Re: help with creek hunting.
As a kid I'd find arrowheads by chance and built a small collection, but only recently have I actually started seriously looking for relics. Regarding creek hunting, and still being a rookie, my best advice is not to rigidly define what a creek is. I live in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and we have some very steep hills. I've had good luck on cleared powerlines with deep erosion. After a good rain (and they have been few here lately) these ditches basically become creeks. I've really been amazed at how gravity and erosion brings up the relics.
Also, don't overlook ditches and drainage that empty into larger creeks, especially in areas where there are flint chips and flakes. Most aren't going to produce, but if you do enough searching, you'll eventually come across some that do. This is easier than searching real creeks, because once the rain ceases, the ditch dries up and the flint shines. I found one area where a creek passes through a break in a limestone rock ridge. A ditch drains downs from the ridge, crosses a logging road and drains into the creek. It produces. I looked closely around this area and found a a camp site, probably a village site, that's keeping me busy.
Not sure if you're familiar with the non-pointed relics, but the tools keep me interested. Most people, me included until recently, don't pay much attention to the tools (or maybe not even recognize what they are), but they're just as historically important as the points - and a side benefit is that if an area is abundant in chips and tools, odds are that you're eventually going to find some points nearby.
I probably find 20 - 30 tools to every point and I bring them all home.
The main thing is to keep looking and try to find areas that others are too lazy to search. I walk sometimes 10 - 12 miles a day and when I find a good place nobody been there and nobody's watching.
RR
