Plug Etiquette

[Silvermonkey]

I had the day off, and decided to take a shot at my newest, favorite ball-field. Upon arrival, I was surprised to discover two fellow detectorists already hard at work. Its a fairly large area, so I decided to take a walk around the perimeter, before deciding to dig in. I was a little horrified to see obvious signs of freshly dug plugs....everywhere. There were not gaping holes in the ground, but it didn't seem that much effort was being put towards re-setting the plugs in a proper ( invisible) manner. Now I don't pretend to be an expert, but I pride myself in leaving no signs of my digging activity. I approached one of the gentlemen, and asked about his success. I also cautioned him about the condition of his plugs, noting that park neighbors tend to be sensitive about the condition and upkeep of the field. He was pleasant enough, but assured me that his plugs would look fine after the upcoming rain storm. I took that as my cue to exit and find happier hunting grounds.

How often do you run into these types of situations? How do you typically handle it?

 

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[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Wow, I never relized how many people dig holes so differntly..lol

I dont know what teh "Probe" method is, but it seems like alot of people spend ALOT of time to dig a hole.

it all matters what type of place it is.

If im at some abandoned crack house. I dont care if you see my holes, more than likely the house will be flattened in a few weeks.

If im at the park, i just dug a perfect circle a couple inches deep, then go to town.....then when i find my target, i scrap all the dirt/rocks/glass back into the hole, then place that perfectly cut plug back on top.

Im sure if i were detecting someones property, i would take my time on how my plug is going to turn out. But that has yet to happen.

i will stick with the crack houses and ghetto parks :P

 

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[cudamark]

I used to do that too, until I returned to the same site a couple of days later and found all my nice neat round plugs had turned brown and made the place look like a mine field. Most of the time, a 3 sided one won't do that and a slit definitely won't. A lot will depend on water/rainfall and soil/grass type in your particular area, but, if you use a pin pointer, I don't see the need for a full plug....ever.....

 

[Alchemist]

I always check with my hand-held pin pointer to see if I can reach it right at the surface with a small 1" plug. If it don't ring, I dig about a 4" plug, hinged. Dirt on rag, if needed, and clean/spruce afterwards.

 

[Jeremy S]

I watched a guy use a full sized tile spade to dig holes next to a baseball field last weekend. He would roll the plug over and spend the next 10 minutes picking it apart, often not even finding his target due to not having a pin pointer. The aftermath was a big nasty plug halfway thrown into the hole and loose dirt all around it. This same fellow has the habit of tossing garbage back onto the ground next to his hole, I never observed him taking any of it with him.

And people wonder why the park superintendents look for excuses to ban detecting........

 

[texasred777]

Why will a split not work? I started doing it in the early 80s at an elementary school. I went to that school numerous times over several months. I very seldom could see where I had extracted the finds. I've found that for me, it works better than any plug cutting. I've used several tools to cut plugs, but like the slit method better. I guess it depends on the kind of site you're digging on and what works best for you.

 

[crazy4coins]

Why will a split not work? I started doing it in the early 80s at an elementary school. I went to that school numerous times over several months. I very seldom could see where I had extracted the finds. I've found that for me, it works better than any plug cutting. I've used several tools to cut plugs, but like the slit method better. I guess it depends on the kind of site you're digging on and what works best for you.

A good digger and the right soil are required for good plugs in my experience.