Site percentages

Percentages is not a word you would normally associate with beach hunting, but at heavily beaches it is good to take site percentages into account.
I always think about percentages before leaving the house, the percentages of finding something of value at the site I am heading towards with my metal detector.
I always like to stack the odds of success in my favor by taking several things into account.
At heavily hunted tourist type beaches, you may see several people searching a site or sites on a regular basis, taking the term local beach hunter to new heights. 
If three or more people are searching the same area of the beach every day, it stands to good reason your percentages of finding something good are greatly effected by joining the crowd and searching the same site.
You could say in the previous scenario you have a 25% chance of finding something in the same area, perhaps less chance of recovering something of value.
If you choose wisely to search a different area the three regular hunters ignore, your chances of success shoot up to 100% if there is anything to the be found in the area you chose to search. 
If you have a hunting partner, you get to find approximately 50% of what ever there is in the area to find. 
Assuming there are no other people searching the site at that time and you are as skilled as your hunting partner.
Your chances of a successful hunt drop even more if you have more than one hunting partner. 
Use a non waterproof metal detector or wear the wrong clothing at the beach and you cannot search inside the water effectively.
Limiting your chances of recovering all possible finds in the water if it is the place to be, unless you take off your sneakers or flip flops and cover your metal detector control box in a plastic bag.
Crowded beaches do not always guarantee you will find something, especially if you are ignoring large areas of the beach that people use.
Think of the percentages the next time you go beach hunting, are you limiting your chances of success?
The answer is probably yes if you race to beat the competition to the same site at the beach every time you go metal detecting, the fact you are joining the competition lowers your percentages of a successful beach or water hunt.
If you only water hunt or only search in the wet sand or only search in the dry sand, you lower your percentages of having a successful hunt.
I played the percentages on my last two beach hunts and recovered eight pieces of gold jewelry, on a two hour water hunt and a two hour wet sand hunt.
On the water hunt I recovered two gold chains and a gold ring, searching a local beach inside the water opposite an old beach entrance I discovered a few years ago. 
On a wet sand hunt at a different beach, I recovered five gold rings taking advantage of an area I know is a popular local water hunting site. 
I know the wet sand is ignored by the water hunters who say "All the gold or 95% of the gold is in the water" yeh right! 
After scouting out the area and seeing good wet sand hunting signs, I figured the percentages of being successful were good on the next low tide. 
Eight pieces of gold jewelry in four total beach and water hunting hours, I like those percentages. 
Put the percentages on your beach or water hunting side, by hunting smarter not harder.