Seeded Hunts? Anybody ever do them?:shrug:

[mudpuppy]

Excellent! Keep these experiences coming! This certainly sounds like a subset skill within our Sport that takes some preparation and practice to master...

Anybody know of the really big and valuable hunts I should look into? Do a 'CannonBall Run' type of thing for 2015?
Mud

 

[mudpuppy]

Been watching youtube vids on seeded hunts as you brothers can imagine...'Troy Custom Detectors' site has some good tips on 'competition hunting'...One huge question, Does a person need to belong to a local Club (pay the yearly dues and entry fee) to participate, or are they all open to the public with just the entry fee??

Learning a lot from some of the vids..seems fast and focused is the way to go...

On another note, my hunting buddy just scored on his first 18k ring this am!...inscribed with initials and '1881'...texted me a pic while he was still in field!!
Mud

 

[Larry (IL)]

All of the hunts you read about ahead of time are open hunts for anyone. The club hunts for club members only are some of your best though, a lot higher return. A good example is our hunt last fall. We have 40 members, 25 attended, but had a $4000 hunt...... you do the math.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126907403@N08/sets/72157647299752676/

 

[Sven]

Our club has two seeded hunts at the beach every year.
Everyone pays $20 in $1 and $2 coins entry fee. All these coins get buried, Figure 25 on average show up that's $500 in the sand right off the bat.
Then theres the silver coins that get buried usually about , at least 10 per person.
Each member also donates a $10 prize. As well as other donated prizes from manufacturers.
Lots of fun and you don't need a high end detector to participate.
Everyone walks away with coins and goodies.

Take a look at the pictures:
http://www.tvmda.net/Club_Hunt.php


Or every year is the Giant Ontario, Canada Competition hunt were the big boys get serious and still have fun. Much bigger entry fee with big buck prizes.
http://www.metaldetectinghunt.com/

 

[chuck ky]

don't know what part of the country you're in but there's a couple of week long hunts that are pretty good. one by silver seekers i think its in penn. and another in southern indiana. sometimes if they give away a lot of detectors there may not be as many smaller targets in the ground. check the fmdac and lost treasure websites they have a list of hunts. i really enjoyed them but don't like to drive very far and there's not many in my area right now. good luck

 

[ironsight]

comparing a seeded hunt to shooting fish in a barrell is like saying you prefer to kill, clean, and cook your supper than go to a restaurant.

LOL, OK, shooting fish in a barrel for me would only be for sustenance purposes. But that suggests someone put those fish in that barrel. Ain't no sport or challenge shooting those 'seeded' fish in a barrel.
Likewise, I can't for the life of me see detecting something someone buried on purpose. Ain't no sporting challenging IMO.
I really don't get these seeded hunt so called contests, that is unless there's a beer garden open'd up after those seeded hunts. LOL.

Me thinks some of you all are waaay too much into your metal detectors.

 

[mudpuppy]

Way too much into our detectors? Is that possible?

Well, I'm gonna do at least one, maybe more, I think it would be helpful to learn some other skills from people, and try some alternate rigs too...

Theres a LOT of skill involved shooting fish in a barrel when you are up against the clock and a whole lot of other people...from what I can tell, to be super successful at a seeded hunt a guy has gotta be really fast, so hoping all these years I spent speed cladstabbing will translate over to an event where it might be appreciated!..

For the cost of entry, its a no-brainer...some folks spend that kind of money on lottery tickets weekly with nothing to show for it..at least a guy would get some great conversation and learn a few tricks from the others....

Some of the sweetest fish I ever ate came out of a barrel! some of the finest deer had carrots in their mouth!
Mud

 

[Sven]

Been watching youtube vids on seeded hunts as you brothers can imagine...'Troy Custom Detectors' site has some good tips on 'competition hunting'...One huge question, Does a person need to belong to a local Club (pay the yearly dues and entry fee) to participate, or are they all open to the public with just the entry fee??
Mud

Our hunts were for club members only, they are not open to the general public.
But, it was discussed to allow non-members to enter for an add'l fee $20 which by the way covers yearly dues, so you basically just joined the club.
Trouble with open hunts allowing the public to join in, you might get a professional competition hunter coming in just for the day with serious intent..........
Club hunts are mainly a get together to enjoy the members and have some friendly fun, its not a knock down competition hunt.

 

[mudpuppy]

OK. Sven, thanks...a guy would NOT want to go to a casual event and just ruin it by being too aggressive.....so evidently theres a difference..?.

theres straight Competition Hunts..(where you can be aggressive)..and then just general (take it easy) Club Hunts from the sounds of it, right?.......

I would like to try at least one of each just to see...Maybe I better call somebody and ask questions or this thread will get too long...like is there a Grand National Shootout for the pros? etc...thanks everybody!
Mud

 

[Sven]

There are have been big National Hunts, big buck prizes, gold coins and multitude of detectors given away.
You better be fast and know your detector and able to pluck the target out of the ground.
Some places used a brass prize token. Guys would notch out every thing else but those tokens. Why waste time digging silver dimes. Prize tokens are much more valuable, hundreds of dollars and more....
Gives you an idea what your up against.......and you want a detector not bothered by others. Teknetics Turbo competition detector had a frequency switch control. Talk about trouble, switch to frequency 3, think it was, and no one would be within 15 feet of you, acted like a jammer. It was not a deep machine ( doesn't have to be for the hunts) targets are not that deep. You need a fast target response, separation and recovery motion machine, precise pinpointing, lightweight like the Turbo. I'm sure many machines would fit the bill these days.

Club hunt any machine will do, our members are on the older side, there's fun competition amongst us. Don't think any of us are that fast anymore...LOL. Its more fun the see the youngsters clean up with those inexpensive $59 Bounty Hunters..........

 

[REVIER]

Every year our club has its annual seeded hunt end of the year festivities.
The food is great, the yearly awards given out are nice, and we have two 1 hour seeded hunts on Sunday and at least one smaller seeded fun hunt in the dark on Saturday night for those that want to attend.
The 2 fields we use for the Sunday hunts hold also way over 100 special tokens that are traded in for the special prizes which are awarded using a blind raffle system so everyone has a shot at any and all prizes.

The Sunday seeded hunts cost me $75 to enter, I have done 3 of these and this is what I have learned.
Ya gotta be fast, most of the coins and in our case extra tokens buried for prizes are mostly gathered up in the first 15-20 minutes.
They are not deep, but a good technique and quick recovery are most important, getting that coil moving before you even stand up fully to find the next target goes far in gathering up the most targets.
I tie a pouch around my ankle to drop all my targets into while I am still bent over.
Even a few partial seconds dropping them into a pocket or pouch can cost you a target or two...or more.
A fast machine might help, I always use my Compadre with a 7" coil, then switch to my F70 or other detector with a big coil when most targets are found to find any last lingering hiding targets left.
I have not noticed many problems with interference with another members machine ever, but you are not usually near any other hunter for an extended period of time.

For the $225 I have spent on these 3 hunts I have acquired all this so far.
I use the silver to pay for entry fees for the next year so once you pay for the first one if you are good enough the silver you find will get you close to break even.
The extra prize tokens you find are icing on the cake, and our club has close to the most amount of and best quality prizes awarded out of any club out there.
Not sure how much all these prizes are worth but it is up there.

Along with the wheaties, Mexican coins, silver dimes and other odd silver coins I gathered up I have also won these prizes with the tokens I found...

A huge and complete History of the Civil War book..New about a $70 but even used still at about $30 and up
When I say huge I mean not only in the amount of pages but the size.
I could put 4 legs under it and use it as a coffee table...practically.

A numismatic grading book
An Angus Mackirk sluice and Whites gold pan valued at over $100 retail
A high quality Bill Babbs travel scoop....listed at $179 on his website
A small glass display case, magnifier and Barber half and I traded the barber half for a full size ring display case.
A large silver Mexican coil at .900 silver...one of the largest silver coins ever minted
A Morgan dollar
A modern .999 one ounce silver Walker
A few proof sets different years and different coins

I have made back all my entry fees and then some, got some great prizes and had a great time doing it.
One member won a top grand prize of an F70 on our 2013 hunt, an AT Pro was also another top prize, but he is a Whites guy and didn't want it so he sold it to me in brand new never used condition for $400 so in effect I consider this tool another prize I won in a roundabout way even though I had to pay for it.

If the opportunity ever came up I would definitely consider entering a public seeded hunt if they had a chance at some nice prizes and I could work out the logistics.

 

[ironsight]

Way too much into our detectors? Is that possible?
Yep i think it just might be possible, the proof is this here thread!

Well, I'm gonna do at least one, maybe more, I think it would be helpful to learn some other skills from people, and try some alternate rigs too...
Theres a LOT of skill involved shooting fish in a barrel when you are up against the clock and a whole lot of other people...
Naah, if'n i ever get a chance to shoot seeded fish out of a barrel, there won't be no stink'n clock involved!

from what I can tell, to be super successful at a seeded hunt a guy has gotta be really fast, so hoping all these years I spent speed cladstabbing will translate over to an event where it might be appreciated!..

For the cost of entry, its a no-brainer...some folks spend that kind of money on lottery tickets weekly with nothing to show for it..at least a guy would get some great conversation and learn a few tricks from the others....
Tricks to find seeded targets someone buried on purpose? The only real practical detecting tricks are gained from experience and experimentation with one's gear to search for deep targets among junk in sites that have been picked over and over ad nauseum...not seeded nor with no stop watches involved. The only trick to learn from these contests is how to dig seeded targets against a F'n stop watch.

Some of the sweetest fish I ever ate came out of a barrel! some of the finest deer had carrots in their mouth!
Ok, some of the sweetest coins i found were dropped over a Century ago and were not seeded.

I'll tell you what, if someone wins one of those goofy seeded contests with a $1,000,000 prize, i just might begrudgingly show up at one of those, but only if there's beer involved!
Mud

 

[chuck ky]

the tip of the day at new.losttreasure.com today has some info about seeded hunts

 

[mudpuppy]

Hey REVIER, what settings do you run on your 70 at that hunt?

Ironsight...Cant you at least appreciate the comraderie, laughs, food, prizes, and the whole speed dynamic associated with this? Granted, It does take skill to hunt for century old coin natural drops, one we all appreciate and attempt to master.

Theres so many sub-sets of skills within this Sport that it would take a guy a Lifetime to try to master them all...and thats good!...getting in with a group or hanging on this Forum helps a person identify what sub-set may hold an interest and if any of the other skills translate across...

Theres also a certain skill that takes practice to run very fast and shallow and have Century days in a few hours on modern coin count as well! I do agree with you on one thing... beer would be massive benefit!
Mud

Thanks Chuck, I'm gonna go check that site!

 

[Sven]

Our club has is very interesting.
the coins are not buried by hand, They are thrown into the ground. The sand quickly covers them up.
Most end up on edge. Once everyone is on the hunt field, it only takes a few minutes for them to get pushed flat.
So if you hunt in all metal mode and your detector is good at finding coins on edge, then you have a good 2 minute edge.
We dig with scoops, many wear baskets on a belt and its scoop and dump. Any sand soon sifts out of the basket.

 

[REVIER]

Hey REVIER, what settings do you run on your 70 at that hunt?

All the tokens are copper cents so those and the silver dimes all came in high so didn't need much to find them.
Disc was set high at nickel or above somewhere.
The planters make a slit in the ground and slip each coin into it so none were really deep, either.

Also I forgot to show you the best prize I won this year, a beautiful Sampson shovel with cuts on the side and a belt holder came along with it.