Texas dig report

[Twitch]

So I spent 8 hours last Saturday at a screen dig in Texas. The journey getting there was comical at times (when you board a plane ticketed into seat 38A and there's no row 38, people don't take it well) and ended with me wearing the same shirt for 3 days and sleeping ~4 hours total over a 3 days window. In total there were 8 people digging, 2 each to a screen table. All of the people were nice and the dig seemed to be a very well run enterprise. The other 7 people all were repeat customers, so that should be a good sign The site we were digging had been dug for a long time and we were kind of working whatever edges hadn't been hit yet. I found a ~2.5" Nolan early in the morning for my only point of the day. I found 7 or 8 other brokes throughout the day. Of the other 7 hunters, I saw one great (G9-10) Ensor, a really good Covington (G7-8) and maybe two other decent points. In total we found ~6 points and ~35 partials between the 8 of us. Not great results. I definitely had a good time and wouldn't be against trying it again. One issue I can see, especially not being local, is trying to figure out who's on a good spot and who's not. Obviously there's always going to be hit or miss days, and the fact that the other 7 people were all repeats makes me think there's been some 'hit' days in the past. For those who haven't don't it, I'd say it's worth the effort to try it at least once.

Thanks to everyone who provided advice heading into this adventure.

Joe

 

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[GTK96]

Sounds like an interesting time...if you dont mind, how much was the tour?

 

[natchitoches]

if you don't mind me asking which one did you go to?
you really need about 3 days to have the time you need.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

I'd like to know which one you went to as well and how much it cost for a days dig. Just curious.

 

[rock]

I like the way the Tx flint patinas. Sounds like you had a great time and that is all that matters. Did you fly just to dig or was it a business trip? You got some good ones by the pic and thanks for taking us along.

 

[Twitch]

Yeah, the results weren't great but I did have a good time and would do it again. I was in St Louis on Friday for business and needed to be in Austin on Monday so instead of flying home from STL and then to TX I flew to Austin late Friday night, landed at midnight, then drove 4 hours, ran over a raccoon, got pulled over for 70 in a 60 but didn't get ticketed (thank you kind sir) slept in the car for ~2 hours and then met the dig operator at 6:30am for the day. It was $200 for the full day screen dig, I'm told thats the going rate for nearly all of the screen digs. I was in Camp Wood Texas. I believe the name of the operation was Nacho's Digs, or something like that.

The TX flint is pretty nice. I've lived some placed that have great lithic's, and this stuff is pretty darn nice. 80% of the flint I found, worked or not, was/is translucent.

Now that I've done it I was plan the time a little different, bring the right tools and supplies, and try to book a little more time. The weather was right though.

 

[austin]

Nacho's is supposed to be "the place" to go. I just moved back to San Antonio from Uvalde and Nacho's was the hot place. I had been there to observe, they brought a fairly big scoop of dirt over and it was loaded with points. This was about 1 1/2 years ago and everyone was finding stuff. Great amount of excitement. Hard to believe that the pickings were this bad after what I had seen. Sorry you didn't do better. Next time you want to come to Texas call Austin Diggers and ask if you can go along. They may help you. The guys at Texas Points may also help. Stay away from Long's Fish and Dig near Kingsland. Ten years ago I was in lust and she loved digging so I spent two summer days moving dirt with nothing in it. They say that hundreds if not thousands of artifacts came out of there, but I never saw anything that wasn't in a case at the main house. They only charged $15 a day, but it was horrible. The Llano River runs along it so I made a bathroom excuse and went swimming until I was caught. Yes, nightime almost fulfilled my wildest dreams, but I was so exhausted I fell asleep at dinner and slept alone till dawn. I don't (and never really did)more than surface hunt and I do nothing now. But I know of a couple of places that have never been hunted on two 5000 acre ranches that belong to a friend of mine, one near Crystal City, one near Garner State Park. He may or may not let me hunt there. I kind of feel bad that Nacho's was a bust. $200 was what they always charged, but the finds were incredible. Sorry it didn't pan out...Austin

 

[old digger]

Nice Finds! Congratulations! Was wondering if any of the other seven or previous diggers ever found the other halves to the points that you found. Cool material!

 

[Twitch]

Austin - I sent a couple of emails to the Austin Digger folks but never heard back. I'll try Texas Points before I go again. I ended up calling one of the bunk houses in the area and asking them who people were using these days. I don't think it was a bust, I would have loved to find more points, but if I needed to find points to enjoy hunting I'd need to find a new hobby. That being said I would have preferred to leave with 3 or 4 point that were case-worthy.

Texas Digger - Of the partials we found, none of them seemed significant enough to go hunt for the other halves. The were a couple of decent pieces found that had nicks or small breaks that you'd never find the other part of. And then most of the halves and large partials were of rough points or preforms.

 

[rock]

I have only been to Tx once and that was just a drive through. I have seen other people find some great artifacts in the creeks on other sites. Next time maybe you can just park and walk some creek beds. I dont know if it is legal though. It would be a lot cheaper and you could get some nice snake boots for less than $200, just a thought for you.

 

[SOHIO]

couldn't pay me enough to pay to hunt a point! TEXANS

 

[NC field hunter]

couldn't pay me enough to pay to hunt a point! TEXANS

Lol! I understand what you mean. Salting the land would definitely create return customers. I went on a "wild boar" hunt once. Payed out the wazoo to hunt tame pigs. My uncle shot one in the trail, did not kill the hog, and she ran towards us for help. Same type deal.