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Started By
Message
Anybody do any point hunting?
Posted on 5/8/19 at 12:22 pm
Posted on 5/8/19 at 12:22 pm
Well, I've got to talk about something related to the 2019 turkey season other than the tragic last day of the season incident, so why not point hunting? It has always been a good way to pass the time when waiting on a gobbler to do his thing with his hens and start back gobbling.
Yesterday I jumped down into a creek bed that runs though one of my properties to scan a few rock bars that always turn up some artifacts during the season, and I came up with a few keepers.
As expected, I found two knives. The red colored one was heat treated by the natives to make it easier to work with. Sound familiar? What I did not expect, was to find a 2nd knife that is probably one of the most complete, most well made and largest ones in my collection. It's a beaut, and the fire treated ones are always interesting too:
Even found a rare (for the area) flint point that is in good shape, other than a snapped base. I love the look and feel of flint points:
Per usual, I found a couple busted Tallahatta Quartzite points that are rarely worth writing home about. TQ is a type of sandstone that gets worn easier than other lithic rock types and so its knapping is often not as visible as other materials. However it was readily available in the area back then and so it was a commonly used lithic material. I do have some beautiful pieces and even a few enormous points made of it, but most are lifeless in their detail:
If you surface hunt for points (or if you start), you'll see a pattern emerge in your hunting grounds of the common point types and materials. Just like with the TQ points, that rings true again in the case of these 2 Adena points: I'm always going to find a few offset shoulder adenas. Most are nothing special once you find a hundred of them, but some wind up being a banger. The white'ish colored rock is one not hugely common to the area. I do have a few points made of it, and iirc, it's a type of popular material that was brought in from the Ouachita Mountains. The tan color one is good ol local river chert:
The more interesting find of the day was this round stone. With the # of artifacts washed into the river with the last big rains, and seeing how this sphere was found right alongside the points, I'm lead to believe that it's either a native American game stone, or a cobble used for flintknapping. If you look closely, it is chipped in 1 spot, and while it looks perfectly round, it very much is not. I've found a game stone or 2 over the years; with one of them being not as spherical but having some decorative markings on it. It was a "newer" artifact that came from a plowed field located in close proximity to a well known Choctaw camp. The more modern day NAs lost their ability to flintknap like the more ancient ones because they didn't depend on the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and instead relied on "staying put" and farming, fishing, etc. They weren't baws like the ones who could work stone like these guys could, and so they just went all artsy fartsy to make up for it. (I kid, but they were not anywhere near as skilled in flintknapping, for the most part.) However, it could also be a really old marble (like, pre 1870's old) due to it being an imperfect sphere being made of stone. I don't believe it's an old (i.e., not OLD-old or ancient-old) milling stone for pottery making because it's not round enough and it's stone, but I have found some modern day, antique pottery shards in the river- and even a fully intact pitcher, as well as some dandy ancient NA pottery shards also. Either way, it's a neat find and I'd bet the entire haul that it's not a natural formation. I really feel like it's a game stone given its structure and association with nearby artifacts:
A better view of its imperfect spherical shape:
I've got drills, 11,000 year old paper thin paleo points (as old as they get around here), fluted points for a better, more aerodynamic design, and lots of other tools and artifacts. I don't do it like I used to, but not a bad haul for a 5 minute combover of a gravel bar or two:
Anybody else do any arteefact hunting?
Yesterday I jumped down into a creek bed that runs though one of my properties to scan a few rock bars that always turn up some artifacts during the season, and I came up with a few keepers.
As expected, I found two knives. The red colored one was heat treated by the natives to make it easier to work with. Sound familiar? What I did not expect, was to find a 2nd knife that is probably one of the most complete, most well made and largest ones in my collection. It's a beaut, and the fire treated ones are always interesting too:
Even found a rare (for the area) flint point that is in good shape, other than a snapped base. I love the look and feel of flint points:
Per usual, I found a couple busted Tallahatta Quartzite points that are rarely worth writing home about. TQ is a type of sandstone that gets worn easier than other lithic rock types and so its knapping is often not as visible as other materials. However it was readily available in the area back then and so it was a commonly used lithic material. I do have some beautiful pieces and even a few enormous points made of it, but most are lifeless in their detail:
If you surface hunt for points (or if you start), you'll see a pattern emerge in your hunting grounds of the common point types and materials. Just like with the TQ points, that rings true again in the case of these 2 Adena points: I'm always going to find a few offset shoulder adenas. Most are nothing special once you find a hundred of them, but some wind up being a banger. The white'ish colored rock is one not hugely common to the area. I do have a few points made of it, and iirc, it's a type of popular material that was brought in from the Ouachita Mountains. The tan color one is good ol local river chert:
The more interesting find of the day was this round stone. With the # of artifacts washed into the river with the last big rains, and seeing how this sphere was found right alongside the points, I'm lead to believe that it's either a native American game stone, or a cobble used for flintknapping. If you look closely, it is chipped in 1 spot, and while it looks perfectly round, it very much is not. I've found a game stone or 2 over the years; with one of them being not as spherical but having some decorative markings on it. It was a "newer" artifact that came from a plowed field located in close proximity to a well known Choctaw camp. The more modern day NAs lost their ability to flintknap like the more ancient ones because they didn't depend on the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and instead relied on "staying put" and farming, fishing, etc. They weren't baws like the ones who could work stone like these guys could, and so they just went all artsy fartsy to make up for it. (I kid, but they were not anywhere near as skilled in flintknapping, for the most part.) However, it could also be a really old marble (like, pre 1870's old) due to it being an imperfect sphere being made of stone. I don't believe it's an old (i.e., not OLD-old or ancient-old) milling stone for pottery making because it's not round enough and it's stone, but I have found some modern day, antique pottery shards in the river- and even a fully intact pitcher, as well as some dandy ancient NA pottery shards also. Either way, it's a neat find and I'd bet the entire haul that it's not a natural formation. I really feel like it's a game stone given its structure and association with nearby artifacts:
A better view of its imperfect spherical shape:
I've got drills, 11,000 year old paper thin paleo points (as old as they get around here), fluted points for a better, more aerodynamic design, and lots of other tools and artifacts. I don't do it like I used to, but not a bad haul for a 5 minute combover of a gravel bar or two:
Anybody else do any arteefact hunting?
17
Posted on 5/8/19 at 12:25 pm to Bigbee Hills
Very cool! Never found anything myself but a coworker with a place in Miss. routinely finds them, has quite the collection. Copiah County
Posted on 5/8/19 at 12:27 pm to Bigbee Hills
Really awesome stuff!
What county are you in?
What county are you in?
Posted on 5/8/19 at 12:29 pm to Tigah D
The Copiah county area is a hotbed for finding some gems. It's located much closer to a major (THE major) river drainage, and so natives flocked to the higher ground on the outskirts that was safe from seasonal flooding, had better mosquito repelling prevailing winds, but also giving them quick access to the fertile swamps and rivers.
I bet he has some whoppers.
I bet he has some whoppers.
Posted on 5/8/19 at 12:30 pm to mylsuhat
This was in Noxubee county. I went over to look at a tract and just had to give her a go.
Posted on 5/8/19 at 12:34 pm to Bigbee Hills
great post Bigbee
Posted on 5/8/19 at 12:44 pm to Bigbee Hills
richland creek runs thru my parents property in the ozarks, its also a good point hunting spot. the damn ticks and chiggers are so thick up there in the summer though it makes it not so much fun to scramble the banks
Posted on 5/8/19 at 12:56 pm to Bigbee Hills
Oh btw, if ya ever decided to try some creek hunting, if you're in the south, be sure to watch your step.
You'd be surprised at how easily you can walk right up on a cottonmouth- even though you're intensively focused on scanning the ground. You often won't see one until you've put him in your "zone of comfort," and he'll often be spotted in your peripheral vision. At that point, if you're like me, you'll scream like a little bitch and Randy Moss it outta there (and often have one slide off the bank on your exit route and then you lose your mind and bound out of the pit of hell like a gut shot mule deer). There's something about small creeks holding huge cottonmouths in large #s that is unnerving. At this point in the year, it's about too late to hunt for points and also NOT be hunting for snakes, and if you look for em, you WILL find em. That kills my mojo. Scanning the bars takes focus, and if you're only focusing on where you step, you'll miss more than you find- or even step on top of (and break) that 9k year old fluted San Patrice paleo point.
Just like point hunting plowed fields, there's an ideal time window to hunt creeks: Late winter and early spring. In the summer the water gets stagnant and the patina that makes a point glow is silted over. Also the lack of big rains that turn the bed over and reveal new points are lacking, and so you can hunt a stretch of creek out until another big flood event comes. I've already discussed the negative effect that bumping multiple tar-black female cottonmouths so big that they growl at you has on your endeavours, and the high probability of doing so. In the fall and on into the winter the leaves cover the floor of the creek until winter flooding washes them away or until they decay. When leaves are everywhere, everything looks like a point. I guess you could take a rake, but the same "hunted out" concept still applies if there's no big rains to shake things up.
Tldr: watch out for no shoulders. It always seemed like the biggest ones- the ones that eat squirrels and baby possums and whatever else that roams the remaining nearby water source- live in the best arrowhead hunting locales, e.g., small, ancient, shaded headwater type creeks.
You'd be surprised at how easily you can walk right up on a cottonmouth- even though you're intensively focused on scanning the ground. You often won't see one until you've put him in your "zone of comfort," and he'll often be spotted in your peripheral vision. At that point, if you're like me, you'll scream like a little bitch and Randy Moss it outta there (and often have one slide off the bank on your exit route and then you lose your mind and bound out of the pit of hell like a gut shot mule deer). There's something about small creeks holding huge cottonmouths in large #s that is unnerving. At this point in the year, it's about too late to hunt for points and also NOT be hunting for snakes, and if you look for em, you WILL find em. That kills my mojo. Scanning the bars takes focus, and if you're only focusing on where you step, you'll miss more than you find- or even step on top of (and break) that 9k year old fluted San Patrice paleo point.
Just like point hunting plowed fields, there's an ideal time window to hunt creeks: Late winter and early spring. In the summer the water gets stagnant and the patina that makes a point glow is silted over. Also the lack of big rains that turn the bed over and reveal new points are lacking, and so you can hunt a stretch of creek out until another big flood event comes. I've already discussed the negative effect that bumping multiple tar-black female cottonmouths so big that they growl at you has on your endeavours, and the high probability of doing so. In the fall and on into the winter the leaves cover the floor of the creek until winter flooding washes them away or until they decay. When leaves are everywhere, everything looks like a point. I guess you could take a rake, but the same "hunted out" concept still applies if there's no big rains to shake things up.
Tldr: watch out for no shoulders. It always seemed like the biggest ones- the ones that eat squirrels and baby possums and whatever else that roams the remaining nearby water source- live in the best arrowhead hunting locales, e.g., small, ancient, shaded headwater type creeks.
Posted on 5/8/19 at 12:57 pm to bbvdd
off season post of the year I found one in my yard in 2003 planting a tree
This post was edited on 5/8/19 at 12:58 pm
Posted on 5/8/19 at 1:05 pm to Bigbee Hills
Used to find stuff in Ohio while growing up.
BTW, this would have been more OB if you had a foot in the photo
BTW, this would have been more OB if you had a foot in the photo
Posted on 5/8/19 at 1:09 pm to cgrand
I'm not familiar with Richland Creek. (I don't guess, but I may be and not know it.) Is it a well known drainage for point hunting? You'd be surprised how many folks do it and how quickly an area can get wiped clean when it gets time to hunt for new points.
I worked up in the Ozarks for a few months one summer. (God's country I tell you!) Between making the fairly short drive to the little red every afternoon for a 2 hour trout fishing trip and the nearby blue ribbon smallmouth streams, I walked a lot of creek beds in that part of the world. Per usual, I'd always be scanning the ground. (I've found points all over the place, and if you look down enough and train your eye to catch the glint of a knapped rock sticking up a 32nd of an inch out of the dirt then you will too.) I never found a point (plus it's illegal to pick up surface artifacts on public land), but the potential was there. Sometimes having too many rocks and rock bars is a bad thing in terms of the "needle in a haystack" problem. My eyes just were not trained to hunt that kind of terrain, and yes, you become more and more skilled at hunting in the specific type of scenarios you're used to- more so than ones you're not.
Far as chiggers go, when multiple roads are named with the word "chigger" in them, then you know them bastards are bad.
That's one place I will seriously consider moving to one of these days. Man I loved it up there.
I worked up in the Ozarks for a few months one summer. (God's country I tell you!) Between making the fairly short drive to the little red every afternoon for a 2 hour trout fishing trip and the nearby blue ribbon smallmouth streams, I walked a lot of creek beds in that part of the world. Per usual, I'd always be scanning the ground. (I've found points all over the place, and if you look down enough and train your eye to catch the glint of a knapped rock sticking up a 32nd of an inch out of the dirt then you will too.) I never found a point (plus it's illegal to pick up surface artifacts on public land), but the potential was there. Sometimes having too many rocks and rock bars is a bad thing in terms of the "needle in a haystack" problem. My eyes just were not trained to hunt that kind of terrain, and yes, you become more and more skilled at hunting in the specific type of scenarios you're used to- more so than ones you're not.
Far as chiggers go, when multiple roads are named with the word "chigger" in them, then you know them bastards are bad.
That's one place I will seriously consider moving to one of these days. Man I loved it up there.
Posted on 5/8/19 at 1:15 pm to Bigbee Hills
Very addictive past time, I'm not very good at it but I have found a few.
I found my best one about a month ago in Pearl River County I have no idea of the type and only one good picture of it on me.
[/URL][/img][/img]
I found my best one about a month ago in Pearl River County I have no idea of the type and only one good picture of it on me.
[/URL][/img][/img]Posted on 5/8/19 at 1:17 pm to NYCAuburn
Lol I tried to make sure I left any incriminating evidence out of the photos.
And most parts of Ohio are really great areas to surface hunt.
And most parts of Ohio are really great areas to surface hunt.
Posted on 5/8/19 at 1:19 pm to choupiquesushi
That's what I'm talking about: they're everywhere. If you're looking, you will find something. It may only be shards, but if you find a point or shards, you can be almost certain that there are more nearby.
Posted on 5/8/19 at 1:21 pm to duckdude
Oooh son, those will make you squeal like a kid on Christmas morning!
That's a banger right there!!
That's a banger right there!!
Posted on 5/8/19 at 1:25 pm to Bigbee Hills
I was pretty excited about that one 
I have mostly found brokes or real crude looking ones, but this one was exciting.
Any guess at the type?
I have mostly found brokes or real crude looking ones, but this one was exciting.
Any guess at the type?
Posted on 5/8/19 at 1:56 pm to Bigbee Hills
Have access to a piece of land that's supposed to be loaded. Ive scanned the creek beds with no luck.My mother in law told me when she was a kid and they would plow the fields you could pick up handfuls of chipped pieces in those fields after a rain. She has a few solid points she showed me and one that piece that's shaped like a phoenix or some kinda bird that's really cool.
The area where they use to plant crops is all grown up in trees now so not much chance of ever disking it again. assume my best option out be to find the closest creek area and check the banks.
The area where they use to plant crops is all grown up in trees now so not much chance of ever disking it again. assume my best option out be to find the closest creek area and check the banks.
Posted on 5/8/19 at 2:00 pm to duckdude
Hard to tell off of the 1 pic and without having something to scale the dimensions of it with.
Just going off that 1st pic (and the only one I see), coming from the Gulf Costal Region, it looks to be a stemmed form with an original rind (or intentionally snapped base- it'd depend on how the stem at the "break point" looks and is colored) with an acute end and horizontal transverse flaking (again it's hard to tell). My best guess? Some type of Benton or, for an even better guess, some type of Pickwick? From what I can see, it looks to be in great shape, and if the snapped stem is in fact intentional, I'd say it's at least a grade 6 or 7 point. Maybe even an 8.
One of the most common ways that points are categorized and identified is by the region it was found, then by it's form (auriculate, lanceolate, corner notched, side notched, stemmed, stemmed-bifurcated, basal notched, or arrow point), followed by its beveling type, then its distal end type, the cross-sectional shape, and finally its flaking type.
It can get pretty in depth, and it's not an exact science, but if you want a really interesting starter guide (and a fantastic chitter reader) then get the "Overstreet ID & Price Guide to Indian Arrowheads." It's more focused on pricing, but it has tons of pics and lots of good, informative content. From there you can dive deeper into some pretty interesting reading and guides that give info about the rocks that you possess- ones that were last held by a living breathing human being thousands of years ago.
Just going off that 1st pic (and the only one I see), coming from the Gulf Costal Region, it looks to be a stemmed form with an original rind (or intentionally snapped base- it'd depend on how the stem at the "break point" looks and is colored) with an acute end and horizontal transverse flaking (again it's hard to tell). My best guess? Some type of Benton or, for an even better guess, some type of Pickwick? From what I can see, it looks to be in great shape, and if the snapped stem is in fact intentional, I'd say it's at least a grade 6 or 7 point. Maybe even an 8.
One of the most common ways that points are categorized and identified is by the region it was found, then by it's form (auriculate, lanceolate, corner notched, side notched, stemmed, stemmed-bifurcated, basal notched, or arrow point), followed by its beveling type, then its distal end type, the cross-sectional shape, and finally its flaking type.
It can get pretty in depth, and it's not an exact science, but if you want a really interesting starter guide (and a fantastic chitter reader) then get the "Overstreet ID & Price Guide to Indian Arrowheads." It's more focused on pricing, but it has tons of pics and lots of good, informative content. From there you can dive deeper into some pretty interesting reading and guides that give info about the rocks that you possess- ones that were last held by a living breathing human being thousands of years ago.
Posted on 5/8/19 at 2:08 pm to Bigbee Hills
Friend of mine’s mom found beautiful obsidian spear point right behind their camp on Little River
Posted on 5/8/19 at 2:10 pm to FelicianaTigerfan
Tbh, I'd rather hunt creeks if I had to take my pick. The plow is hard on points, and while it makes hunting for them much easier (sometimes), it's in the deep, old, shaded headwater creek beds where you can find the treasure. Creeks that flash flood and have hard bottoms with gravel bars that impede the movement of aerodynamically shaped rocks like arrowheads will have a constant flow of artifacts fed into them from erosion of the banks and the creek bed getting churned up.
It's not impossible to hunt them in the summer; in fact, for most of the summer the conditions are ripe for point hunting creeks in the south. The question is, how navigable is the bed without having to climb over and onto all sorts of obstacles that Mrs. Chit-for-an-Attitide could be laid up on? Some people may not care, and I used to not be bothered by a cottonmouth much at all, but with so many close calls under my belt from working in their environment and with the most alarming incidents coming from arrowhead hunting, I'd rather not test my heart's health any more than I already have by doing it this time of year.
It's not impossible to hunt them in the summer; in fact, for most of the summer the conditions are ripe for point hunting creeks in the south. The question is, how navigable is the bed without having to climb over and onto all sorts of obstacles that Mrs. Chit-for-an-Attitide could be laid up on? Some people may not care, and I used to not be bothered by a cottonmouth much at all, but with so many close calls under my belt from working in their environment and with the most alarming incidents coming from arrowhead hunting, I'd rather not test my heart's health any more than I already have by doing it this time of year.
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