No Luck Ohioan

[zach01]

Just throwing this out there.
Hi guys, my 11 yr old son and I starting creeking in southwest ohio last spring searching for anything. Now that fall hunting season is here, we hunt pheasant, now we walk plowed fields, corn rows, creeks, ditches, etc while were hunting, but we always keep our eyes on the grouing. We have found nothing to speak up, just pieces of flint. Although we have got our share of pheasant.

Thanks, gettin frustrated.

[meetmaker]

Hey Zacho1, I'm sitting here eating pheasant noodle soup. Getting the fixin's for that I consider plenty lucky. I do the same as you, it is a good way to find stuff, not just artifacts but bottles, burls, all kind of neat things to carry home. I pay extra attention to groundhog diggings, erosion washes and poke about the base of toppled trees, if not for an artifact but the explosion of a grouse is a good reward. Good luck, it sounds like you have the perfect partner.

[willybee]

lots of artifact hunters think its just luck. i won't completely deny that LUCK exists (i hope to have some one day!) but finding artifacts is NOT JUST LUCK. finding them on purpose is possible.

arrowhead hunting seemed like such an easy concept at first>you walk around and look down. in practical application however, it turned out to be MUCH more complicated than i ever imagined.

first thing you need to realize is that its not just WHERE, its also WHEN. in other words-even if you know where an indian camp is located that doesn't mean there will be artifacts exposed there.

there exists a window of opportunity at which an artifact lies exposed on the surface. this window is VERY TEMPORARY. ground erosion due to weather, digging or plowing done by man, even disturbance of soil by wildlife> these actions expose an artifact ONLY TEMPORARILY.

that artifact will lie there for a short time, and then be lost again when its covered up by ground erosion due to weather, digging or plowing done by man or disturbance of wildlife once again.

your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to place your body at that particular spot in the space time continuum where and when that artifact is exposed and snatch that sucker up like its insulin and you're a diabetic.

i have been working on finding these windows for six years now. it makes great sense to hunt arrowheads while pheasant hunting or doing a myriad of other activites. however when conditions are BEST for pheasant hunting is not necessarily when conditions are BEST for arrowhead hunting.

i know of many sites within striking distance of my house.
i am not randomly going to a site because its wednesday and i am off work.

when do i hunt my sites?

2 rules of engagement

1. follow the erosion-weather is everything. did it just rain 2 inches on my spot? did the river just go up 8 feet and back down again? knowing these things is just as important as knowing where to look.

2. be first-first one there gets the arrowhead. whether on purpose or on accident, once any person sees that artifact, its gone. you also need to be there before the artifact gets covered up again or washed away.

i realize this is a part time fun activity and hobby for most people -- life gets in the way and WHEN you go hunting is not always in your control-there are still times when WINDOWS WILL BE OPEN TO YOU. the artifacts will be just LAYING THERE, waiting.

modern technology makes it easy to know exactly where it rained and how much.
think about your timing more-wait until a heavy rain before you go back there again-
meanwhile start hunting some new places.

willy

[fldwlkr]

I am no expert but these things work for me in South East Ohio.
1) Look for a stream or water source within eye site.
2) I have more luck one or two levels up from the flood plain.
3) If I'm finding flint flakes I'm getting warm.
4) It seems that if I find one point there are more close by. I have a few fields
that are productive in a 20yd. circle but nowhere else. These hot spots get
more of my time.

If you would set up camp there... they already did,
fldwlkr

[Buckeye]

Great post willy!

I've been doing this for only two years and have come to the same conclusions.

One of my most productive spots hasn't been disced in two years and I still find points there.

It is in a flood plain created by a dam on the river.

When I fist got permission it had just been planted with corn.
I have gotten to see this small field in many different forms and have learned a great deal about when to hunt it ( and others by proxy).

I've seen it freshly flooded, dry as a bone, beneath 8 feet of water, freshly planted and all the stages up to harvest and after,due to not being planted this year.

Including, watching it slowly turn into a weedy field, that was later sprayed to kill most of the weeds.

I've seen what floods,quick rains and prolonged rains, and snow can do to expose artifacts...many times I've gone and not found anything, only to go back after an environmental event to find them exposed...in spots I've walked over many, many times ( never go right after a flood, even the Chert has a layer of mud that sticks because of slowly dropping water tables, have to wait for another rain to clear this off, then go).

Learning this has been an excellent lesson in to where and why to hunt.

I carefully pick which site I'm going to hunt each time, by considering the condition off the field, but most especially by how the elements have been recently.

[MidlandMan]

You make your own luck. The previous responses are great advice. The only thing I might add is try to contact someone in your area with more experience and seek local advice on where to look. One thing for sure if you don't look you don't find!