Up on the Soapbox

[Darrell]

Hi Guys,

Haven't posted for a while. While I was out today I got a bug or 2 up my butt. I'm not pointing fingers,just offering my opinions, to the newbies. I had a very good day: 11 silver coins including a silver nickle. Plus a nice filigree silver ring. I found 8 silver dimes in the same area during the last thaw in Feb. More about the area later.

One of the things that motivated me to post was that someone else had hunted the area in the last 6 months. It looked like they used a snow shovel as a digger. An attempt was made to fill their holes, but it still looked like a large family of moles had gone through the area. It's not a well cared for park, but if the right person saw the damage, the park would be closed to detecting.

Another subject that I want to mention is about which signals to dig. I'm primarily a park hunter and in the local parks, I dig only deep coin sounds. I'm not going to convince someone who digs everything to do otherwise. But if you are going to dig everything in a park please use common sense. I hunted 2 areas today, each was roughly 75' x 100'. My best guess is that on average there was a non ferrous signal every 1'. That's a total of 15,000 targets, the 8" coil could pick up. Another way to look at it is that if you retrieved 300 targets a day it would take 50 days to clear these 2 areas out. Digging a lot of holes in a small area of a park is not a good plan.

I received a Lesch Raptor digging tool for Christmas and it's the best that I've used.

Darrell

 

[James N.D.]

You are not the only one that has witnessed this first hand. I occasionally find plugs like that and about half the dirt is put back into the hole. If a person can't be neat when he or she recovers a target then that person has no right to even own a detector. It just makes everyone else look bad and that is why you get grief from people that see you detecting. Just because of some of the idiots out there not caring about what people think will eventually ban detecting permanently. One way to stop this would be to have something like an official ID card that each detectorist would have to carry with them so if you are caught doing something that you shouldn't be that you either get a fine or your equipment taken away. Just a thought of what is most likely to come in the future. If by chance you see this person digging like that again, I would go over and personally talk to them about what they are doing is wrong and that eventually they are going to get detecting outlawed. Just wish people would use COMMON SENSE other than stupidity.

 

[mitch]

Darrell,
I understand your frustration. I will never forget the time I spent 4 hours of my hunting day filling holes that another fool had dug and not even attempted to cover. It was embarrassing to me and my hobby that someone could care less about the future of our hobby. It is easy to understand why we are not allowed to dig in many parks when you see this type damage. I take pride in filling a hole that shows no sign of digging and can't understand the mentality of someone that thinks otherwise.

 

[mitch]

Yes, anyone operating a detector should be required to watch a film on proper retrieving procedures and the damage that is done when holes are not filled properly and how we should remove all trash dug and as much as possible that is visible on the ground. We should be required to dig a hole and fill it correctly before the ID is issued. Eventually we will have no place to hunt other than private property if something is not done. I don't understand why the major detector manufactures are not pushing for some restrictions from a buyer, such as an ID, before he/she is allowed to use or purchase a detector. Sales may be good now but they should think about the future when we have no place to hunt. Who will buy their detectors when that day comes?

 

[Eddie in Poulsbo]

I agree with all of you fellows. It really is a shame that a few so called detectorists out there are making us all look bad and they might just shut down this wonderful hobby for all of us one of these days. With so many people out there buying detectors it's easy to get caught up in this great hobby especially after you found your first coin. It's not against the law to own a detector, but those of you out there who make a park lawn look like a mine field please try and do a better job of filling in your holes and make your presence as unnoticeable as possible. Join a club and learn how to dig a plug the correct way and do your part to keep this hobby open for all of us for many years to come........

Eddie

 

[WVAdirtdigger]

The only problem is that the people causing the problem will never bother to stop by here or any other forum to find out it's wrong. It's the same mindset of somebody who litters. They don't care who has to take care of the problem. They just know they got it out of their hands.

BTW, Congrats on an 11 silver day, I think my personal best is five.

Dave