Do you have competition in your hunting area?

[scotto]

Just wondering how many here have competition on their artifact hunting grounds?

Are you a lucky hunter who has exclusive access to private property, or after a rain do you try to be the first one out?

 

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[The Grim Reaper]

I have one site where other than the family that owns it I have exclusive rights to the fields. It is my dad cousin and he won't let anyone else in besides me and whoever I have with me which is great. His grandkids hunt it though too and the youngest one found a killer Big Sandy about 2 hours before I hit one time last spring. I was a little bummed, but the kid was so excited about it I had to be happy for him.

I have another site I hunt, a Ft Ancient village site, that I have actually counted 17 people in it during a 4 hour hunt. They weren't all there at the same time and most didn't stay more than an hour, but once it gets turned and it rains it sometimes looks like the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade went through there.

Twenty years ago I could hunt all day and rarely see another hunter, but now with Ebay and sites like this, everyone and their brother knows now they are valuable and they all want to hunt.

 

[desertfox]

Plenty!!! We have 3 clubs all within 40 miles of us and a lot of the members belong to all 3 clubs.

HH
Desertfox

 

[chong2]

private or not, only the lazer cutting things like on resident evil will kepp people out

 

[mainer]

No competition here, I only know of one other guy that hunts them and he has one site he goes to. He showed me the basics and then when I found one it seems he got mad, so I went and found my own sites. Now he hunts his site and I hunt mine. Which is fine by me.

 

[Deepdiger60]

No competition here, I only know of one other guy that hunts them and he has one site he goes to. He showed me the basics and then when I found one it seems he got mad, so I went and found my own sites. Now he hunts his site and I hunt mine. Which is fine by me.

I had the same problem here since i started this hobby i have only known of 2 other people that MD and i have hunted with both ,one guy took me to his favorite spot used to be a outdoor dance hall in the 1920,s you know square dancing on the weekends a very large property a nice lake i found 4 old silvers and he got mad and said i been over that ground many times , so i said ill take you to a old field i hunt he has a MXT you know he found 4 - 3 ringers i never find 3 ringers out here just musket balls so go figure ? we still hunt together in the Fall .DD60

 

[pickaway]

Ton of greedy ppl round here trick is to hunt when they don't like when corn is up

 

[Rockiologist]

Shoot where I am from it is not uncommon to bump into others in the middle of the night with flash lights.

 

[Get-the-point]

Ton of greedy ppl round here trick is to hunt when they don't like when corn is up

I agree, but I cannot stand how people get so sensitive over there hunting grounds. We are all here to preserve history and enjoy the hunt. The only reason they would hate another person hunting there grounds is if they were in this for monetary reasons. Who cares if they found the piece that you looked years for. It was there time and the fact that the artifact has finally been recovered and now preserved in a collection should be gratification enough for anyone as the PLOW won't hit it now. I'll be starting a new thread on this one, I want to hear other opinions on my idea and hopefully get everyone from every state to join in on this!!

 

[artorius]

I see at least some level of competition walking fields in Pennsylvania, sometimes intense. Interestingly, I found my best piece to date (a late Paleo fluted point) in January, on a field that had been walked over innumerable times that winter and the preceding fall. The competition is hard-pressed to find everything.

artorius

 

[DemonCatSpaceStar]

It's rare for me to make it down to the rivers after a rain without someone beating me there (LOTS O COMPETITION) , but I have a creek that ( luckily) the land owner has told me I'm the only one to be in & if I see anyone to let them know they are trespassing & tell them to get out (that's not how he put it but I'm trying to be nice! ) but I constantly find A LOT of footprints & it really frustrates me.

But I never sell ANYTHING I find!

Bottom line if you trespass your no better then someone who breaks into a house or steals even IF you find a G10!

8)

 

[flintdigger]

None here people seem to think you crazy looking for anything around here.

 

[pickaway]

First in wins...

 

[*Molly*]

In NC I had 200 acres all to myself, it was great but now in FL, there are always ppl partying, drinking & what not on prime hunting ground, which causes the rangers to patrol all the time. so frustrating..
Not to mention one of the best places is infested with gators..
I'll be glad when I move to Texas, artifacts there are my fave, I just adore those lil birdies Frileys, Agee's etc.

Molly.

 

[SnakemanBill]

OH YEAH! There is a lot of competition here. I've hit my favorite beach only to find that someone was there the day before. They left a note in the sand that they had found five points. I still hit it hard and ended up finding three points myself. At the fossil hunting beaches there's even more competition.

 

[lostlake88]

First in wins...

Not everytime. I found my one and only clovis is a field with thousands of foot prints, actually it's the one in my avatar. There was a semi-fresh print no further than 2 feet from that point. To answer the original posters question is YES. Every where I go: field, construction sites, banks there are people looking by the scores.

 

[RichPA]

There are alot of people with collections but there aren't many people looking. It seems that artifact hunting in my area was more popular in the 1970's and 1980's than now. There are a few farms I hunt that no one else hunts. The creeks may have more competition than I think. The picture is from a creek hunt. There was a three foot fire ring with pieces of raw chert placed on the ring. The person even knapped edges on a few pieces.

 

[bsit1361]

I have sites I have found on my own that I do not share and then there is one big site that is well known so if we get a flood or big rains I take off work the next day to hit it first. There is still some retirees that I dont mind. Theres enough for everyone there. I have 1 other site that 3 of us hunt which doesnt produce alot but I allways see prints on the beach. I think we are allways behind an avid collector because he or she will leave knives or scrapers or brokes in piles but we have only have pulled a couple wholes from there after storms and high tides. Overall I dont mind the competion. Those of you who know me know that I was kicked out of my best site for posting on here and Im still here. I enjoy the company during hunts and the competion between hunting buddies. Its great to head in different directions only to meet back up and compare finds. I hunt with 3 guys and sometimes my son but its allways nice to have an afternoon to myself to wind down and clear my head and when you pull up to your spot and see a car it can put a damper on the trip. Overall without others we wouldnt have our community, I could be the one leaving those footprints or larson or 37 or molly or srv but I do feel the frustration. Happy Hunting and may a hurricane uncover a cache in your fav spot.

 

[joshuaream]

The people I can deal with, but lately bulldozers and mother nature are getting/reclaiming more artifacts on the sites I hunt...

 

[Th3rty7]

There's some other hunters around here, I know most of them personally. They know about the easy spots. Places you can park and be finding flakes in a matter of minutes. I let them fight it out there and go the extra mile to have good hunts...and always keep my mouth shut and hunt solo...two keys to successful return hunts imo. I hunt remote areas of WV and have those all to myself fortunately.

On known hunting spots around here I've seen no flint piles this year, which is rare. I sure hope my footprints and point indentations didn't scare em off...lol. Early bird gets the worm.