The River Rat

Here in Columbus oh, the nearest course to my house, called Griggs Reservoir Park, is a public park the runs down the edge of a river. It can be a nice course, but needless to say most regulars have lost at least one disc in the drink.

On thursday I decided to make the day dedicated to throwin and threw three local courses since the weather here has been stellar. The last course I chose to throw was Griggs and I met up with my bro and his friend after they got out of class. One of the first things out of my bro's mouth was how he lost his disc in the wet stuff the week prior and was really bummed about it. I asked him if it was marked and he said he marked it exactly the same way as all of his others.

When teeing off on the 5th hole, we noticed The Infamous River Rat, another avid disc golfer who dredges in the water at his own risk to find all of those lost discs people paid hard earned money for.
I have always had a distaste for this guy because I know he doesn't call people back when he finds marked discs. He'd rather sell them and make a quick profit.

After walking to our discs he had given up his search for the day and was walking back to the parking lot behind us. I yelled to him "Are any of those marked?!" he proceeded to briskly jot through the stack and yelled back and quick "Nope!"  My bro ran up to me and said "Thats my green leopard on top there! I know it!" We tracked the guy down and looked through the stack.

Right on top was my bro's green champ leopard, marked just like all of his discs. I told the dude we were taking it back. He started to give us shit, asking "How am I supposed to know it yours?" My bro whipped out another one of his discs, marked the exact same way, and the dude finally gave us the disc.

After the round I noticed his little shop posted right next to the first tee, so i decided to see what he had. I would say 1/3 of the discs he was selling were marked with phone numbers! I asked him if he ever called the people and he just ignored me.

This just doesn't seem right to me, and further proves that marking your discs is becoming futile.


What are your thoughts?

Cheers!
Tony

[Rescue]

I think it sucks, but even on this site. You will get people who will stand up for the "River Rat", because you decided not to go in the water and he did. Can't say I agree with it. So now I keep water discs with me. So if I do end up in the drink, I don't care if the River Rats out there get it. It's all yours man ;)

[FullContactDiscGolf.com]

there's a difference between going in for your disc and coming out with someone else's, verses going in with the intent to find discs to make money off of.

i haven't lost a disc in the water for a while now. but when i used to, i wouldn't always fine them. who is to say that all the found discs were from people that didn't even try to go in to find them.

[Jay Dub]

The guy should return the disc if the person who lost the disc is there. The person who lost the disc should reward the river rat for doing what they couldn't or wouldn't do. If I found a disc with a number I would call, but I'm not going to spend gas money to return it, you want it, you be inconvenienced and come and get it. A thank you would be nice too.

If you found my disc I would at least offer a couple dollars.

[Josh moody]

Stab him in the face with a souldering ion.....thatll teach him a lesson. Theres a few guys who do that here in nc and once my bud threw his battle roc in the pond and was going after it and one of the rats pulled a knife on him claiming that once its in the pond its theres. I wish I had been there I would have shot that F'n fool in the face

[Wicked Dyes]

Good god! Thanks for letting me know not to piss you off!

[Jamie 'gr8rocshot' Ruane]

Ask them if they like to pose for a photo...

Bad thing to do in my state...pull a knife on someone like that...and it all could be over in under 1.4 seconds.


never bring a knife to a gun fight...lmao!!!

[Ghost]

I lost a disc in the lake which is temporarily there at Oak Grove DGC in Pasadena almost 2 weeks ago now. 5 days later I got a call from a kid who was swimming in the lake looking for discs. He'd found my Shark and said there was a 5 dollar finders fee if I wanted it back. As this is one of my oldest discs and has an ace on it, I went down and gave him the money for the disc.

Chris Horn, Philo Brathwaite and Steve Rico throwing the hole in question here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcEoRBT1w4g#t=4m24s

I was glad to get a call at all, frankly. I've played there for almost 5 years now and lost 6 discs. I've only gotten 2 callbacks. One guy just gave me my disc back free, but he didn't have to swim for it.

[Ben Calhoun]

Throw him into the river with a cinder block. Return. Every. Found. Disc. There's. NO. Excuse.

[Tab Weis]

I agree with Ben, RETURN EVERY DISC FOUND NO EXCUSE, unless there is no name or number. Not even to mention the money value, but most of my disc's have other value. Besides what is disc golf without disc golf etiquette.
___T@B

[Marty Wollner]

Of course, Ben Calhoun and his family own a fine DG course with ponds and a pro-shop. Imagine how much extra profit Ben could make if he sold every disc that got lost in a pond! Ben and I both have some strong opinions on this, but before I detonate into a complete rant there are some things to consider...

-Of course LABEL your discs with a sharpie, right away.

-If the pond (or otherwise inaccessible area) is dangerous, or if marked as "Do not enter", it should not be entered. If it's dangerous, like a slippery cliff, a tall dead tree, or a pond with snakes and gators, well, use common sense. But if the area is marked as do not enter, this is usually done for a reason, and the reason is not to keep the discs that collect there. If it is, WE GOT A PROBLEM.

It might be that there is a cost to recover the discs, like at some fly-18s they hire a scuba crew once a year to clean out the ponds, clean up and ID the discs, and then call the labeled one's owners... a "return fee" of up to $5 is appropriate.

It might be the area is a wildlife refuge.

But I don’t think that's the case here. This guy owns a shop, makes daily rakes, does NOT bother to call the owners of discs that are labeled, and then sells them? Is that the whole story?

If it is, first off, this guy is obviously a scumbag, regardless of whether he plays or not. If he plays, he is lower than whale shit.

Has he been doing this for a while? If not, OK, maybe he just stumbled upon a bonanza, and needs to be made aware of what he is doing. Is it possible to just explain to him how much money there is to be made if he simply calls owners of lost discs and gives them back? He could make a LOT of HONEST money, trust me, and everyone would be happy. When I was in the used disc business, I don’t ever recall calling someone up to return a disc, without them buying more stuff from me.

If he's been doing this a while, and especially if he's trying to remove labels, then I think this is a police matter, and that means NOBODY SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT SHOOTING OR DROWNDING HIM! Its our sport, our life, our passion, but it's still just a piece of plastic, so lets try to keep thing civil.

The same goes for those guys who said they "Own" a pond... call the police, that’s what they're good for.

marty

[Jamie 'gr8rocshot' Ruane]

Let me clarify....My response is related to the josh's post....some scumbag pulls a knife.....it's no longer about a piece of plastic.

[Mikey]

what a douche