One, I agree, it's a pain on archers to get their arrows back during an invasion if you aren't letting anyone loot. Second, I search as much and as fast as I possibly can during an invasion for three reasons. One, to get my arrows. Two, because ranged users don't suffer from encumbrance the same as melee folks do. Three, because it helps to be able to see what the hell is in the room. It's likely I keep most of the silvers but return them during various Drake function later on. I'll pick up higher end gems instead of just leaving them lay there, which we very often do during invasions. I turn around and make orb gems for raises, in which I give away all of them without asking for returns or tips.
Kembal, it's possible you saw the Drakes come through Mezics last night to go to a grim warcamp. We hit a Solhaven warcamp about once a week, two out of three weeks or so.