Town Park looked a mess after someone had been detecting

[Furious T]

I Arrived at one of our town parks today to be met by a sight which almost made me vomit. Large plugs dug, not put back properly, dirt (including small clods of earth) scattered round the plug with little or no attempt to clean up. Some of the grass was torn out, and not replaced...it is the type of behaviour which gets parks put "off limits". I did what I could to tidy up, but there was just too much damage. So, if anyone in Tamworth NSW Australia knows who was hunting at Viaduct Park, have a word with them before we all get banned. This type of action deserves to be prosecuted, criminally and/or civilly. It is possible that the person concerned is not the full quid (or, a sandwich short of a picnic), so if anyone knows him, please talk to him and tell him that this behaviour is not acceptable to anyone, including the ratepayers who have to pay for the upkeep of our parks. Thanks.

 

[wasp]

That's too bad. Hope you find out who it is so you can educate them or convince them that they should find another hobby.

 

[matthias]

I hope things work out well for you. Good luck and HH. Matt

 

[trueblue]

I know how ya feel Pete , seen the same thing in my area ,some people just dont care , and others see ya detecting there an lay the blame on ya , I use a probe and knife and take great care and pride in keeping the areas as clean as I find'em , came across a bloke at an old site in the bush he was leavin all his holes open yes holes he was digging with a pick bloody big divets , I started fillin them in an was lucky to avoid a blue when he seen me doin so , he said the old timers left more damage so go f--k yaself , real nice type ...I repaired his mess as much as I could on a return visit .

 

[Critterhunter]

A month or two back I saw a guy using a cheap store detector and a cheap garden trowel. He was not digging plugs, but rather scooping out the dirt a bit at a time, then just throwing the mixed dirt and grass back into the hole, which obviously looked really bad. On most any day I would have given him a piece of my mind, but that day I just didn't feel like it would be a wise idea for some reason. He wasn't a big guy and I am, but something just told me to keep my mouth shut this time. Maybe it was the fact that this was a park I never hunted before and in a bad neighborhood. He seemed like a local who lived right around there and I thought maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to be throwing my weight around in somebody else's hood.

There is a beach on the great lakes I hunt here and there and it is LOADED with trash. A guy came up to me and said he's on disability and hunts that beach every day. I thought to myself "Sure is a lot of trash here if you hit it everyday". Anyway, he pulled out a hand full of coins and with a big smile on his face said "I know how to avoid the junk and find the good stuff." Obviously he is missing a lot of rings then. Anyway, I then realized why there was so much trash, because I saw many of his holes with the junk laying right on the ground next to it that he found. I got the impression he doesn't even wear an apron. Makes no sense to me why somebody hunting a spot every day (or even not) would leave trash on the ground that he's only going to waste time digging next time. This beach is so trashy that I don't even wander. I just pick a small 20 foot square area and grid it out digging all signals.

 

[pasttom]

I can certainly respect following gut feelings. I too have discovered local parks abused by slob hunters. I did what I could to clean up after them. Stupid and inconsiderate are taught in school these days and I think promoted on TV and video pretty heavily. The world seems to be sinking in the level of civility while we go crusading for bogus causes. Wow, I thought I sermoned out yesterday, I guess not.
Sorry, I am pained by what I see and would love for people to get it together. I know many, maybe most are decent and doing right, it just seems more and more are indifferent to the concerns of others. Monday blahs?
HH guys! I need to go to the beach and swing some.
Tom

 

[Critterhunter]

Keep in mind that plugs that aren't in the hole aren't always from lazy hunters. Skunks JUST LOVE to pull them out looking for grubs, as that's their favorite food source in most areas. For that reason, if I find plugs out of the hole I don't use my hands to fix them but rather my feet. Skunks are a primary carrier of rabies and a little skunk spit in a small skin break and it might be game over. That's what shocks me about that Turtle Hunter guy on TV. He's often catching stuff with his bare hands. I wouldn't take the risk. They don't have to bite you to get rabies. Just a small cut in your skin exposed to one of their body fluids and it's lights out.

 

[Fabio]

Just last week while I was digging a field, a guy came up to me with his two medium sized dogs. While we were talking, I told him I always cover the holes and plugs I dig. A moment later, I looked back and saw 5 large holes in the ground! His dogs went behind us and dug up all the holes I had covered just moments ago. I covered them again once they left. If the holes were dug wide open, then maybe it was a dog. These two dug the holes deeper than what I had dug before them.

 

[don digs gold]

WOW - I hate that type of stuff......

 

[Furious T]

These holes weren't dug by a dog. The plugs had been put back in the holes, but not carefully, and probably half the dirt that had come out of the hole was spread on the lawn, so it was obvious someone had dug the hole, but had made the surrounding area of each hole (and there were dozens) impossible for anyone to sit on the lawn without getting dirty and muddy. The plugs themselves looked out of place because half the dirt was missing from the bottom of the plug. Thank you for all your replies...I know it is the vast minority who do these things, but the impact this behaviour has on people who are a bit suspicious about our hobby anyway, and the local authorities damages our image even more. I kinow most of us extract our targets with the greatest of care, and most of the time we could defy anyone to be able to see where we had been hunting. I have seen this type of digging before, in a smaller place not far from where I live, and that was some years ago, but not in a prominent public park in the middle of town. On the other occasion it was a couple of blokes using an Aussie brand of detector to dig deep older coins, and they left that park in a mess. I did not realise how bad it was until after they had gone, as I was detecting some distance away, so could not get their car registration...I wish I had.
Thanks again for all your replies, it's good to know we are not alone in our feelings and experiences.