Hello All.
I hope everyone is getting out swinging their detectors more them I have. Half way through the year already and I can count on one hand with some fingers left over the number of times I have been out detecting. Too many projects going on.
One of those projects is the upcoming Treasure Week at Fox Den Acres Campground in New Stanton, PA. This is where we will hold our inaugural target recovery course. We have seen a lot of interest. Once we have completed the initial course we will evaluate it and make any necessary changes. We already have 2 requests for the program. When set we will announce those. In addition we hope to get some videos on YouTube covering the material in the course.
This course is for recovering targets in lawn areas such as parks and schools. One tool you will not find in this course is a shovel. It is the wrong tool for a park. I cannot figure out where the mentality came from that it is ok to use one in a park. It has become rampant in videos with people defending their use. THERE IS NO DEFENSE. I don’t care if you claim to do a
good job. I have yet to see a good job done on the internet. Bottom line is it looks really bad in appearance.
We will be discussing making an addition to our code of ethics to add that shovels are not to be used in any public lawn area. When most codes were created many years ago it was not put in. Why? It was not even remotely on the radar. No one would think of doing such a thing. It was so far out of the realm of reality that it was not thought of. Well times they are a
changing. We ask that FMDAC clubs, and any club, add it to their code of ethics. Make it known to club members that shovels in parks is not acceptable.
The FMDAC has spent over 30 years working to protect the hobby. I myself have about 20 years of doing so. Now we see that the biggest threat may be coming from within. If this cancer is not stopped it will severely hurt the hobby. Some of the videos online are so bad that I cannot even remotely call them target recovery. They have even surpassed property damage
and went right to vandalism. Newcomers are watching this and think it is proper. I saw a comment recently on facebook that said “How do you dig without a shovel?” I did not make that up.
There is at least one person who has posted a video teaching people to use a shovel in a park. Attempting to claim that it is different then a shovel. It’s not a garden spade he says. Just because the tool did not come from a hardware store does not mean that it is not a shovel. I don’t care if it is a “specialized” tool made for the metal detecting hobby. If it looks like a shovel then it IS a shovel.
If you care about this hobby then start acting to protect it. Do not praise those shovel videos. I don’t care what they dig. Tell them to use a proper tool and learn how to properly recover a target. If enough people do it and stop watching them maybe they will get the message. If I sound a little gruff, well I am. I am tired and fed up with people within this hobby who just
don’t get it. Who are insistent on making up their own code that is far out of line with the long time accepted practices of the hobby. Having to fight forces from the outside is hard enough without having to fight people in the very hobby we are working to protect. I can tell you this just speaking for myself. I have NOT spent a lot of my own time and money protecting this hobby so that someone can dig in a park with a shovel.
Lets us all work together to put a stop to these actions. The hobby you save will be your own.
Mark Schuessler, FMDAC President's Message