Help clear up retrieval question

[DirtAngler]

I personally find a deeper and larger recovery hole makes a better method for leaving an area looking like you never dug. Plug stays together better and larger and deeper dig allows for further digging if needed. I do leave a flap and by larger I'm not talking a crater, just a 4 to 6 inch wide hole depending on depth of target. See quite a few Utube vids where they dig shallow and angle digger towards center of hole and sometimes without the flap. A guy I started hunting with dug like that and we were at 1 of his spots and you could see many dead grass spots. Like to hear your techniques and feedback.

 

[Monte]

5" on all four sides. My average plug is about 5"-6", and I have seen larger' plugs that are more like 8" to even 12". Much too larger, in my opinion.

A lot depends upon the type of turf I am digging in as some might do better with a 3-sided cut and leaving a flap, but I seldom do. I usually make a 4-sides plug in the 5"-6" measurement per side. I personally don't like to make a flap-type plug because more side material is loosened where the plug is pried up toward the attached flap side.

I also cut a deeper plug, to about 5" or more, and that's because I only plug if I haven't been able to recover the target with a screwdriver (rounded off), and that's something I usually do with 80%-90% of the coins I locate in manicured lawns. Decades of success using a rounded-off screwdriver has sure saved me a lot of time messing with a plug and the associated clean-up when I'm done.

Monte

 

[Nancy-IL]

I always try to make a 4" horseshoe cut, and flip the top open. That way the roots of the grass are intact. Putting my dirt on a rag while digging is always helpful when filling the hole back in. You can't tell where I've been. Always always stomp it down and sometime fluff the grass. HH, Nancy

 

[khouse]

I try to pop targets at 2 inches or less. Use a pinpointer. If you get a beep then you know it's shallow if coin sized. If you don't get a beep you know it's deeper. Strait sided square flaps works best for me. I have a Predator Raptor and it's 3.5 inches wide. So I make a 3.5 to 4 inch square flap about 4 inched deep. If after opening the plug I need to go deeper I'l first use my flat blade popper I made to easily get down in the hole. Those angled funnel shaped plugs will die and come out of the ground every time. I find a square flap with the sides cut strait down will not come out and have the best chance of surviving.

 

[PulltabPirate]

Good thread! NOTHING chaps my hide more than craters and careless digging techniques! I have been asked to leave more than once due to the "Grave Diggers" that came before me! Personally, shallow targets get probed & popped up. Deeper targets get a hinged plug 'bout 5" to give the grass the best chance to survive. I also prefer to hunt in moist soil or before/after a rain. This not only improves my depth (in my opinion) but gives that plug a much better chance to survive as well. I would also never argue with Monte's technique! (Who would?)

 

[Nancy-IL]

We never hunt when the ground is too dry and there's a possibility of damaging the grass. We just won't do it. We try to leave the ground as it was or if not better. Always and I do mean ALWAYS pick your trash up and put it in a bin. Larry has two 5 gallon buckets in the back of his truck that we use to empty our pouches. HH, Nancy