I don't understand

[BillF]

I've been watching some YouTube videos on Find mall. Some of these videos show VERY large plugs being cut, dirt being piled high in front of the hole, sometimes the plug is cut in half to get to the center.
How is it that these people are not being kicked out of the parks that they hunt?
I don't get it. I hear constant complaining here about losing the rights to hunt at schools and parks, and yet I see these types of plugs being cut....on video.
I go into a park with my trusty screwdriver and am asked to leave.
I just don't understand.

 

[MarkCZ]

I've been watching some YouTube videos on Find mall. Some of these videos show VERY large plugs being cut, dirt being piled high in front of the hole, sometimes the plug is cut in half to get to the center.
How is it that these people are not being kicked out of the parks that they hunt?
I don't get it. I hear constant complaining here about losing the rights to hunt at schools and parks, and yet I see these types of plugs being cut....on video.
I go into a park with my trusty screwdriver and am asked to leave.
I just don't understand.

If they are in a park then post a comment and express your concern. Some of the ones I've seen they didn't look to be in parks, or the ones that were in parks seemed to be doing pretty good at retrieving the targets.
Mark

 

[airscapes]

Have you noticed, you don't need to be and expert, or even good at something to make a video and post it on Youtube....Like everything internet.. take it with lots of salt and a lot of common sense.
Speaking of common sense and the lack there of.. A guy was following me in a 35MPH zone holding his phone up near the head liner of his car staring at it intently as the sun was low and apparently he was having a hard time watching TV or some metal detecting video.. .. He was moving at > 25 mph with a long train of people trying to get home from work behind him.. This is not an isolated occurrence.. What kind of plug you think that guy would dig? He has a phone so he can make a video.. he has a phone so he can post the video.. Nuf said..

 

[BillF]

They are good at retrieving the targets, the point is they're digging holes that I'm pretty certain is banned in every park in the nation.(slight exaggeration). The ones I'm talking about say they're in a park. I can't imagine a park employee seeing this and thinking its OK.
I don't dig a hole and I get kicked.

I've been watching some YouTube videos on Find mall. Some of these videos show VERY large plugs being cut, dirt being piled high in front of the hole, sometimes the plug is cut in half to get to the center.
How is it that these people are not being kicked out of the parks that they hunt?
I don't get it. I hear constant complaining here about losing the rights to hunt at schools and parks, and yet I see these types of plugs being cut....on video.
I go into a park with my trusty screwdriver and am asked to leave.
I just don't understand.

If they are in a park then post a comment and express your concern. Some of the ones I've seen they didn't look to be in parks, or the ones that were in parks seemed to be doing pretty good at retrieving the targets.
Mark

 

[GeorgeinSC]

When I first started detecting I talked to folks who do landscaping (re-sodding etc) about the best method for cutting a plug.

The reason I asked was on a lot of the videos that I was watching they were dugging the plug with the digging tool held at an angle towards the center of the plug so that the plug was coming out cone shaped.

The Landscaper told me that they were killing the grass by cutting off the roots and to dig with the tool held straight up and down so that I damaged the fewest roots.

I have had park employees (one was the park supervisor) compliment me on the fact that they had seen me dig hundreds of coins out of their park and they could not see where I had been digging.

They even gave me permission to dig on the ball fields when no one else was around.

It pays to to things correctly.

 

[BillF]

George I suppose you're right. Maybe the park officials in my town are just a bit too anal.

 

[airscapes]

When I first started detecting I talked to folks who do landscaping (re-sodding etc) about the best method for cutting a plug.

The reason I asked was on a lot of the videos that I was watching they were dugging the plug with the digging tool held at an angle towards the center of the plug so that the plug was coming out cone shaped.

The Landscaper told me that they were killing the grass by cutting off the roots and to dig with the tool held straight up and down so that I damaged the fewest roots.

I have had park employees (one was the park supervisor) compliment me on the fact that they had seen me dig hundreds of coins out of their park and they could not see where I had been digging.

They even gave me permission to dig on the ball fields when no one else was around.

It pays to to things correctly.

I am interested in how large the Landscaper said to cut the plug. I completely understand cutting straight down, as I do that now. However, I try and make the plug as small as possible to retrieve the target.. I can also understand an extra wide plug if you are in a location that yields OLD targets but in general what was the width and shape of the plug suggest by the turf expert?

 

[MarkCZ]

In parks I normally use the plug style, in more manicured lawns I pop the coins, but I don't use a screwdriver, I use a blunt tipped probe.
Open wooded areas I may use a small shovel. In any case its ALWAYS good to try and leave the area as if you were never there! or maybe better!!

Some argue that long handled shovels and large holes heal better, but!!!!! that doesn't take care of the BAD attention that it gets, better or worse, its ALWAYS bad attention! In public places the lower the profile the better, the less mess left behind the better! Right or Wrong, or you can be right, but still wrong in doing it!!

Mark

 

[hunter_46356]

I carry a small moded garden shovel. 6" blade cut to 4" wide 6" long. Handle is maybe twenty inches. The thin blade allows you to "cut" a very neat three sided plug. Flip it open with a hand trowel and dig with that if necessary. Cutting with a thinner blade affords putting things back much cleaner. I've tried the thicker heavy blade diggers and I can do a better job with the thin blade. When soil is moist I hold a foot on top of the plug as to not pull it out before I get all three sides but. Carry this small shovel close too you and by the shaft it's hardly noticed Lay it beside you on the ground when you work with the hand trowel. Never had any issues. Usually turn my back to the most obvious view of spectators and they seldom see whats on the other side. I agree that a lot of posted vids of plugs are not the best they could be for the hobby.

 

[MarkCZ]

Also, its good to note that a good number of digs in public places doesn't require a PLUG at all! if the finds are only a couple of inches deep its most times junk, or just clad! probe it, get under it from one side, lift it enough that there is a small tare in the soil to just reach in and pull it out. For God sakes don't dig a plug and pull out a bunch of dirt. Digging a hole for every target is often times just a bad habit. For years the only way I ever retrieved a target was to pop them out with a probe, even at 5" to 6" and I got in a habit of that style. Sometimes this hobby shouldn't be just a product of "Habit" A relic hunter by habit goes to a park with a friend to hunt, guess what? probably an oversized coil and a huge shovel. Same goes for a park hunter who goes along with a friend that get permission to hunt some well groomed lawns, the friend by habit brings a 8" garden digger, nope! wrong tool, this is most times probe and pop only.

Below is a Keem lawn find from a few years back, it was about 6" deep. I didn't dig a hole and lay a bunch of dirt out on a ground cloth to retrieve it. If there is much gravel in the ground coin popping gets harder and coins can get scratched but, with practice you can get very good at it.

Mark

 

[Southwind]

On the bright side. I've been hunting our city park for 30+ years and have at times seem some terrible holes from someone detecting. I myself and watched myself and my buddies do everything from U plugs to O plugs to using a screwdriver to retrieve a target. When I've gone back after a month or so both the U and the O plugs still look like the grass will die but to this day you could go to the park and never tell someone has been detecting. Not trying to say it's OK to take a shovel to the local par, just saying park grass is pretty stout and recovers well.

I also know there has been lots of debate on a U plug vs the O plug. While the U plug seems to make sense as the better option, I have never seen any evidence to support the claim in the wild. Our U plugs look just as bad as our O plugs and they both recover at the same rate.

 

[hunter_46356]

I carry a small modded garden shovel. 6" blade cut to 4" wide 6" long. Handle is maybe twenty inches. The thin blade allows you to "cut" a very neat three sided plug. Flip it open with a hand trowel and dig with that if necessary. Cutting with a thinner blade affords putting things back much cleaner. I've tried the thicker heavy blade diggers and I can do a better job with the thin blade. When soil is moist I hold a foot on top of the plug as to not pull it out before I get all three sides but. Carry this small shovel close too you and by the shaft it's hardly noticed Lay it beside you on the ground when you work with the hand trowel. Never had any issues. Usually turn my back to the most obvious view of spectators and they seldom see whats on the other side. I agree.... a lot of posted vids of guys digging plugs are not the best they could be for the hobby.

 

[MarkCZ]

On the bright side. I've been hunting our city park for 30+ years and have at times seem some terrible holes from someone detecting. I myself and watched myself and my buddies do everything from U plugs to O plugs to using a screwdriver to retrieve a target. When I've gone back after a month or so both the U and the O plugs still look like the grass will die but to this day you could go to the park and never tell someone has been detecting. Not trying to say it's OK to take a shovel to the local par, just saying park grass is pretty stout and recovers well.

I also know there has been lots of debate on a U plug vs the O plug. While the U plug seems to make sense as the better option, I have never seen any evidence to support the claim in the wild. Our U plugs look just as bad as our O plugs and they both recover at the same rate.

Hot dry weather is worse, but sometimes a brown spot on top of a plug doesn't mean the grass is totally dead, many times its just shock and the roots are still alive.
Squirrels and dogs makes lots of messes in our local park, and do kids. But, I will say the worse is when I go into the park and they're is this good size completely dried out plug dug out of the ground and a pop can bottom laying next to it. The park people don't really care about a brown spot of grass three or four inches in diameter, deer pee, or dog pee can do that. Put the dirt back (fill in the holes) take the trash to the trash can (or home) don't dig holes large enough to transplant large trees, keep a low profile, be friendly and wave at the police (not with a big shovel in your hand), pretend your just enjoying the park.

Mark

 

[Southwind]

Agreed Mark!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Bill F, I am of the opinion that for deeper coins, you will actually end up doing more scar damage (tell-tale evidence) with a screwdriver, versus a plug method. If the plug method is done right (as others in your thread allude to), it's actually quite neat and nice, when done . Some assumptiong: assuming you have a drop cloth for the dirt, and stomp it down when done, and aren't going to bone-dry turf, etc....

But the problem is , that even though you or I may "leave no marks" with a method like plugs, yet ....... it's all in IMAGE. Not reality. The simple connotation of a man bending over with a digging tool (of ANY kind), can bring griper lookie-lous out. EVEN if you're not going to leave any trace when done.

So to answer your question of: "How is it that these people are not being kicked out of the parks that they hunt? "

Maybe they're hunting at low traffic off-times, when lookie-lou busy-bodies aren't as likely to be present ? I mean, ... heck .... it's gotten to where I hunt turfed parks at night nowadays. So peaceful. So serene

 

[NiagracountyNY]

Ive foud that the roots of grass mainly grow along the surface..Thats why i always cut a C shape and i go a little larger and deeper than needed.By keeping the back of the lid attached ive mainly keep the roots intact,especially if the lid has say 2 or 3 inches of dirt still for the roots that did get cut.Its seems easier to lay that larger lid back down without it falling apart.If you keep all the dirt on a towel you cannot tell ive been there.The real issue is you just cant dig when its dry.You shouldnt dig too many holes close to each other in the same visit.dont dig when its too dry or wet.Take the time to fluff the grass up around the hole when your done.Comon sense will go a long way.Its when they judge all of us because one or 2 bad apples hit a park and ruin it that bothers me.Thats just not right ...but they do it most everywhere.

 

[BillF]

I think the part that chaps my hide the most is the day I was asked to leave one of our oldest parks, the grounds crew guy said that he had no problems at all with my retrieval methods. His boss was (supposedly) afraid that the sprinkler system would be hit. The sprinkler system is all steel and 18" deep. Bunk!
Every park around here has the same rules. A screwdriver or probe no bigger than 3/8". No plug cutting, all trash to be removed, etc,etc,etc.
I know most of the vids are not near my area, some are. It makes me wonder about me being asked to leave any park.
I agree about plugging instead of probing, but to be honest, in 40 years I've never found a single coin that would have been affected by a scratch. I sure would hate to finally find that '16D Merc and damage it because I was using a screwdriver. BTW, my screwdrivers get the tips ground off before they hit the dirt. They are only a screwdriver by name.
In '83 we only used screwdrivers in C'DA park in C'DA Idaho. That's where my buddies wife scratched the face of an otherwise beautiful $10 gold piece. What a shame.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

........ His boss was (supposedly) afraid that the sprinkler system would be hit. The sprinkler system is all steel and 18" deep. Bunk! ..... .

Well sure! Of COURSE that's bunk that we would harm sprinklers, or bother earthworms, etc... And all such ills that someone can think of that our hobby *might* do. But again: The operative factor in your story, is that these parks guys (and their boss, etc...) SAW you. Can't you simply go at times when park workers have cut out for the day ? Or like early Sat. AM. Or on federal holidays, etc...

Sure it would be nice if every last park's personell and nosy-parkers "rolled out red carpets" for us. But I got news for you: It aint gonna happen. Detecting has "connotations". So the less those persons-who-might-gripe see you, the better. Your only other option is to run around trying to get every last city person to bless and condone you. But that can be an exercise in futility.

 

[BillF]

Tom,
This fella happens to live on the grounds. Otherwise, yes, I can go during low traffic times. To another park.

 

[GeorgeinSC]

All the landscaper said was that If one dug down below the level of the majority of the roots the sod would live when you returned it to its place and pressed it down.

I let how well I am able to pinpoint a target control the size of the plug that I cut.