Club organized hunts?

[flgliderpilot]

I met a guy the other day who was part of a local club. He said there was a hunt coming up soon where targets were buried and the club would go out and hunt for them. In this case, silver coins.

This leaves me a little perplexed. I can totally understand doing this for the beginners who need practice using their detectors, but I think I would get pretty bored searching for intentionally buried targets. One minor plus was that they were burying silver coins and I've still NEVER found a silver coin here in FL... but I think I'd rather fine one lost than one hidden for me to find.

But still, why the organized bury and find hunts? It seems so pointless and unexciting. Reminds be of the deer hunts where you pay to sit by the feeder until the deer show up for their regular feeding time.

 

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[TheHunterGT]

Never have been part of a MD club but I have heard of very similar hunts and it seems pretty common for clubs to do it form time to time.

I have not found silver and agree that it would not be the same as finding it "in the wild" so to speak. However, I would probably go with the club and do it for the kicks of it. Gives you a chance to see what silver sounds like buried in the ground...and you get to keep one if you find it. Sounds good to me. I would just consider it practice and not my "real" first silver find.

If the club was only focusing on hunts and gatherings like that I would be disappointed...but if they only do it every once and while as a "free giveaway hunt" I would be game form time to time.

 

[DaytonaRacer]

I'm new to all of this, too, and recently joined a MD Club to talk shop with like-minded individuals. The club is running a hunt this weekend in Long Branch, NJ.

I never really understood seeded hunts either but it appears folks do it for several reasons:

1) Contest prizes - Items found during the hunts (my club is doing 4 sessions on Sat.) can be exchanged for prizes or entries for prizes. My club's hunt prizes include a 55'' TV, some very expensive detectors, tools, silver Morgans, prize packs, and more.
2) Practice - Each of our hunt sessions is set up a little differently which makes it a little more challenging and pushes folks to get better at understanding and using their detectors
3) Friendly competition under a level playing field
4) Door prizes & Raffles
5) A chance to meet with a large group of detectorists to talk shop, compare & test devices, etc.

It should be interesting to see it all unfold in person. Unfortunately, the forecast calls for light rain and cool weather and the hunt will be held regardless. But it is the beach and people usually get wet at the beach anyway, right?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I used to think the same thing. Ie.: "How boring ?". But when you do it, it's sort of fun. It's a contest to see who can get the most amount of targets in the least time. Granted, not the same "feel" as finding naturally lost fumble fingers old coins, but fun in another sense.

 

[kingskid1611]

Most use it to meet other hunters and then try and get permission hunts on local land. Its also used to compare notes and help each other out. Kinda the same thing we do on here, show and tell......