Getting Started and Setting up hunt field

As you can see from the photos we were a little worried if the sky would open up on us and rain down. We were blessed with no rain and cool temperatures though throughout the day.

Registration

Registration started at 9:45 this year and everyone was eager to sign in and start. This is a great time for our members to mingle and catch up on the latest news or show off their detectors or latest finds. This is also a great opportunity to hand out brochures and get passers by interested in metal detecting and join the club. I handed out a few brochures despite the weather so it was a total public relations success for me. Now on to the Hunt!

Warm up Hunt

Our warm up hunt is a chance for everyone to check out their detectors, batteries and other equipment to make sure everything works under the current conditions. With wet sand its not a huge deal for most detectors but finding out that your plastic digging tools are having a tough go of making a dent in the sand at least gives everyone a chance to swap out equipment or try alternative digging methods.

Main Hunt

This is the event. The prize tokens for the "good stuff" are in this hunt as well as more coinage. I believe the average "hit" ratio for this hunt was about 40 hits per person. Needless to say there is usually a mad scramble at the start to cover as much of the field as quickly as possbile. Once the mad scramble is done you can settle in for the rest of the hunt and gradually scope out a pattern on the hunt field.

With 14 other people in a marked hunt field this can prove difficult for some people due to detector interference. We try and have a good sized hunt field for the number of people we have participating but as with any competitive event there is a chance that your detector could go a bit nuts with the signals from other detectors as you try not to run into each other.

As an observer of these events I find it very interesting to just watch and discover the various methods each person uses. What impresses me the most is when another member notices some frustration with a fellow club member and stops to help them by providing some pointers from their experience. We indeed have a great group of people and I am fortunate to know and interact with them through our club.

 

Prize Time

Prizes this year ranged from Metal Detecting gear like scoops, baskets, a pin pointer and shovels. We also had some knives, multi-tools and other digging tools up for grabs. Silver coins were some of our most coveted prizes this year with ten high quality coins being given away. Below are some photos of the prizes and the winners or those prizes.

We had a great turnout this year and I look forward to our next club hunt. They are always a lot of fun for me and its great to see everyone having a good time in a club like atmosphere. I appreciate everyone that attended including those that had a very long drive to join us for this event. As with any club event the organizers need all the credit. Susan and Robert our hunt masters take time from their busy schedules to purchase the prizes and organize the tokens and seed coinage for every event. An event of this type without their skills would not be the success it is every year. Your hard work is appreciated by everyone at HRRS but most of all me.

See you at the next meeting.

Barry Merrill- HRRS President.