Digging a plug

[CoilyGirl]

Here's a great little video from a wonderful site. Sometimes I need to be reminded of how to treat special areas I get permission to hunt so I won't get the stink eye and the bad rep from property owners. It's easy to get lazy digging our plugs and go all honey badger.

How To Dig A Plug - Detecting Tips - Detecting365

 

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[Muddyhandz]

Yeah, this video is needed real bad these days. Thanks!
I've seen countless you-tube videos of hunters digging massive plugs in parks for a stupid surface penny.
I understand newbies have to make a plug for a surface find because they're still learning but seasoned hunters?
When in a park or manicured grounds, I've extracted thousands of targets all by using a screwdriver to probe.
TAP, TAP......POP!
If the target is down 4+ inches then I make a slit in the grass and pull back both sides carefully.
I pry out the soil from the sidewalls in order to make the hole wider and not scratch the target that rests in the middle.
After the target is out, the soil goes back in and I make sure it ALL gets pushed back in. Stomp it down and on to the next target.
With making a slit in the grass, there's no plug to worry about.
Of course, I use an OLD metal detector that can pinpoint the eye of a needle and realize a lot of newer detectors can't be used without a handheld pinpointer.
It would be nice to see more people probing surface finds these days!
Cheers,
Dave.

 

[releventchair]

When former recovery areas can be checked in a day or two or even later effect can be reviewed. I have seen where squirrels and skunks have lifted them. One park I dig has equipment to mow with strong vacuum that will pull small plugs. Flap style plugs fracture in it so I cut mule foot sized plugs for deep recoveries and stomp them down.
In summer the grass will wilt but the high clay content allows recovery, if clay is crumbly only lower areas recover quickly. Did cut a two inch notch out of the side of a Frisbee in place of a towel and added a loop of para cord to hang it from but usually just put soil near hole and in raking crumbs back over plug area with gloved hand after securing it, also rake twigs and debris just enough to match surrounding surface to blend plug to match.

 

[cudamark]

That site doesn't come up right now for some reason.....

 

[rainyday101]

Like releventchair said, I always blend my plugs by ruffing up the grass with my fingers. I always put the removed dirt on a drop cloth also, so that there is no trace that I was there.

 

[Normsel]

I pretty much do exactly as the video shows. The same goes for surface coins. I have went back to several parks I hunted last year and I cannot find a trace of me being there and one park I found over $40 in clad.

For the most part no matter which is a person's preferred way of digging a plug as long as we try not to leave a trace of us being there is what we all try to do

 

[texasred777]

I'm just getting back into MDing. I did a lot of it in the early 80s. I am practicing in the yard here at the house on digging target; and trying to clean the yard. I used to take an icepick, a tablespoon bent like a scoop/ladle, and a paper plate to dig my targets. I would take the icepick and gently poke around until I felt the target. If it was shallow, I would try to pop it out. If it was deeper, or if I couldn't find it because it was deeper than the 5" blade of the icepick, I would push the pick into the ground over the target, then move the pick back and forth, cutting a slot about 2 inches long. I would then, kinda like Muddyhandz stated, pull the grass back on both sides of the slit. Then I would take the spoon and dip the soil from the hole onto the paper plate until I found my target. Then all I had to do was pour the dirt out of the paper plate into the hole, tamp it down, and work the grass back together. I worked a school yard for several weeks back in '81, when I had the time, and very seldom saw signs of where I had dug earlier. In my back yard, I have found several places that I have dug and covered open the next day. I don't know if it's the squirrels or some other animal digging the dirt out of the hole. I hope it doesn't happen when I start going to the local parks and schools! As for the icepick, I haven't found any of the older style with the long, square wooden handles. I'm looking for an old fishing rod to convert into a probe. The fiberglass won't scratch the coins like the steel blade of the icepick. I believe I can take a handle for a file and use it for the handle of the fiberglass probe.