My name Is Mitchell Clore and this is an opinion/belief of mine on artifact hunting. The #1 factor in becoming a successful artifacts hunter is PATIENCE! How many time have you ran out of it, switched locations? Did you leave anything behind perhaps? The fact is that any little spot you didn't look there may be one there waiting to be picked up. There are more than one in my case that way, and more too come I'm certain. Fine by me, ill take em ;) The reason for this is maybe bad technique, or lack of faith in the spot. Truth is you HAVE to think there's one to be found always, there have been a couple of instances where I may have even willed one out of the ground....lol. Honestly though you have to be optimistic and really patient to make it as a successful artifact hunter. So what I'm saying is if you don't think you're not going to find jack.......you probably won't!

This is a story on how to listen to your gut feeling or instinct while hunting in the fields, it all started with me looking through some of my odds and end stuff that i had collected through the years, trying to recollect wher even some of my tips and chips had came from, this is something i do at times to refresh my memory on hunting spots. I came across one broken piece which instanly jogged my memory and my dad had told me earlier that hed been looking around there a little bit also with a little luck so i kicked the idea around for a bit asking myself if it would be worth the 20+ mile drive to a spot that numerous people had already been stomping on? Finally I talked myself into it, grabbed my lucky stick, picked up my boots and hit the door running. Daydreams of previous and future finds filled my mind while Metallica set the tone for the hunt on the drive there. As i approached the spot where the broken piece was found i noticed it hadnt been farmed but the other side of the road had. So i pulled my truck off the side of the road, grabbed my stick threw my boots on and started my searching with very eager eyes. After 30 mins. and walking in the most footprints i could remember I got real discouraged, so I stopped in the middle of this field looked slowly in every direction as far as my eyes could see let out a deep sigh and headed back to my truck. As i headed in the direction of my truck, the field which Id pictured this whole time lay just beyond it and a deep creek. I was not ready to quit this soon into my hunt so i said to myself "wont hurt to jump the creek and take a couple swipes across the top of this other mound". So on I went the first pass was a low one on the ridge, and didn't look too promising either so i turned walked to the break on the top of the ridge and made a v line to my truck. That is when i seen it.........AXE!!!!! I COULD'NT BELIEVE MY EYES! I took a couple deep breaths, thanked the indian gods, and began photographing. This was a very nice 3/4 groove axe, my first one of these, my previous ones were all full grooved, and this didn't even have a mark in it. :) After all those people who had been here before me not one of them had bothered to cross over the creek to take a quick look see. My advice to the beginning artifact hunter is trust your gut instinct, expect the unexpected, never doubt a spot, and leave no stone unturned!