TOPIC: Digging tools

Hey guys I'm wondering what everyone uses to dig with? I'm currently using the folding type military shovel.

Most of the time I use a flathead screwdriver or a digging tool I purchased off huntsmen ( Frank)

up north here we use a piece of deer antler( tine) 7-8 inches long. you can drill a hole in the but end, rin a piece of twine through it and wear it around your neck. very light !! be safe

For the past few years, I have used Ginseng grubbing hoes/diggers and my' Buck knife. However, further in the past and especially in my' youth, I used sharpened sticks either made from dead and downed limbs or cut fresh limbs to make diggers out of. I am weighing heavily on going back to making my' own diggers from Hickory limbs which can be carved and honed to the shapes I need to dig out most, if not all roots and their' finer hair roots.


Frank

I have had good luck with a masonry hammer.

2half pound matic some think the weight is to much but use one for a week and youwont know how you dug without it you can chop roots out of the way prize up rocks and more than one snake spotted to late meet his end just in time . if god forbid you get stuck on the drive to and from try digging out with a stick

This is what I dig with, and yes it's a bit heavy.
But without it, I would have had to leave a bunch of ginseng that was growing between rocks.

i.imgur.com/uirgvsf.jpg

Maybe just because I'm an old trapper, but I always use a trapper's trowel.

http://www.flemingtraps.com/trappers-trowel-narrow.html?ref=lexity&_vs=google&_vm=productsearch&gclid=COKJ8tukwMACFQctaQodvhoA2w

I break up the dirt well away from the stem of the plant and use my fingers to actually dig out the roots so I don't damage them or break them off.


As a dealer, the most damaged roots I see are from guys digging with screwdrivers.

Old legend says ginseng hides from the hunter who carries metal. If you come in the woods with wood, bone, or antler tool, you will find more seng. That being said, I still use a steel tool.

Flathead screwdriver to get down to the root then it's all hands from there.