Bad Holes Everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:rant:

[tabman]

This morning I went to a open field that's about 3 or 4 acres in size and found scores of badly dug and covered holes. The area used to be a ball field and the grass area is still well maintained by the city. It's part of the old fairgrounds. I parked right in the middle of it and got out and started detecting. The more bad holes that I saw the more worried that I got. What if some city employee or policeman came by and saw me out there detecting and thought it was me that did all that damage. It sure looked like vandalism. I decided the best thing that I could do is get in may car and get away from that place as fast as I can. I put the key in the ignition switch and it wouldn't turn. This ain't good at all! Well I figured that the key got wore out, so I pulled my spare key out of my billfold and stuck it in the ignition and it wouldn't work. Then I remembered that the key in my billfold only worked on the door locks. It was to be used in case I locked my keys in the car. When I went to remove the wrong key it wouldn't pull out. I said a few bad words. I got my pliers out of my emergency tool kit and finally got the key removed. I always have a back-up to a back-up, I got the extra ignition key from its hiding place in the car. Thankfully It worked.

Someone needs to say something to whoever is doing these bad holes. I know I will if I see them doing it.

tabman

 

[CZconnoisseur]

I was there last night for a while and saw some of this - but I know they are not mine nor my partner's...and I would doubt it's anyone in our "circle"...but someone is definitely being careless! All it takes is one bad apple

 

[JimmyCT]

You did the right thing by hightailing it out of there Tab. Wow that is some serious sloppy repair work. This is what pains me so much about this wonderful hobby. There are some complete morons that do not have a clue of the impact (or they plainly do not care) of the outcome it has for all of us. I had a similar situation happen to me but in my case a law enforcement officer pulled me off the fairground field. He stated he was just doing his job (responding the complaint) He even told me I was very careful about my holes and stated I did a very nice job BUT some moron ruined it for everyone. I'll stop here.

 

[tabman]

I was there last night for a while and saw some of this - but I know they are not mine nor my partner's...and I would doubt it's anyone in our "circle"...but someone is definitely being careless! All it takes is one bad apple

Taylor I know that you take great care in digging and covering your holes. When the both of us get through digging around a hundred holes in a yard at a rental house, it's really hard to tell that we've been there.

tabman

 

[RLOH]

Tabman, recently I found the exact same thing at my favorite detecting spot. There must have been fifty holes like this, but with one twist. The jerks left the junk laying on the ground next to the huge plug. Most turned out to be crushed aluminum cans. Last year the guy cutting the grass told me he was finding lots of these messes. It won't take long for this type of digging to get us all kicked out. I hate to sound like "doom and gloom", but I think the public spots will all be off limits in five years or so.

 

[DIGGER-SEAN-N-VA]

Guys,
I know it is not what most want to hear, but we must do our very best to fix these idiots holes. If not we will surly loose our rights to dig on public property.
I have spent several hours total fixing others holes. I don't like it, but it beats loosing our spots.
Just my 2 cents
DIGGER

 

[mudpuppy]

Sometimes you gotta wiggle the shift lever or the steering wheel to get the key to turn, and step on the brake too of course.....theres some little locking mechagnisms, really made cheap and they often take a crap and go out of adjustment and then you cant start your car!..you could youtube your make and model and search for a vid on the shift lever lock, to see what you got going on..the one on the brake pedal can fall apart too...easy fixes if you know whats going on....

Oh, yes, the holes, yeah, thats a bad deal there!, hopefully it will rain really hard tonight and hide some of that shoddy work, keep an eye out for a noob with a D handle tiling spade.....
Mud.

 

[ironsight]

Thats gonna be one dried up plug to be spotted a mile a way by the grounds keeper. That one in the pic looks like a fresh kill.

Seen the same thing way too many times. The worse was a bunch of large holes dug up by apparently a full blown ditch shovel and haphazardly filled in, at a park no less. The piles around the holes were 3 to 5 inches above the turf level!

If there are only a few of them i try to repair the best i can 'if' the plugs are not already dried up. If there are a bunch of them bad plugs, dried up plugs or uncovered holes, i skeedaddle just like you did.

I don't get some of these Aholes. Are they stupid, lack common sense, ignorant or don't give a $h!t.

By the way mudpuppy is right about the key thing, jiggle the shifter in Park or Neutral while pressing the brake. Hard to believe all those keys failed. Could it be adrenline related?
If the problem persists.... the ignition switch needs replacement or more likely the tranny neutral switch (tranny range sensor in newer cars) needs adjusting or replacement or the tranny linkage needs adjusting. Could also be the interlocking mechanism as mudpuppy indicated.

 

[tabman]

Sometimes you gotta wiggle the shift lever or the steering wheel to get the key to turn, and step on the brake too of course.....theres some little locking mechagnisms, really made cheap and they often take a crap and go out of adjustment and then you cant start your car!..you could youtube your make and model and search for a vid on the shift lever lock, to see what you got going on..the one on the brake pedal can fall apart too...easy fixes if you know whats going on....

Oh, yes, the holes, yeah, thats a bad deal there!, hopefully it will rain really hard tonight and hide some of that shoddy work, keep an eye out for a noob with a D handle tiling spade.....
Mud.

Mud that's what I thought it was at first, but the new spare key without the remote works in the ignition just fine. I've had them lock up on me before when I had the steering wheel turned too far on a incline and it wouldn't unlock until I worked with it for awhile. Today when I got home, I tried both keys again and only the new key would work in the ignition. Strangely, the old key would work the door locks.

tabman

 

[kaolinwasher]

You can see he did to use a towel to put the dirt on and the plug is in loose , probably using a spade. someone did that at a park i liked to hunt and they banned metal detecting

 

[greenmeanie]

This is what the TV Shows bring us.
We will see more places shut down.

 

[doc holiday]

Tab my mechanic tells me to avoid having a heavy ball of keys hanging out of the ignition--says it wears out some little somethings in the switch.

 

[tabman]

I guess I should have video taped the area to show the magnitude of the sheer amount of holes that are being dug at this site. Not all the holes were as bad the one shown in the picture, but there were scores of them that were that bad. Hundreds of other holes were very noticeable by just looking across the field because a bunch of the plugs were not stomped back into the ground. This site has been pounded to death. There are numerous places for a person to detect in our area if they'll take the time to get out and look. There is absolutely no need for someone to keep going back to the same place over and over again. This site needs time to heal. I'm going to keep swinging by this site from time to time when I'm going to and from other places that I detect and catch the person who is doing the holes like the one shown above. I'll try my best to get it on video tape and let you hear what I will have to say to them.

tabman

 

[mudpuppy]

If they are digging that many big holes, maybe they will get discouraged after a short while and move onto another hobby?

I suppose a fellow could write a message on a 3x5 card, or a few of them even, if you think the guy will be coming back, (which is likely since He's a noob)... put some shipping tape over it so its weather proof, and tape a few pennies to the back so it dont blow away, put in in a likely place...like:

"Hey you idiot! Stop leaving such a mess with your crappy holes"

Or, you can sort of hide out and try to figure when they are there, since they are a noob, (I'm sure its later in the day) film the whole deal for our amusement, bring along a potato to stuff up their tailpipe, you think you got car problems! That poor guy wont know what happened! I bet they will be back this afternoon or tomorrow...
Mud

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Bummer

 

[GroundScanner]

Wow , what's up with that ? My comment to this post was deleted . How come ? It's pretty sad that we can't state our opinion . So why should one ask questions or mention anything when YOU GUYS delete it. I am starting to think this place is what I am thinking about FAKE-BOOK. What was so wrong about my comment that it was deleted. What I wrote in my comment to this post is exactly what I will do to someone I see leaving holds . TIBS plain and simple. GS I wonder sometimes I tell ya.

 

[GroundScanner]

Sorry folks , just a little heated to see a mess with holes that could destroy the places we all like to hunt. GS

 

[HaroldILL.]

Welcome to my world. I lost my Forrest Preserves to clowns like this and I bet he was using a shovel. It seems like all the people ''mostly newbees'' care about is how much silver they can get in a year and the rest be damned! We have a local dealer even selling these clowns the shovel's? Everybody says I'm either pointin' fingers or gloom and doom,But this hobby isn't for long as the Johnny come latelys just don't give a damn as it is just another hobby to them, But to us it is a passion.

 

[ChicagoJohn]

Wow! That's bad! That's what I always worry about ! I always fit any if someone don't do good job! Mine is no one notice that I dig a hole! Always carry towel for dirt if I dig so deep. I clean good and make sure NO line of circle! Always cut C or U shape then put grass back to same position! Bad holes hurt our hobby and I cant metal detecting in Cook Co Forest Preserve because of bad holes! Club work out with forest preserve but so far hear nothing!

 

[reddirtfisher]

I always carry a stack of copied "Treasure Hunter Ethics" rules with me when I go out to hunt. Then I can hand them something to read and just flat out tell them about the impact of what they are doing. I take bad holes personally as an attack on my beloved hobby but I try and be nice as I can to people who are ignorant. Part of the problem is the detector companies and how they market with cheap flashy bright colored machines. Mass marketing will some day do us all in. This hobby used to be a less know fraternity of hunters who knew how to keep their mouths shut. With today's social media and detector chat rooms everywhere it is just a matter of time before our great hobby is outlawed. JMHO