Starting A Metal Detecting Club

[Gare]

Has anyone ever started a metal detecting club ? How about the by laws did you make your own or use another clubs for starters. Just wondering what all we would need to succeed ? Do's and Dont's PLEASE share your ideas !!!! If someone has a list of a clubs bylaws sure would be nice also.

 

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[Mackaydon]

MDHTALK - Article: Club Metal Detecting By Laws Templete by Lee Wiese
Good luck with your club.
Don......

 

[roaddust66]

I have been in four clubs in the last 35 years. The less rules you have the better it will be. Meet , eat , have a speaker ....maybe have a Christmas Party , a Summer pic nic , Have a clinic each Summer for beginners......leave it at that. Keep it simple. Vote on each member. You can vote them out if they make trouble. Have them inducted in a ceremony and swear an oath not to put the club in a bad light. Things like find of the month ...cause trouble ...people get mad if they don't win the trophy ....Club hunts work well ... Always have a speaker...don't make it a business meeting...that gets boring ...

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Good luck in your effort. But a word to-the-wise: The era of brick & mortar clubs has gone by the wayside. Starting since the late 1990s, attendance and interest waned . Because people nowadays get their socializing, educating, show & tell, meeting others, from the comfort of their easy chair at home. No one gets off their duff 1x p/month and drives to a meeting. Web-forums have taken the place of seeing who's -finding-what, what's the latest tech. pro's & con's, showing off one's finds, seeing who's in your area, etc....

Only the biggest cities have clubs anymore. Clubs = R.I.P.

 

[Kansas_Jayhawk]

I have been in four clubs in the last 35 years. The less rules you have the better it will be. Meet , eat , have a speaker ....maybe have a Christmas Party , a Summer pic nic , Have a clinic each Summer for beginners......leave it at that. Keep it simple. Vote on each member. You can vote them out if they make trouble. Have them inducted in a ceremony and swear an oath not to put the club in a bad light. Things like find of the month ...cause trouble ...people get mad if they don't win the trophy ....Club hunts work well ... Always have a speaker...don't make it a business meeting...that gets boring ...

But humans don’t like simple we like complex and convoluted.

Your suggestions make a lot of sense.

 

[Kansas_Jayhawk]

Good luck in your effort. But a word to-the-wise: The era of brick & mortar clubs has gone by the wayside. Starting since the late 1990s, attendance and interest waned . Because people nowadays get their socializing, educating, show & tell, meeting others, from the comfort of their easy chair at home. No one gets off their duff 1x p/month and drives to a meeting. Web-forums have taken the place of seeing who's -finding-what, what's the latest tech. pro's & con's, showing off one's finds, seeing who's in your area, etc....

Only the biggest cities have clubs anymore. Clubs = R.I.P.

True but show me the trophy

Social media has good and bad. Does help in getting quick answers to questions. Great to see the finds. But we do need human interaction.

 

[Loco-Digger]

Treasure net is my MD club, (only cost me $20 a year and I am in 12 monthly drawings)

I belonged to a county specific FB page thinking we could get together on occasion and hunt since we are all local to each other (within 8 to 20 miles). One time we set a date to meet at a sports bar so we could have a meet and greet, to show some finds, tell some stories, and to eat/drink together. Only 3 of us showed up. What a bummer.

I set up a couple hunts with the group owner, drove 20 miles out of my way twice to go get him and take him to some of my permissions and other sites. Not a thank you or ever an invite to hunt with him since then. He dug his oldest US coin at one of the sites (a buffalo nickel). Another member I got permission for the both of us to hunt numerous sites one day. I was surprised to see that he hunted without a finds pouch of any kind. At the 1st site I notices that every can or trash signal he dug he placed the can or trash on the dirt after filling the hole. I felt obligated to go back over the area he hunted and to pick up the trash and cans and throw them in my 5 gallon trash bucket. This permission was hard to get and we needed to carry the documents with us. Lo and behold the ranger did look for us just to see what we were finding and if we had our permission slips on us. Needless to say I never offered to take him out again. Not long after that hunt I quit that FB group. Neither of those 2 guys ever contacted me to hunt one of their sites. You can ask anyone, I'm a friendly guy and love to hunt with others. Neither of those two MDers are members here on Tnet.

I have hunted with many here on Tnet, my kind of people, fun to be with and they share their sites. There are a handful of members within 100 miles of me that I plan on hunting with this year. A few in Ohio, a couple in PA and maybe one in MI. I have hunted with Fuzzy535 a few times, he's a great guy and plan on getting out with Armor9 soon.

I am hunting with Carolina Tom, relic nut and damnails later this month in Va. My 1st CW hunt and I am very excited and looking forward to it.

Good Luck with your club.

 

[Kansas_Jayhawk]

Treasure net is my MD club, (only cost me $20 a year and I am in 12 monthly drawings)

I belonged to a county specific FB page thinking we could get together on occasion and hunt since we are all local to each other (within 8 to 20 miles). One time we set a date to meet at a sports bar so we could have a meet and greet, to show some finds, tell some stories, and to eat/drink together. Only 3 of us showed up. What a bummer.

I set up a couple hunts with the group owner, drove 20 miles out of my way twice to go get him and take him to some of my permissions and other sites. Not a thank you or ever an invite to hunt with him since then. He dug his oldest US coin at one of the sites (a buffalo nickel). Another member I got permission for the both of us to hunt numerous sites one day. I was surprised to see that he hunted without a finds pouch of any kind. At the 1st site I notices that every can or trash signal he dug he placed the can or trash on the dirt after filling the hole. I felt obligated to go back over the area he hunted and to pick up the trash and cans and throw them in my 5 gallon trash bucket. This permission was hard to get and we needed to carry the documents with us. Lo and behold the ranger did look for us just to see what we were finding and if we had our permission slips on us. Needless to say I never offered to take him out again. Not long after that hunt I quit that FB group. Neither of those 2 guys ever contacted me to hunt one of their sites. You can ask anyone, I'm a friendly guy and love to hunt with others. Neither of those two MDers are members here on Tnet.

I have hunted with many here on Tnet, my kind of people, fun to be with and they share their sites. There are a handful of members within 100 miles of me that I plan on hunting with this year. A few in Ohio, a couple in PA and maybe one in MI. I have hunted with Fuzzy535 a few times, he's a great guy and plan on getting out with Armor9 soon.

I am hunting with Carolina Tom, relic nut and damnails later this month in Va. My 1st CW hunt and I am very excited and looking forward to it.

Good Luck with your club.

Back about 15 years ago I lived in KS and went to a club meeting in Hutchinson KS at the Methodist church. Had just bought you first detector. Big group and was interesting. I drove 45 minutes to get there and after the meeting was interrogated by a handful of guys once they found out where I lived. They asked if I had places to hunt, permission to hunt, etc. they all said “would like to drive down and hunt with you”. Never went back as not one invited me or offered to trade hunts.

 

[Loco-Digger]

We hear you have some good sites young man, care to share?

 

[Peyton Manning]

if I lived on the beach I would start a club

1. bathing suits only

2 females only may join (not counting me)

3. I will apply free sunscreen

4 members must supply the founder with cold beer

 

[Honest Samuel]

There are some great treasure hunting clubs in the great state of Connecticut. Good hunting and good luck.

 

[Loco-Digger]

Jeff, I see you'r name popping up concerning the "Me To" movement sometime soon with that club.

 

[Rookster]

Folks in my town are too tight to by AA batteries but they want you to tell them where your places are. But good luck.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.....

Social media has good and bad. Does help in getting quick answers to questions. Great to see the finds. But we do need human interaction.

Ah, but the internet hobbyist forums ARE "human interaction".

And if you meant flesh & blood friends, to go out and hit spot in tandem (ie.: hunting buddies), then notice that there is no shortage of persons on forums say "Anyone in such such part of such & such state?" Or "moving to Phoenix. Any hunters over there want to go out and try some spots?" , blah blah blah. Thus it satisfies the "human interaction" need as well

That's why only the biggest cities have clubs anymore. And even those are declining in attendance. Clubs: R.I.P.

 

[TerryC]

if I lived on the beach I would start a club

1. bathing suits only

2 females only may join (not counting me)

3. I will apply free sunscreen

4 members must supply the founder with cold beer

Was that "founder" or "found her" with cold beer? ╦╦Ç

 

[Texas Jay]

My metal detecting buddy and I started the Central Texas Treasure Club in 1981 in my duplex apartment in Brownwood, Texas. Only 3 attended our first meeting, the two of us and a visitor and the visitor didn't join because he said "I'm a professional treasure hunter and I don't want to ruin my reputation by joining an amateur club." He had a very inflated opinion of himself but we didn't let that deter us. A couple of years later, once our club had grown to over 20 members, the same "professional" came to a meeting and joined that night. ha
We operated quite well for over 30 years without having any By Laws but about 4 years ago, our then-President suggested we compose some so we did. I had always shunned taking an officer's position in our club until this past January when our club was faced with the dilemma of either filling the open positions, after the former President and Hunt Master up and quit leaving our club in shambles, or disbanding after 36 years. I wasn't about to let that happen so I accepted the President's office and quickly found 4 other members who were willing to fill the other vacancies. Our club has been steadily growing again ever since. One of the first headaches I faced as the new President was having to go through all the paperwork to get one amendment to the By Laws passed. So, my suggestion to you is to not worry about By Laws for the first several years. Just work on growing, putting money in the club's bank account, and having plenty of activities so that all the members have fun. In this little town of less than 20,000 residents, our club is one of the 5 oldest treasure/metal detecting clubs in Texas. Have fun and they will come!
~Texas Jay
Central Texas Treasure Club