I would run around the area looking for areas with a decent amount of targets and just target smaller areas when you find one, move the coil slow and see what comes up.
Often at a new site especially I will just walk all over using the hit and miss method but eventually I will change and get a bit more scientific.
There are a few reasons I never believe no site is ever 100% hunted out...ever.
One reason is physics and how our detectors, coils and scanning fields actually behave.
Many use DD coils nowadays with a much wider scanning field at the deeper levels but you can still miss targets especially if you don't overlap close enough.
Using concentrics with that famous talked about ice cream cone scanning field shape do you realize that the actual end of that field at its deepest point might be no larger than the size of a quarter?
There is a reason that most talk about extremely close overlapping using these coils especially on the deeper targets.
I have read several posts over the years from some very skilled and successful hunters and when talking about these subjects and this may surprise you.
Let's say you have a small area, 10'X10' and you want to hunt this area in the most efficient way possible to find the most targets.
Obviously hitting it from several different directions is recommended, not all targets will behave the same from every direction, but how much time should actually be spent covering this small area using common sense?
20 minutes, 30...an hour?
The answer is actually several hours using a concentric coil, still close to that using DD's in my opinion.
Here is some shocking information about sites and search patterns...eye opening facts and numbers about hunting sites I assume using concentrics but I still have found using small sniper DD's works the same.
This was an article on another site from a well respected, supportive, helpful and revered hunter named Bill Revis who has since passed away.
Once I read this I totally changed my understanding and attitude about hunting every site, slowed way down and went on to find a startlingly amount of targets even in sites I had been warned off of by other hunters that were positive got it all...there was absolutely nothing left good to find.
They were all wrong.
Here is his post which I copied and will paste here.
Numbers and logic rule my life and especially in this hobby.
The more you understand the numbers in this hobby, and I mean really understand them, the more successful you will be.
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How many times have you heard, " This place is all hunted out" or " This park has been hammered by every detectorist in town and there are no coins left." And perhaps you have arrived at this conclusion regarding sites you hunt.
Perhaps you have read field tests in the treasure magazines where the author took a new machine to a supposedly hunted out area and amazingly found coins, or a new, improved detector hits the market and the owners claim to find coins in heretofore hunted out sites that other machines couldn't find, and you say, " Sure, in a pig's eye."
Well I say "baloney" to all this and in this column and next month's column I'll attempt to show you why no site is ever totally hunted out, that is unless you remove every square inch of top soil down to a given depth and sift every grain of it. I'll also show you how to better your odds hunting in those alleged hunted out sites.
The one failing grace of every coinshooter is the inability to comprehend the sheer logistics of coinshooting, and understanding these logistics will determine whether you go home with a full pouch - or go home skunked.
The average coin or ring will fit into a none inch by one inch space. If you are hunting a patch of only 20'X 20' this equates to 57,600 square inches or that many potential targets.
Let's say your machine is equipped with an eight-inch coil and you make a four foot pass with each scan. Even if you overlap each pass you will more than likely miss a minimum one-inch strip each scan ( 48 square inches or targets.) Say it takes fifty passes to cover the twenty feet, then you make four more passes up and down to cover the 20'x 20'area, for a total of five passes. Each pass you sacrifice 48 square inches, times 50 passes = 2400 square inches. Five trips up and down the site times 2400 = 12,000 square inches or 12,000 possible targets you missed scanning this site. If only one percent of those 12,000 square inches actually contained a target, you left 120 targets behind. Multiply that by every 20'x 20' patch contained within the area you are hunting ( such as a park ) and you begin to get the picture. Scary ain't it? And you thought you were doing so good.
It gets even scarier when you consider how much you are missing at peak of depth for your particular detector but we will talk about that next month. This month I'll try to help you reduce that number of possible targets you are missing.
A few years back I hunted a fair sized knoll in front of a high school auditorium. The first time I hunted as most detectorists do and pulled out over $7.00 in coins. Then practicing what I preach I crisscrossed the site north to south, east to west - then diagonally two ways and pulled out another $4.85, and I still left coins that I recovered on future trips. The crisscross/diagonal method will recover the most coins over a given area - but will still not get them all. These methods take time and patience but are rewarding and your chances of recovering old coins improve greatly.
In large areas ( such as parks ) I use a random search method to locate spill patterns or coin groupings. I wander around until I find 1-3 coins in one area, then I work a circle out from that spot. If more coins appear then I go to the crisscross/diagonal scenario. Swinging your coil in a straight path in front of you ( instead of an arc ) or in a figure eight will offer more coverage per scan.
When doing a random search I employ a wide, 180 degree coil swing to cover the most ground in the shortest amount of time. There are pros and cons on scanning methods but this works best for me in a random search. This also works well when paralleling your last search path as you will swing back into the edge of that path and often hit coins you missed before. You won't cover every inch of terrain with this method, but it will enable you to locate coin groupings in large areas much faster.
Deviating a bit - a couple of areas I pay close attention to are the edges of sidewalks, curbs, basketball courts, etc., especially where the grass grows out over either. It will surprise you how many coins are laying on the hard surface under the grass. Anywhere grass meets a hard surface is a potential spot for coins. Elevated curbs or retaining walls are excellent spots as people sit on these and lose coins in the grass behind them.
IF you have the time and patience and don't mind the extra effort, the methods I have described can be rewarding. I'mm sure you will be happier with your increased finds once you try them.
Good hunting
