Where are you at in Texas? We have a club in Jacksonville that meets the first saturday of each month. We had the newspaper come and do a story on us. We discuss where our club hunt for the month will be. We haven't started paying dues yet but some are making donations. We sometimes have a drawing at the meeting for a prize. I won a hunting knife in January. We have a members only group on Yahoo so we can post if we are wanting to invite other members to go hunting. It's a great place to meet friends and find new places to hunt.
PineyWoods Association of Treasure Hunters
Jacksonville, Texas
11/12/2006
METAL-DETECTING CLUB MEMBERS CAREFULLY DIG IN ETEXAS AREAS
By:LINDSAY RANDALL, Staff Writer
INSTRUCTIONS: Nan Durham gets instructions on how to use her late husband’s old metal detector at a meeting in Jacksonville with Jason Hunt.(Staff Photo By Herb Nygren Jr.)
JACKSONVILLE - With the rushing swish of a metal waterfall, a cascade of worn pennies pours from Gene Trawick's now-empty jam jar. His rough, blackened fingers spread the coins into a single layer, and he delicately fingers several of the more rustic examples of pennies, their copper sheen obscured by decades of dirt and darkness.
"They ain't worth nothin', but they're still fun to find," Trawick says, his grin lifting the long, white ends of his mustache. "I like to look for money."
And even though hoarding a few jars of old change might yield nothing more than a couple hamburgers on a rainy day, it's the search, not the gleam, that quickens his heartbeat.
His fellow members of the Pineywoods' Association of Treasure-hunters know exactly what he means.
"It's not really what you find, it's the hunt," says Ron Odom, founder of the club and avid treasure-hunter.
He has kept the six-inch nail he found when he first swept a metal detector over the tips of grass. It may not be worth much, but it's the emblem of an exciting hobby for him.
Odom started the club a couple months ago, with the sole purpose of having "some people I could call and go hunting with." With only two meetings under his belt, the club already boasts about 15 attendees, and when the word gets out, Odom is hoping to have one of the largest metal detecting clubs in the nation.
Based in Jacksonville, the club covers all of East Texas, but they are cautious about where they dig.
Odom knows the rules and abides by them, obtaining permission to dig whenever necessary and doing his best to "leave the place in better shape than when we came."
Hunters carefully carve out only a plug of earth when their detectors signal a metallic treasure beneath the surface. They rifle through the hunk of dirt, look for their treasure, and stick the plug back into the ground, no destruction necessary.
Michael Moore, of Rusk, ends up with a rifle shell in his palm after hunting at the Jacksonville Recreation Center, aka, "the old armory."
He once found a political pin with Teddy Roosevelt's picture on it.
Uncovering local history is Jason Hunt's passion, and he heavily researches a plot of land before he goes hunting.
"I found a 1901 penny a few years ago," he remembers. "It was interesting ... I held it in my hand and thought, 'I wonder who held this before?' and 'What was it spent on?' It's the thrill of history."
Dr. Richard Trent enjoys the challenge of the hunt, even if old nails seem to be his only treasure.
"I'm the king of nails," he chuckles. "But it's a treasure hunt every time. You never know what you're going to dig up."
And while digging up coins, nails, and other relics of the past is great fun for them, Odom plans to use their skills to enhance the community.
He wants to team up with law enforcement to find discarded weapons when necessary, he wants to hold fundraisers, and he even wants to help people find lost jewelry.
"The possibility to go out and be a good neighbor exists, and that's what I want this club to be," he says. "We will be a community-conscious organization."
For more information, call Odom at 903-330-9697 or call co-founder Mike Mladan at 903-216-6888.
Lindsay Randall writes features. She can be reached at 903.596-6284. e-mail:
features@tylerpaper.com
©Tyler Morning Telegraph 2006
, so I am thinking about starting up a club. Never having attended a meeting I am not sure what is involved and would love any advice you have. I am thinking about running a few ads in the newspaper to find people who might be intrested along with posting flyer's. I know finding a location to hold the meetings won't be a problem. Can a few of you give me a basic outline on what your club does, when it meets, what you discuss, how often you meet for hunts. Do you pay fees for being a member and what does that cover. I thought about asking for an annual membership of like $15 a person and put it all towards running ads. 
