metal detecting the less trash you have to dig.

Although many old timers are still adamant that you have to dig everything just in case you miss one good target,  but not this old timer !

I play the percentages, always trying to put myself closer to valuable targets instead of wasting time digging obvious junk targets at the beach. 

Searching inland or shipwreck beaches that's another story, but that's also another hunting strategy that is dependent on what you are searching for.

I believe the less junk you dig the more good finds you recover at tourist type beaches when searching for jewelry or even clad coins if that is your cup of tea.

Heck I even have the modern US coins down pat, and I don't need numbers on a screen to tell me when my search coil has passed over a penny or a quarter.

Would you believe, I know the difference between a nickel and a gold ring, although on deep nickels I don't take a chance.

I check out my target depth reading more than any other read out when using a metal detector with a display screen.

In my opinion, the fear of missing out on one good target holds many people back from maximizing their beach hunting time.

I hope readers of todays blog who search tourist type beaches, will stop worrying about what they may be missing and instead concentrate on what they may be finding.

Put your big boy pants on, listen to your detector and trust in your own detecting skills.

There is a time and a place to dig it all, but not all the time at every place.

Unless your searching ahead of me on a tourist beach, then please dig it all even when you know it is probably junk.

One of the great mysteries in metal detecting, people digging targets they know are junk at tourist beaches, instead of trusting their ears.
This time last year I was pulling a 2.5 ounce chunk of gold charm bracelet out of the water close to shore, on a two hour water hunt. 

Last february I bided my water hunting time ignoring obvious clad coin and bottle caps, until I heard the thing I really went searching for. 
Dig it all or dig less junk, nows thats a nice option to have without pressing a button or turning a knob on your metal detector.