question

[bswift35]

i got permission to hunt the oldest house in town 1850, the owner takes good care of his lawn and i sure dont want to tear it up, do you use the horseshoe method or use the plug type when you dig. it seams when i use the horseshoe i always miss my target, but with the plug i do pretty good but you take up more grass.

 

[ohio fred]

n/t

 

[khouse]

Maybe some more practice on pinpointing? An electronic pinpointer may help. Also go when the soil is wet. This way there is less chance for brown spots.

 

[RedRockNv]

I use a well worn, thin but quality steel (it wouldn't bend easily) screw driver as a probe and I like to find the object with my probe first. If the sod is moist and loose and the object is coin sized and no deeper than say three to four inches I use my probe to pull the sod aside until I have created a hole over the object then I use the probe to tilt the object up and I pull it to the surface with the probe and a finger or just the probe. Once you get the action down it goes pretty quick and no roots are really damaged. After I retrieve the object I just step on the hole and the ground squishes back in to place. After you get done you could water the lawn or just the spots where you dug to avoid any chance of brown spots.

 

[Nancy-IL]

Horseshoe all the way Bryan. If you're pinpointing correctly with a plug, you should be able to with the horseshoe method. Visualize the center of the shoe. IMO. Good luck and enjoy! Nancy

 

[khouse]

RedRock,
Good advice on the extraction and watering. My sister didn't want me to hunt her yard. It was the best yard in town. But I did hunt it placing one of those cheap locating flags at every hole. Then when I was finished I watered those places where I dug. Those flags are cheap and can be purchased at Lowe's or Home Depot easily.

 

[khouse]

What I do is first pinpoint with your main detector. Then I fire up the Garrett Propointer and use just the tip to further find the exact location of the target. My pinpointer will hit a coin at 2 inches. If it locates a target I know that it's 2 inches or less. I then feel for the target with my Predator. Then pop it up and out. Now if the pinpointer does not alert then I know it's deeper than 2 inches. I then cut a 3 sided flap. I keep my knife vertical while cutting. This way it cuts less roots. Don't cut a funnel shaped plug or flap. This will never seal back down. Plus you cut through every root. This leaves a dead spot every time.

 

[Rob (IL)]

There are some good tips. The horseshoe methods leaves less brown spots. Many of the grass roots grow horizontal. The horseshoe method leaves of the roots still attached. On the less deep targets, I've had good luck with just making one slit over the target which when closed is invisible and there is never any browning. Rob

 

[ohio fred]

If you can carry a spray bottle of ortho grow or fertilizer and spray bottom of roots in plug before putting it back.

 

[bula]

Redrocknv has the idea with a little practice you can even get a coin out at 6" & leave no trace that you were there

 

[Groundshaker]

OH YEAH ! The Garrett pin pointer is an excellent tool that helps alot and saves time........Tom