The day started out bright and early for many of the HRRS members that were there to help with set up of the registration tent, marking the event field, and seeding the event field with buried prizes, tokens and coins.

As the sun began to rise, you could see that it was going to be a great day with perfect weather. With the first hunt, starting at 9am, people started arriving for registration soon after the registration / sign in tent was set up.

Many people were stopping by to find out what was going on. This event draws many spectators and really boosts an interest in the hobby of metal detecting.

We held a brief meeting to go over the do’s and do nots for our clubs’ hunt. Even though permits were obtained from the local government, we still needed to remind everyone that the beach area was the only legal area to hunt. With the Historic Yorktown area literally surrounding our hunt area, a brief reminder of local regulations and laws was needed to keep the event fun and avoid any problems. Something as simple as crossing the street to hunt could end a detectors day in a hurry.

At 9am we were ready to begin a great day of hunting in our first of four hunts. With a resounding “Detectors Ready! Hunt!” our club president Bruce E. Dunlap got the day started. If you have never been to a club hunt it really is a sight to see. People with every detector you can imagine scramble across a beach in hopes of finding that one token or prize that will make the day an even more special day.

After our warm-up hunt was over the field was cleared for reseeding for our all silver and token hunt. Once again our club president gave the word at 10:30 to start the hunt. Once again over 50 participants took to the field to find all that they could find.

Lunch break came all too soon for some as the field was cleared once again. Now we all know that our youth are the future of this hobby so HRRS sponsored a kids hunt this year as well. With separate areas set up for each child and ability, our eight participants had a great time finding those treasures in the sand. Toys, Coins, and Tokens were buried prior to the hunt and each child was allowed to select an area and hunt by themselves. With parents offering encouragement and guidance the kids scanned there areas until all the treasures were found.

Each area had a token that was good for a numbered treasure chest. Each was stuffed with coins and other prizes ranging from a year subscription to Lost Treasures magazine to the grand prize of a token good for a Bounty Hunter Discovery 1100 metal detector. Needless to say both parents and young hunters alike had a great time.

Once the kids hunt was completed we got set up for our next full beach hunt at 1pm. By now the sun was blazing down on the beach in full force. Our participants full from lunch at the local vendors and restaurants took to the beach once again in hopes of finding that one token good for the larger prizes.

By 2pm, we were ready for our last hunt of the day. Energy was high as even more spectators stopped to ask what was going on and find out more about the club and its event. This was a great time to get the crowd together and cheer on the final hunt. By the time the final horn sounded, the day had already been a success. Now it was time to award the prizes.

Everyone gathered with tokens in hand to hear the prizes and awards read out one by one. Prizes ranged from gold and silver mint coins, to detecting gear and magazine subscriptions. Just about everyone walked away with some sort of prize.

Grand prizes of the day were two metal detectors. With special iron keys as tokens the retrievers of the tokens each got to pick an envelope. Envelopes were good for a Silver Mint Coin or good for a detector. This lottery/envelope system was great for giving away the detectors since it gave each finder of a key a good chance of winning the ultimate prize. The only flaw is all the tokens/keys need to be found. On our last hunt believe it or not two key tokens were never found and our winner actually found two of the special token keys. Needless to say he was happy with his chances and eventual win of the White’s Detector.

I think that it goes without saying that this type of event does wonders for our hobby as well as our club. We get people interested in metal detecting and it becomes a wholesome family event that everyone can enjoy. There is a lot of work though that goes on behind the scenes to pull off an event like this though so be prepared to invest some time if your club is interested in holding such an event. Hats off to all those that participated and helped with this event. We truly hope everyone had a great time. We look forward to seeing everyone that attended in 2007 for our next club hunt as well as anyone interested in attending our regular meetings. Please feel free to drop by and meet all our members face to face. Check out the Calendar page for dates and location of our next meeting.