Part of this post wont apply to anyone on T-Net.

[WHADIFIND]

Part of this post won't apply to anyone on T-Net.

At least, I would hope that nobody on T-Net would leave a mess like what I ran into today.
I tried a new park today. (new to me) It was a pretty obvious place to hunt so I figured I wasn't alone in seeing this one.

I was right. I'll get to that in a moment.

Here's the overall:






Whole um, uh, "Canadian" toast? Not really toasted much but not my usual whole wheat either. LOL



Ya know, they sure don't make bobby pins like they used to, as far as I can recall.
Poor Blingie! He's not talking to me right now. Keep finding these things for hair. LOL


Ok, now the rest of this post is directed at any newbies out there AND to the one who leaves messes like this!

I was happily exploring this "new" park, (again, to me), when I got into a section where someone had OBVIOUSLY dug before. Now,
that others have been digging here isn't a surprise nor a concern to me. As you can see, I ALWAYS find something, anyway!

But this inconsiderate boob, left their calling card so blatantly. It REALLY made me sad!

I know that some can't bend over past their own gut anymore and so they get these long handled, steam shovels so they can cut a plug while they stand up. (BUT! THEN!! They BEND OVER anyway!! To get the target!!! ) But that isn't the worst of it, they
cut a plug soooo friggin' HUGE you could drive a car thru! I swear! If I could get to any board who controls whether or not digging is allowed in their park, I would push as hard as I could to LIMIT the size of the digger! AND, no long handled shovels! (ok...that part of my rant over)

These holes were so huge that at first I didn't even recognize them as detecting plugs! I swear, I could look across the field and see where all of the holes were! Even though they did a half *ss job of putting the plugs back in their caverns!

I mean! COME ON!!! If this was my park "I" would have complained!!!

Even if you're coming thru on a last try at a place. Where you don't figure to ever come back again so you throw caution to the winds. If you're doing this to parks, STOP!! Get your lazy *ss down to some pin pointing and digging class somewhere! I fervently hope that whomever is doing something like this doesn't happen to be in a park where I am, I doubt I'd be able to control myself!

I also hope that it isn't anyone on T-Net!

Newbies? You do NOT have to dig a manhole sized plug on each possible target! LEARN how to pinpoint! THEN dig the smallest plug you can!

So, what brought all that on?

This:




AND, this was a SMALL one!!!

To prove another point to whomever, I re-hunted this person's path, (fixing what I could as I went along).

Here's my plug.



Now, I was trying to prove a point and to that end I was hunting as hard as I could! Meaning that I was bringing forth all my expertise and experience to prove that what they did was not only unnecessary but also not even good technique.

This is what I rest my case on.




See the little glimmer?



I did have help. I asked the Lord to help me prove my point.


Before:


After:



My find? Just to the left of the knife. This person's mess? To the right.

That's correct! RIGHT NEXT TO THEIR PLUG!



So, folks, PLEASE do your digging as you would want someone to dig in your own front lawn.
These huge divots are not only ugly they are dangerous! Kids run and play in parks and the way this plug was up and not level with the rest of the field would easily trip up a fullback!

AT THE VERY LEAST! REPAIR YOUR DAMAGE!!!

I did try to clean up as I went but I couldn't get to all of them.

This one looks a "little" better now, but man!!



My hole is just to the left, I tried my best to repair their damage.

Let's keep the hobby's interest at heart out there folks!

 

[Ahab8]

That was a fantastic post! Well done and I hope lots of people read this and pay attention. Thank you for taking the time to convey that message and posting the pics to go along with it. My fear is that most of the ones who really need to see this post never will. I think for the most part the people that belong to this forum are respectful and truly care about the environment and the way we leave it. Once again thank you and very very well done on this post!

 

[Kodiak43351]

Well said.

 

[stillrollin300]

Give the guy a break he was probably using a 15 inch coil or larger.


On a serious note very well said. I think I speak for most up here when I say thanks for fixing someone else's mistakes to protect the reputation of our hobby.

 

[cti4sw]

I'm not justifying the damage they left, but it could have been some kid with a cheap detector and not a lot of use knowledge nor good mentoring. My Bounty Hunter wasn't too bad for pinpointing but it doesn't have the pinpoint feature that Garrett's detectors have so in the hands of someone much younger and more naive it would have been hit or miss. In the absence of experience we must forge our own through trial and error.

We all have a tendency to assume that every pothole left in a field was dug by some inconsiderate adult asshat with no regard or respect for his surroundings. That is not always the case...

 

[WHADIFIND]

Give the guy a break he was probably using a 15 inch coil or larger.

Oh, I'd like to, as many as I could.

Thanks!

 

[WHADIFIND]

I'm not justifying the damage they left, but it could have been some kid with a cheap detector and not a lot of use knowledge nor good mentoring. My Bounty Hunter wasn't too bad for pinpointing but it doesn't have the pinpoint feature that Garrett's detectors have so in the hands of someone much younger and more naive it would have been hit or miss. In the absence of experience we must forge our own through trial and error.

We all have a tendency to assume that every pothole left in a field was dug by some inconsiderate adult asshat with no regard or respect for his surroundings. That is not always the case...

Hence, my inclusion of the newbies. Let them read and learn.

This reasoning, that it "might" not have been an adult a**hole just doesn't wash. It was somebody who was very deliberate in their path.

But, even if it was a kid, can you just hear the argument in the Park Board Meeting?

Might have been a kid.

I don't care we can't have this! NO MORE METAL DETECTING AT ALL!
That should solve the issue.

 

[cti4sw]

Let's hope they found something worthwhile, Google it to ID, and come across TNet.

 

[cjon455]

very well put, and a nice find to boot! gotta love that it was right next to that crater lol

 

[Gunrunner61]

A fine post on a subject that needed that needed to be brought up..............All I can say is.....If the shoe fits wear it!!.........HH

 

[silversurfer1111]

sweet silver .... O yeah I LOVE my long handled, steam shovels from predator tools ..but I am a artist when cutting plugs ... I don't take it to parks that I don't know... or other public spots .I am 160 lb.... far from being a fat guy .. lol.. I get a lot of heat from ppl like you for using my digger...and I know what your thinking its a black eye to MD community ..BUT I am doing what works for me .I am not a dumba$$ .If I thought I was hurting the MD community I would stop . but I know when and were I can use it .. SO I DO AND WILL... LOL

 

[Nickleanddime]

I use a really crappy detector and when I started I cut plugs that big, but I always filed mine in and fluffed the grass back over. But I learned how to cut a plug and to probe first to see if its a shallow coin before I cut. I use a broken kitchen knife that works freaking great. I md on a budget lol. But they will learn, and the kids were just having fun. We all tore stuff up when we were kids. So cutem a little slack if you ever see them out. I try and help people if they look lost but the following guy is another story.

Now I ran into a problem like that about 2 months ago. After the pool closed a guy went out with a shovel and did the same thing. Funny thing is every, I mean every hole, I pulled something out of it. One hole had 2 bucks in quarters in it stacked nicely right on the edge of his hole, duh! And like I said every hole had something in it.
Saturday we went to the park to walk and there he was scanning the tree line. Right off the bat you could tell he was lazy or just wasnt into it. He's stand there and hold his coil still while staring at the ground. He'd over reach trying to get into the woods. And of coarse he had his 6ft shovel with him. We were there for about a hour and the guy never "swung" his coil more then a few times and the one hole he did dig he put his shovel in lifted the plug then put it back down. Lol I walked over and picked up a quarter out if it!! His shovel was covering it up i guess. I fixed it best I could but you can only do so much. But what can you do, I'm glad I live in a town that no one care about MDing.

Well good luck out there and hope ya find something good.

 

[wheatfinder13]

Don't you just love seein that silver rim sticking out?

 

[opee]

Well done! Protecting our right to dig in the parks. Cleaning up after someone else stinks but you were rewarded. That's cool.
Maybe tnet should make up cards. A must for all digger. I learn something new here all the time.

 

[poorman15]

Hey, most people metal detecting have some common sense. I enjoy having the freedom to hit private lands and public lands. Leaving large messes will do nothing but give all detectorist a bad name and close the public lands to detecting. Most of PA's parks only allow narrow diggers such as ice picks and screw drivers. Limiting detectorists to this requires they get their pinpointing correct and if not, they sure get a lot of practice trying. Thanks for reminding those that take public places for granted.

 

[fongu]

Love that Mercury dime. It's your reward for trying to fix another person's mess.
I started out in my own yard and learned at home before I got out in public. Learning to pin point and use a screwdriver to recover shallow targets I learned on another forum and no matter how much detecting you do, you can always learn if you want to learn. Some people don't know and some people don't care. Anybody I talk to about detecting, I offer to show them my recovery techniques and get them started on the right foot. I carry a short shovel in fields and places like that and use it to get up with more than digging. Most of my finds are not very deep and I use my garrett digger to cut a three sided plug with. Even in the woods, if I use my short shovel, I make a three sided hinge and you can't tell where I dig 99% of the time.
Education is the key.

 

[G.I.B.]

Sadly, the people that this applies to, will never read about it. If they do, they won't care.

These are the same people that we are keeping alive by making the hair dryer cord too short for them to dry their hair while in the bath tub. They are the same people that the warnings on everything apply to, and the safety caps are designed for.

Perhaps if we let the gene pool thin out a bit by making the cords longer, removing the safety caps, and letting them drink sulfuric acid, this problem would self correct.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

WHADIFIND, thanks for fixing the ground so we all don't pay the price for one idiot! From the size of the hole he must have been digging up one gallon paint cans, and missing the goodies! Good thing Blingie was home he would have taken a bite out of that guy! Maybe all digging tools need a self destruct mechanism if dug holes are too big! I like not leaving a trace of where I've dug, personal pride. Not sure how we can nip this problem before it bits all of us.

 

[WHADIFIND]

Let me try to clear a couple conceptions. First of all, I already know that my grasp on the written word is slipping. (I can tell by some of the responses I get from what I THOUGHT I said.

Now, I did say I would recommend that long handled shovels be banned in parks and such. Let them be for farm fields and the woods. But, I know that ANY tool can be used correctly and no impact would be felt. The trouble is with long handles is that it is all too easy to apply too much force. Since it is multiplied by the length and physics. Have you ever tried to get a beer bottle cap off the beer with a huge pipe wrench? I suspect it would work. Might be a little hard to keep from having to pick glass out of your beer though.

The issue though is not what you use but how. I have seen quite a few videos that show people cutting these manhole cover sized plugs. Most, (but not all), seem to just be in a hurry to get the target out of the ground and overkill is ok as long as it speeds up the process. I'm just saying that if you are in a hurry to go climb that tree, or kiss that coin, or jump up and down screaming like a chicken. Wait a bit, slow down, the tree will still be there.

People use what they find the best for themselves and I wouldn't try to change that, (except, maybe, in a public park). In nice settings like ballfields, parks, etc. I just don't see the need for the long handle. After all, once the plug is removed, don't they get down on their knees and look anyway?

If I've stepped on anyone's toes, (save the one idiot that this applies to), I apologize.

I'd like all of you young whippersnappers to keep one thing in mind though. Waaaaaaay back in that other century, when I started this hobby, (long about half a century now), I ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS worked on leaving ANY ground I've searched better than it was when I arrived.
I COULD have just dug blatant holes and left the trash and holes uncovered everywhere I went. What might that have meant? Nothing much, except that ALL of you may NEVER have had a chance to even know the pleasures of metal detecting. Unless you worked in the airport security and enjoyed seeing the x-ray pics.

All by my lonesome? Of course not! But, if enough people didn't care, back then, there might not have been a hobby today.

Those who need the learning know it, those who think they know it all and are just going to do what they want anyway. I just ask them to consider working on making those plugs smaller and more accurate. I try to keep any plug under the size of a small child's foot. And even if I do say so myself. I don't seem to do too badly. Judge by the finds I share.

Thanks!

 

[CoilyGirl]

Great post WhatdIFind.I have less of a problem with the big holes and more of a problem with the plug being completely removed and all the extra dirt left in the hole.That "lid"of dirt reminds me of the top of a chicken pot pie pastry
So the pie will vent.i do use a big shovel but mainly in fields or places that being meticulous is not necessary but I do try and respect peoples property and even carry grass seed after I pull a plug out.