Creek hunting help

[vabuckhunter]

Artifacts discovered - Greene County Record : News . This article is written about my grandparents property which has a creek running through it. I have hunted this creek several times and have found nothing. I know there has to be points in there since the archaeologists were diggin right beside it. All the videos I have watched seems like the creeks people hunt are more of a sandy bottom and since my creek is a mountain stream it is nothing but big rocks and gravel. My question is is there such a thing as a river being to rocky?

 

[monsterrack]

No this is not true, you just have more rocks to look at. Sandy creeks are in my opinion harder because the sand is lighter than the rocks and will cover them. If a lot of artifacts were found on your land then there will be stuff in the creek, but it would have come from up stream. May you need to go down stream from your spot and look or I would try digging.

 

[ShieldJaguar]

Yes and no. Rocky creeks are extremely hard to hunt. My parents creek is limestone and is just filled with chunks of limestone and some chunks of flint. I have found arrowheads there but when I moved to a creek that was more coble and sand I found so many more points. My eyes bug out when there are too many rocks. It is also hard for points to survive tumbling over all those large rocks.

That being said, you can hunt creeks with large rocks. I have flipped large rocks and found some amazing points. For me, the finds were hard to come by in those types of creeks and it took so much work that I just focus on the easier cobble creeks. As a family creek with known artifacts I would hunt your grandparents creek. Just be prepared for a lot of rock flipping.

 

[rock]

Man take some close ups of the gravel bars and post them for us to see. It amazes me as to how many times I take pics of finds and then look at the ground past my hand and see things I have missed. So lets see them maybe the rock types are stained and you are missing them?

 

[BearCreek]

12,000 artifacts! I have found 4. We have two creeks that intersect on our property. One has sand and cobble with a lot of chert in it. So far I've only found 4 pieces. However, I'm new to this and still learning what to look for and where. They were all in the sand and cobble creek. The other runs dry a lot in the summer and all the rocks are covered in something that makes them all look gray. I can't tell what anything is in there.

 

[scepter1]

Artifacts discovered - Greene County Record : News . This article is written about my grandparents property which has a creek running through it. I have hunted this creek several times and have found nothing. I know there has to be points in there since the archaeologists were diggin right beside it. All the videos I have watched seems like the creeks people hunt are more of a sandy bottom and since my creek is a mountain stream it is nothing but big rocks and gravel. My question is is there such a thing as a river being to rocky?

The only spot I have to look is a 1/2 mile of beach. Tide covers it twice a day. All rocks...

 

[filmiracl]

Same with me... This is the only place I hunt... all rocks! Though the photo is a bit deceiving, it's a combination of small pebbles to standard river cobble. Once you find something, your eyes kind of tune in with rocks and you're able to spot stuff better.

 

[ptsofnc]

No this is not true, you just have more rocks to look at. Sandy creeks are in my opinion harder because the sand is lighter than the rocks and will cover them. If a lot of artifacts were found on your land then there will be stuff in the creek, but it would have come from up stream. May you need to go down stream from your spot and look or I would try digging.

Agree. I find pottery sherds, flakes, and small broken and bird points occasionally on the surface sand bars and small gravel bars and I have a sandy creek. I think the small things are more likely to be moved by the water flow and up top. However, I believe the larger points are down deeper in the muck and rarely move even during large rain events. The rocks can work to your advantage however if you can move them (move them upstream to create a new "artifact catching obstacle"for the future) and shovel the muck that was around the rocks into some kind of small floating screen. You might be surprised by what might sometimes show up. But first check out VA laws. You want to do what is permitted.

 

[vabuckhunter]

Thanks for all the replies, when y'all are saying flip big rocks do you mean to flip them and dig out underneath them?

 

[NCPeaches]

I creek hunt and it's sandbars, pebble bars and some larger cobbles mixed in with all of it. I've found most of the pottery in/on sandbars and some stuck to the sides of the banks. I don't have many projectile points but some were just sitting on top of the larger rocks after a flooding rain and some I dug out of the bank below the water line. Right now with not much rain I'm doing a lot of raking. I guess my main thought here is it's a matter of luck but it looks like you are in the right spot for it. The more often you go the better your luck will be and when you do find something it will train your eyes to find more. Good luck! Oh and I've only found a snake or other critters flipping rocks so be careful

 

[ptsofnc]

Thanks for all the replies, when y'all are saying flip big rocks do you mean to flip them and dig out underneath them?

Yes. Underneath and around them. Good luck!

 

[vabuckhunter]

Here's a few pictures of the creek I'm trying to hunt

I hunted today for around 2 hours, found nothing. Anyone around Harrisonburg Virginia wanna hunt with me and maybe teach me a thing or two?

 

[NCPeaches]

I hunted today for around 2 hours, found nothing. Anyone around Harrisonburg Virginia wanna hunt with me and maybe teach me a thing or two?

I know that feeling of hunting for a while and nothing but it makes it all the sweeter when you do find something. Here's where I would start in your creek: Pic #1 where that tree limb is stuck in the water and the bank beside it looks good. If you have a small hand leaf rake you could pull it all out and let the water wash it and see what it brings up. Not sure in pic #2 but in pic #3 there's some potential there depending on which way the water is flowing. The bank doesn't look as deep as mine, I have to climb down anywhere from upwards of 10' to 5' down to my creek and is probably why I find so much archaic time period stuff. But I did find a Guilford point on top of a sand bar with 6 pottery shards upstream after a flash flooding rain and it looks similar to yours up that way. Your creek has a lot more smooth cobbles than mine and when I find them I move them to a border around a lavender garden up by my house I love them!

 

[rock]

I can see your problem the creek runs sideways

 

[rock]

Couldnt help myself, sorry. Actually I see lots of cobbles but also mud and no gravel to catch them in. They will get stuck in the mud but will probably sink to the bottom. You will have to do the hard task of sticking your hands in the mud and feeling them without actually knowing what you are grabbing you might hit a piece of glass or metal. But the only other thing you can do is look for them in the current where the hard pan might be with less mud. Looks to be a hard creek to hunt to me. I dont find artifacts in every creek. I call one creek slag creek which I believe now is nothing but a quarry area by all of the flint cobbles it has in it and the very seldom worked piece I find that isnt finished. So not all creeks will have them. If I was in your shoes I would be looking for white quartz which can stain black so shape alone would be my guess. Hope you find one, rock

 

[ptsofnc]

Don't give up. Give it about 10 tries/hunt trips. It might just be learning about your creek and where/how things will be found.

 

[rock]

Don't give up. Give it about 10 tries/hunt trips. It might just be learning about your creek and where/how things will be found.

Very true on the trips. I have 1 creek I have been going to for about a year hoping to find something decent. So far even after a big flood I havent found anything complete yet. Im striking it off of my list I might go 1 time a year for now on maybe in the winter when the weeds are dead and everything is clean. You might want to try another creek if you have 1 close by. Your creek looks inviting. Maybe walk a little further down or upstream if you can. Trees washout of the banks all of the time look just down stream from fallen trees lots of times things washout from tree trunks. Good luck in your hunts, rock

 

[archer66]

I'm pretty much exclusively a creek Hunter as well.....here's my best advice....I've posted it before so I'll copy it here:

I'm far from expert in artifact hunting but I do the majority of my hunting in creeks and very little in fields. A lot of this is obvious but make sure to look in the water, on gravel bars, and in the sides of any cut banks. Gravel bars are especially good places to look especailly at bends in the creek. Check after each big rain because new stuff will be exposed. Go slow. You will notice that rocks and debris will tend to be naturally sorted by size....I spend a lot of time focusing on areas where there is a lot of gravel that is palm sized and smaller. When I come to an area full of fist sized or larger rocks I turn my attention toward looking for axes, nutting stones, hammer stones, etc. Go slow. As far as spotting points goes it's the same as in field hunting only you have a lot more to look at. Go slow. On big gravel bars I do a grid search moving slowly back and forth checking and re-checking where field of view overlaps. Also I generally start out on the downstream end of the creek and work upstream so that any mud I stir up doesn't cloud the water ahead of me. If I know I am in an area that produces artifacts I will spend 4-6 hours and probably cover less than half a mile of creek bed. If I have say 6 hours to spend I'll go upstream for 4 hours, then turn around and use the remaining 2 hours retracing my steps...it's amazing what a change in perspective can do toward allowing you to find stuff you missed the first pass. Be sure to check any seconday creeks that feed the creek you are focusing on. These may be nothing more than runoff ditches that are dry most of the time or they may be streams that are always running.

The farm I do most of my hunting on has 5 small creeks that all dump into one larger creek. The larger creek runs year round, the smaller creeks run most of the year, but almost dry up in the summer unless it rains. Off of each of the 5 small creeks are runoff drainages between ridges or coming off fields and pastures. I look anywhere that I see exposed rock...especially if some of that rock is flinty. I've found most of my points etc in the smaller creeks...possibly because there is less to look at in them and the artifacts stand out. The bigger creek most likely has many more artifacts in it but the water is deeper, there are huge sandbars and gravel bars that hide artifacts very well, and there is more leaf debris piled up on the gravel bars. Mostly though you just have to take your time, use a long walking stick to turn over interesting pieces, and don't neglect anything that looks like it might have been worked.