Tips On Creek Walking Or Field Walking/ Lets Hear Your Tips

[monsterrack]

I am no expert but these are things that have worked for me over the years. First I would say and it should go unsaid but take your time and walk slow. As I said in another post I do what I call the duck walk ,I bend over and place my hands on my knees and get a real close look, and I know some folks have back problems and can't do that, so never try to look over a square area of 3ft then take a step and start over. After I go down the rock bar in one direction I turn around and go back the way I came, until I have walked the whole bar like that, believe me a different angle gives a complete different view. Then before I leave that rock bar I stand up straight look high up on the banks, I have found points more than 5ft out of the creek beds and you never know what may be sticking out of the bank and also as I am walking on to the next rock bar I'm still looking at the ground that I just looked over. Also look in the water, if it is shallow enough make sure the sun is at your back so there will not be a glare. If the water is deep 1-3ft, you can cut the bottom out of a plastic bucket and put plexa glass in the bottom using rubber silicone to seal it in , be sure to leave about a 1/2 of a inch of the bottom of the bucket around the edge, so the plexa glass will have a good area to seal too, the bucket thing helps when there is a lot of ripples no matter the depth of the water, by placing it in the water it is amazing what you can see. Just be sure to walk up stream, so not to cloud up the water and that is another pointer when walking creeks always try to start down stream and work your way up stream.

I know some will say this will take all day and it does take a long time to search a place just right, because you never know what you may walk right by. I have found this works in fields also, you just don't have to walk has slow in a plowed field. I have walked right past a tip of a point in a field only to find it when I came back just a few feet away looking at a different angle. In my line of work and most any kind you need to double check things, so it goes in hunting artifacts. I hope this will help someone and like I said this is just the way I do it , others may have some better tips and I would like to hear some of them myself, because this old dog can learn new tricks.

 

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[Jon Stewart]

I can only post as to what we do out west as I have yet to find a point in Michigan and it's not because I haven't looked.

In the morning and evening we walk into the sun. Chips and points will sparkle like dime laying in the gas station parking lot.

I carry a stone scoop which is a long handled (length of a golf club) walking stick with a clam shell like scoop on the bottom (with holes in the clam shell so sand will leak out). I flip more rocks over than most which I think is the reason I find so many mano's.

I kick a lot of rocks that stick out of the ground. I have found many buried metate's with just a small portion of the rock showing. The last two found were two sided. One side was warn out so they turned the metate over and used the other side.

When I metal detect I walk real slow and look at rocks and listen to the detector noise.

Look on the east/south eastern side of hills, mounds and mountains as the Natives tend to use that area because of the amount/length(time) of the warm sun.

Guess that is it for now.

 

[ncnurseryman]

Some good tip guys. Thanks for sharing. I'm just starting on looking in creeks and river. Got to pick up some muck boots still. I was also thinking about picking up a kayak to get to other areas on a river. Anyone use a kayak or canoe to hunt down waterways.

 

[NCPeaches]

I've only been creek hunting for a year and monsterrack I "duck" walk alot! lol I find pottery shards most the time and they are usually buried in sand bars but after a rain I've found them on top of things on the bank. The water where I hunt is usually no deeper than 6 inches but after a rain I will use a garden rake in the deeper spots to rake from the bottom to the top up on sand bars. The few points I've found were either on the bank in a pebble bar or in the creek stuck between the rocks and it does pay to duck walk and look both coming and going and to walk slow. I've also had great luck raking sand bars in the bends and especially good luck around tree stumps in sand bars for the shards, and have even found a few on the upper side of a fallen tree that has been there for a while. If you are a shard hunter it really pays to rake the sand bars and let the water sift it for you.

 

[outlawatheart]

For field hunting I like to have a good walking stick. Shorter with a good grip for getting low. It'll help ya not get that crick in your back. I have a couple of metal hose clamps on the tip of mine to help flip over camp rocks so I don't have to bend over so much. Always hunt a grid so you don't miss areas. Nothing worse than seeing foot prints close together and in long straight rows on your favorite hill. Probably means slim pickings. Being those first tracks is the way to find the good stuff. Poke and/or flip everything. One of my best points looked like a little chip of flint until I poked it and saw it was big!! I don't like to hunt in the mud, wet rocks and mud look alike so I wait until things are dryer for more contrast.
I'm just getting into the creek thing...Lovin that bucket idea MR!!

 

[GatorBoy]

"Sand bars".. Stay away from them if you want to find stone.
I'm not saying it never happens but from my experience when the bank of a river Creek or stream is eroded by moving water the material becomes separated by density and surface area... Without getting too technical... Things like pottery will wind up where the sand collects things like stone artifacts will wind up where the gravel collects.
The same works for fossil hunting creeks and streams.
You can usually see a sandbar and look just up current from it and find where the gravel settled.. it may even have a thin layer of sand over it in spots.
If you find an area where you have good reason to believe there will be artifacts and you have the good gravel layer it would behoove you to spend a good long time and what may seem like a small area.
I even like hand fanning the sand away from gravel layers just below the surface when there's a decent current.. The glass bottom bucket works great.
Now this is just my experience but so does a tank of air and a mask.
A lot of people don't realize how much work being a Florida artifact hunter was.
Once you realize you're not going to have a nice easy stroll in a plowed field and get used to sharing space with alligators it gets easier after a little while.

 

[painterx7]

I am no expert but these are things that have worked for me over the years. First I would say and it should go unsaid but take your time and walk slow. As I said in another post I do what I call the duck walk ,I bend over and place my hands on my knees and get a real close look, and I know some folks have back problems and can't do that, so never try to look over a square area of 3ft then take a step and start over. After I go down the rock bar in one direction I turn around and go back the way I came, until I have walked the whole bar like that, believe me a different angle gives a complete different view. Then before I leave that rock bar I stand up straight look high up on the banks, I have found points more than 5ft out of the creek beds and you never know what may be sticking out of the bank and also as I am walking on to the next rock bar I'm still looking at the ground that I just looked over. Also look in the water, if it is shallow enough make sure the sun is at your back so there will not be a glare. If the water is deep 1-3ft, you can cut the bottom out of a plastic bucket and put plexa glass in the bottom using rubber silicone to seal it in , be sure to leave about a 1/2 of a inch of the bottom of the bucket around the edge, so the plexa glass will have a good area to seal too, the bucket thing helps when there is a lot of ripples no matter the depth of the water, by placing it in the water it is amazing what you can see. Just be sure to walk up stream, so not to cloud up the water and that is another pointer when walking creeks always try to start down stream and work your way up stream. I know some will say this will take all day and it does take a long time to search a place just right, because you never know what you may walk right by. I have found this works in fields also, you just don't have to walk has slow in a plowed field. I have walked right past a tip of a point in a field only to find it when I came back just a few feet away looking at a different angle. In my line of work and most any kind you need to double check things, so it goes in hunting artifacts. I hope this will help someone and like I said this is just the way I do it , others may have some better tips and I would like to hear some of them myself, because this old dog can learn new tricks.

thats exactly how I've been finding these pieces going slow may be the most important part if I go to fast it will be a shut out!!!

 

[unclemac]

I also find that gravel sorts itself out by size too....one thing I am pretty lucky about out in the PNW is that the (for the most part) the stone that the artifacts are made from is very different from the surrounding field of gravel....so they can really pop out at you.

 

[mainejman]

When field hunting I'd say it's more about putting yourself in productive places than the actual technique.Timing is important here obviously after a good rain when everything has had a good cleaning.Making sure that the ground you cover you do so thoroughly.You can either use the mow the lawn approach or some type of grid search but you want to hit it at different angles.Stuff may be concentrated in different parts of a field.Your chances are probably better there but that doesn't mean that stuff didn't get drug all over the field from farming.I wouldn't step into a field without a stick.....but what the heck do I know I live in Maine Ive hunted one field in 15 years.....

 

[Dirt fishing Wolf]

I walk the fields around me as often as I can. Gridding the best I can, when the crops are in I count how many rows from an edge to keep track. If I leave and come back another day I can start where I left off. Pick up all flakes, one could be an edge of a point. Walking stick is helpful when I'm fooled by a brown leaf.

 

[fyrffytr1]

When the creek here gets low in the summer we will use a scuba mask and snorkel. Our creeks have a limestone bed that is full of holes. We fan the sand away from the limestone and can actually hear the "clink" of stones against the bed. The closer we get to the bottom the lighter we fan and we pause often to let the water clear.
As for fields, I walk slowly and stop every four or five steps to look in all directions. I also carry a stick but mine is the shaft from a golf club. If I see something of interest i will poke my stick into the ground and go inspect the object. Then I return to my stick and continue my search. We have sandy soil down here and there is very little in the way of rocks and gravel. Also, don't focus on seeing a whole point, rather look for anything that looks like it may have been worked.

 

[GatorBoy]

That's so true about listening I'm glad you mentioned that.
If you're from the deep south you may have "black water" and the possibility of finding bone artifacts as well... You'll need to have a good eye to see these guys but they are there. (Bone pins)

 

[Peyton Manning]

I can attest that looking up will get you nothing........

 

[GatorBoy]

We can always count on you for some funny wit! LOL

 

[GaRebel1861]

As fyrffytr1 said there is a "chime"or "flint rattle" you will hear while fanning the creek bottom. Because of silt being stirred up it can make it sometimes hard to see, stop and let the current clear the water and see what you might have.

 

[Peyton Manning]

Verily I plan to try some crick hunting this year

 

[deadeye 22250]

My brother and I walk across a field, a little ways apart from each other. When we get to the other end, we move over turn around and go back. We keep doing that until we search what we want in that field. To try to look bent over would kill my back, I've had problems with it for about 30 years. I am sure we have missed some points, but we don't have enough time to cover the fields we can look, before the crops are to tall to find anything. We have never tried looking in cricks.

 

[rockheadhunter421]

Here is a very simple and easy to make sifter. I used zip-ties to strap the wire in place. The reason I decided to make this is b/c I want to try something new. I haven't had a chance to use it yet though. I have very little luck finding whole points in sand bars like stated above. However, I have had better luck digging in the banks and the banks standing on a sand/gravel bars. Gravel bars do have the larger artifacts. Maybe try finding where an ancient fire pit was or if you see scorched rocks. Also, I like digging in banks where they are roots. Might find something hung up by a root. I never dig deep though; 1-3 ft at most. I use a cheap garden rake (89 cent) and a military-grade trenching shovel also. Then, while surface hunting, whether in fields or woods, I like seeing lots of broken quartz here. Sometimes (not all the time) I end up finding artifacts nearby. I don't know how true this is but I believe finding the quality quartz artifacts at an actual site, then it is significant for this part of NC. The crude point I just found recently and posted here, there was broken natural quartz all around the place. If I had more time to look I might would have found a piece of quartz with microflaking. I like to use the "duck walk" in field hunting also. I can't see too good so I have to have the sun behind me. Then I use the garden tool to pick at things b/c I'm too lazy to keep bending over each time. It gives me a longer arm and I can scratch about 3-4 inches deeper. I like to call myself the "Native American Picker." I'll bring a canteen of water and a snack (bugspray maybe), and I'm set for a few hours. Happy hunting to all!

 

[yakker]

Finally catching up on this thread. I kayak nearly all the time. That said, I kayak tidal waters which are generally docile around here- but not always. It get to places few have the means- or desire to get to by land, and when the tide's right and the wind is blowing- or has blown- in the right direction, you can find things. As others have said, it's important to pay attention to the angle of the sun and to understand that taking in more than 1 angle is a good idea. I go 'serpentine' down the beach if I have time (moving from water to dry shore or high shore). But if the tide's coming in fast, I'll stick to the water's edge in one direction, and move up a couple yards heading back- and also check the dry 'high line'. Keeping in mind I can travel as little as 10 feet to a mile or so before 'heading back'. It's all about how much time I have and how fast the tide is moving. Good luck! Yakker

 

[ohp733]

One thing I do is look at gravel bars with similar size rocks as what might be found. I was taught this a long time ago and it has saved me lots of time. Also carry a walking stick to flip over possible finds instead of bending so much if you have a bad back like some of us