Cleveland tenn artifact hunting

[mike a]

I live in Cleveland tenn and I would like to find some good areas to hunt. I hope there are some people from this area here who can guide me to some good areas I am new to this and I am at a loss at where to start any help would be appreciated thanks
Mike

 

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[rock]

Good luck on your hunting. Be sure to check your laws before you go. Tn has some of the strongest laws so read first then go.

 

[Tnmountains]

You are a few miles from me. Send me a PM and I will tell you a good area to start in your town.

 

[mike a]

Good luck on your hunting. Be sure to check your laws before you go. Tn has some of the strongest laws so read first then go.

I have read a little about it but will be sure to check into it more I know a few areas already that I have read that are off limits so to speak but hopefully I can find an area with no problems hunting.

 

[rock]

OK I just didnt want you to get in trouble. Tnm will direct you in the rite places so you wont have to worry. I really think its sad that the laws are so strict where you live at. They arent nothing to ignore here either by the way. I hunt on property which I have permission to hunt. They will shoot you here if your in their fields without permission and thats no lie.

 

[Gomer]

Incredible amount of sites in your area. Chickamauga lake is full of them. Hiwassee river, Sequatchie river (sleeper area). Upper end of Guntersville starting at South Pittsburg landing all the way down to Widows Creek steam plant. Great sites at Bellefonte Nuclear Plant. Oostanalua creek, etc.Get the old TVA Archaelogical repot bookes on any lakes in your area and they have all the sites they looked marked out. One can see the ones underwater versus the ones still on the shoreline. Some are off limits but most are open.....no law against walking the lake banks. No digging and no jumping up and down with excitement when one pulls a screamer out. Common sense and a very watchful eye is dictated these days to enjoy this hobby these days on Federal lands. Any river any creek in that has plowed land one can find something. Just put on your best game face and get permission to look. One good thing about E. Tenn....one can find quantity. Once you get the routine down one can easily get 10 artifact or more every trip......quality normally takes a lil longer but still can be found, but will certainly be appreciated more than some other states. Long ago I quit hunting twice because of the most amazing items being found right in front of me, and me thinking I would "never" find anything to equal them. That attitude is to be avoided at all costs, still great things to be found. Attached a few random picks of some old finds from E. Tenn area.

 

[mike a]

I have been reading up on it and from what I have seen any TVA land is strictly off limits anyone know where I can find out where is safe and where it isent lol I am going to have my kids with me and don't want any problems private land I know to get permission but rivers I have almost dismissed as no touch areas

 

[Gomer]

As a former employee of TVA for 17 years, it is "not" illegal to walk any where one wants on any TVA lake....except maybe at a nuclear plant site. It is not illegal to pick up a random find laying flat out.....though there are the ones who like to express it not so. Everyone hunting artifacts gets the riot act told to them in one form or the other, eventually. get ready for it, no matter what state one is in. Just listen, shake your ok and forget about it, after its over. Your kids being with you iarean asset where ever you hunt ,and them being with you will get you into more private plowed land than not, from my own experiences with my kids when they were young. Going to the lakes and rivers one really needs a boat. Going to the effort it takes to get to most sites by land, means most of the time you may only get to hunt one spot. Starting out short excursions are all that is needed to quench the artifact bug, but with most folks once they get hooked, it's a daylight to dark expedition each time. A boat lets one hunt many, many spots in one day. As long as you do not have any digging equipment in your hands one should have no problem. I hunt the lakes as much as I did when I visit back to our property there. There are some lakes patrolled and watched after more than others. Pickwick is an example of a heavily patrolled lake.....by comparison Watts Bar is not patrolled as heavy, except the upper end where many mounds are still visible. Since you said you were just getting into the hobby and if the kids are not into a lot of boat riding for a purpose, then plowed fields will be you best bet for the beginning....though it will produce more broken than wholes, generally speaking. Final opinion, there is nothing sfae that one wants to enjoy in these days of a country with "NO" common sense.

 

[Gomer]

I should add many of the TVA tributary lakes made in the forties for the war effort, TVA does not own the land, around or under, only the water rights. Lakes like Douglas, Cherokee for example, are like this.