So how many yrs have you been hunting?

[rock]

I was wondering seeing everyone enjoys this hobby on this forum. Of course everyone has different yrs of experience. What is number yrs of experience of hunting you have? And when you reply I would also like to know the periods you have the most experience of finding artifacts from.
I believe this will be very educating for allot of people including myself. Be honest please when you post your yrs of experience.
Thanks, rock

 

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[pippinwhitepaws]

since 1960 in the southwest.
hunting is not the same as taking.

 

[GaRebel1861]

All started for me as a kid near Tampa Florida in 1977. I lived out in a rural area and was walking to a store which was several miles away and decided to cut through a cow pasture as a shortcut . I found a back half and spent the rest of the day walking cow trails looking for more.

 

[joshuaream]

Found my first back in 1979 or 1980, so 30+ years.

Not sure I understand the question about what period. Most pieces would be woodland to mississippian, but I've found paleo to historic. If you mean when in my hunting career, personally, I did the best during elementary and highschool, lots of free time and no one said no to hunting/digging (and I was skinny enough to hunt between rows of tall corn.). Lately it's been dry, not enough time and very few places to hunt here in South Florida.

 

[handaxe]

Since 77. Never found anything other than old bottles at homesites. Later while deer hunting I came to the spot I find my stuff now as I was noticing small sharp chips in the sand. I decided the water levels were higher back in time and this was a camp on the edge of a river. I have found all sorts of cool stuff there and am always ready to go back. 2 hrs away

 

[GMD52]

I have enjoyed the knowledge that I have garnered from all of you on this site. I have been hunting the shores of Lake Champlain and the banks of Lewis Creek, and little Otter Creek since the mid 1970's. This is my first computer, and at 62, just learning. As soon as I figure out how to get pictures taken and posted, I really want your opinions on my collection of points and pottery. Please bear with me because all the dinosaurs aren't extinct, they are just dwelling in the olden days on Lake Champlain.

 

[Uncle Jeff]

zero days. LOL my detector arrives tomorrow. unless you count the day 30 years ago when I went out to the sand box in my parents back yard to recover all the lost hot wheels, hehehe

 

[Tnmountains]

Rock: "What is number yrs of experience of hunting you have?" TnMountains: "Good question Rock. I actually started collecting as a little kid picking up points in fields with my parents. But did not have much until I had a car at 16 and could go out and find new areas. So that was in the year 1974. It was pretty sporadic because you can either chase girls or points. So I would say around 39 years"



Rock: "And when you reply I would also like to know the periods you have the most experience of finding artifacts from". "Another good question Rock. I guess it depends upon where you live and hunt. The easiest to find is most often the last culture before contact. But most places I hunt are fields and are Woodland with periodic habitation + or - and the finds are fewer and sometimes more crude but there is always a chance of a good one. But my favorite has to be multi component site with erosion where everything is out of context. It is like a box of chocolates. Of course I still get excited over any flaked tool.

This concludes this fun and candid interview.

And next up is.....

 

[Produce Guy]

I would say about 10 years now,back in the the early '70's I bought my first metal detector a Jetco,for about $50,it had 1 nob,a speaker and it used a 9volt battery.It detected a couple of paint cans in my parents front yard,about a foot down.So I dug a huge hole to get those rusty paint cans out of the ground and dad wasn't that happy.He told me to go out into the woods and look for money,so off into the woods where we lived.I came accross a bottle dump and started finding old bottles & cans,plates,spoons & forks,etc.I did this off & on from about middle school thru high school.Fast forward to 2005 I have a friend who had an old Garrett MD,and we would go out on his land & look for stuff,over the last 8 years I only detected when ever my friend wanted to go,so I finally saved up enough money and this year,2013 I bought me a Garrett ace 250 & a pro pointer and 2 different shovels and every time I go out it's fun.

 

[bsit1361]

I have to say 4 years for points but I have been a ground watcher my whole life. Allways been said that if ya want something found call Ben. I have been a bottle collecter my whole life and have "treasures" on my shelf that I found when I was a kid. Pushing 37 now. I have taught myself a lot about points and history in my area in the last four years. Also I have learned alot from the pros on here. Thanks guys. You know who you are.

 

[SCrocks]

Started looking for arrowheads around 1975 at age 7. Started finding them around the lake shoreline where I lived in S.C.. Then started looking nearby fields and cut-overs. Could not begin to tell you the hours spent walking fields/cut-overs and some digging. All mainly around a three county area.

 

[Mackaydon]

In the late 50s, I shared a hospital room in Ft. Lauiderdale with a treasure hunter. I got hooked from his stories.
Don.......

 

[Wyoming Valley Relics]

22 years ago i was 9 yrs old and i found my fathers and grandfathers collection buried at my grandmothers house. I was out that day looking.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

48 years. I found my first Point at age 6 and have collected ever since. My passion is the Ft Ancient Culture that I'm sure a lot of you have seen in my posts here and was very prevalent in my area but I collect from Paleo through to the Historic.

 

[coteau]

I found my my first artifact when I was a kid in the pasture at home about 30 years ago. Since then I've found hundreds of sites and the majority of them are about 2000-6000 years old. I have found some Paleo artifacts but those are really hard to find, and in some of the areas I hunt a lot of the Paleo sites (if there were any) are actually below the ground water table, as crazy as that sounds...

I also collected on a couple Plains Village sites (like larsons) in my youth (loved those days).

I have lots of areas on private propery where I can hunt but the time, money, gas, vehicle wear and tear, etc. really puts a damper on the hobby. Plus the oil boom has made western ND pretty dang chaotic to say the least...

 

[Jonzer]

I started in 1988 at the age of 24. My family bought some ground that contained the Larson site on the Spoon River in IL. The former owner had an amazing collection that just gave me the willies. lol. I went out in the cornfield and found a Madison point in 20 minutes. Hooked ever since.

 

[austin]

59 years. Started on the beaches of Texas at age 6. Got to look for Spanish treasure(over the next decade found a bunch) and 'rockets" (Port A was a bombing range in the 40's.) Used to carry the "duds?, unexploded "rockets"?, around. Surprising that I lived to be 7. Quit looking a few years ago when golf became more important...

 

[eastTNJoe]

I found several in my youth being outdoors a lot...I guess I was always looking down and exploring, but as an actual hobby 3 months. I love it for lots of reasons: being outside, exploring history, collecting and the excitement of finding something...my wife likes it because it is cheap! I'm still learning the periods of the points I have found...I don't believe anything Paleo or Archaic, but I have just started trying to ID points and their timeline/cultures....cool post Rock!

 

[garren]

I got my first detector in 1979, but didn't really get bit by the treasure bug until about 1993. I recorded my first log sheet in Sept of 1993. I've kept a written log from every time I went out. Some days it wasn't worth wasting the paper but I logged them anyway. Now, almost 20 years later the log sheets are a real joy to read through.

 

[Pancake]

Found my first point 34 years ago when I was 5, about 50 feet from our house. Found a couple more over the next few years and then did some digging when I was probably about 10. Found a few nice ones back then. Wish I still had those. When I was a teenager I lived in Northern California for 2 years and found a beautiful point on the ground one day when hiking. I started looking fairly regularly and found 5 or 6 more over the next year or so. I moved back home and found a couple over the past 20 years but didn't really get back into it until last fall. I've got the bug bad now