Do you detect in NJ? If so read this please...

I'm not from NJ, but this applies to all of us. Here, we have a county park that was previously an amusement park, closed to all detecting because of this kind of behavior. Their statement actually said that most people were respectful and returned the ground to it's original condition, but that there were a few "bad apples who did not". There is no excuse for this behavior, and no reason that all recovery locations shouldn't be nearly invisible to others, after recoveries have been made. If you can't put it back like it was, you shouldn't be digging at all.

Good luck in finding this bad apple. Hope you can get this behavior modified.

I was boating at reservoir in Utah today and saw four boys under 10 y/o with a cheap detector combing the beach.

I smiled because I was happy to see little tikes enjoying the hobby. But I was dismayed when I saw they’d dig over a target and walk away when they didn’t find what they were looking for.

I also didn’t want to go over to gently correct them because I didn’t want to set them off the hobby or risk their parents taking issue with my input.

It was a hard-packed dirt shoreline and technically against the law to dig in the state park.

How would you all handle a situation like this?

I want to be encouraging, and to pass on good ethics, but also impress on them the importance of not wrecking where you hunt.