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Arrowheads instead of Xbox NE Ohio

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  • Arrowheads instead of Xbox NE Ohio

    Hello,

    I posted something similar in the new members thread. My name is Neil and I am located in NE Ohio.

    I've been racking my mind trying to come up with outdoor activities that are exciting, educational and potentially rewarding enough so a 12 year old boy and his 7 year old brother might actually choose to do it over playing video games with his 'friends' (He's never met most of them) online. They both enjoyed using a metal detector and digging up what amounted to junk and it got me thinking about searching for artifacts.

    I plan on taking them out this weekend to dig for artifacts, but that dig I did was so long ago that the professor is probably resting in peace somewhere and despite my best efforts online I have no idea where to start looking. I read the tips and searched for my region, but I'm really hoping to go somewhere that gives the boys the best chance to find anything ancient.

    ​​​​​​I understand why everyone keeps their favorite spots a secret and I respect that, but if anyone would be so kind as to help me narrow down the search area or recommend a particular location you would make a couple of kids extremely happy and I might even be 'cool' for a day. We would only be going there the one time and wouldn't share the information with anyone else.

    We tried fishing, magnet fishing, metal detecting and I know there were more outings, but we didn't catch anything or find anything so I am really hoping this works out. I don't know if I can do it without your help so please message me with any advice or suggestions. I need a solid win against all of those brain sucking screens, games, memes, tweets, etc. and with a little help I feel good about this possiblity.

    Thanks,

    ​​​​​​​Neil

  • #2
    If i was any near the Flint Ridge Museum i would take them there and they can see artifacts and where the natives dug pits searching for chert. There is some mounds near there but did not go to them when i was up there, should be a couple nice outings for them and you. Welcome to forum from Ga.
    South East Ga. Twin City

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    • #3
      Hey Neil! Artifact hunting and fishing always gives me a feeling of adventure. If you talk it up as an adventure...especially one that would require boots and a walking stick! I have introduced artifact hunting to people with varying results. Definitely if someone finds something it helps the situation greatly. As long as you get permission hunt a field...make it a competition, sometimes that works! Good luck~
      North Carolina

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      • #4
        If you see creeks with gravel bars in them, I'd search those. They're a bit of a challenge, but they're very rewarding when you get the hang of searching them.


        The problem with answering this question is, they had about 10,000 years to lose things, so they could literally be anywhere. I guess the best way to narrow things down is to search plowed fields near water, or any plowed fields really.
        "The education of a man is never completed until he dies." Robert E. Lee

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        • #5
          Welcome from Tampa Bay Florida....So as I see it you want them de programmed, and be cool dad for a day..Ok,the good news is it’s not impossible,..You Gotta make a game of it , mystery ( the elusive treasure), imagination ( only limited by your’s )..
          Change thinking cool dad for a day no, that don’t fly, ( buds for life), try not to work so hard at it. , ..There’s more, but you get the idea you’re smarter than they are, if you were in central Florida I could put you on some fields, trouble is sometimes it takes a lot of lookin to find an artifact ( lot of lookin = bored uninterested kids )..Now this is the real problem and where imagination comes into play..I solved it for our 5 year old by throwing an arrowhead way out in front of her while walking, then steering her, talking ( example boy this sure looks like the place where a lot of Indians camped a long time ago, maybe we’ll find an arrowhead or treasure or something, what’s that in the bushes over there ( a little scaring might be in order, or not )...She’s almost 60 and she still enjoys finding all kinds of things ...I know, I know, where can I find an arrowhead....Hopefully someone from your area will give some tips, summer’s coming,a lot of nice stuff is being found, I hope with all my heart, y’all find that one true treasure in life .....Don’t know weather I should post this or not, gonna flip an arrowhead, heads, I’ll post tails I won’t...
          Floridaboy.

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          • #6
            I have 4 kids. One LOVES arrowhead hunting. One goes, occasionally. 2 have no interest, despite my best efforts. So, in my experience you have about a 30% chance of them liking it. If you wanna drive about 10 hours, I can put you on a spot in Western Ky, lol. Good luck.
            Western Kentucky

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            • #7
              Welcome to the family ! A lot of very educated people here and if you hang around you will learn a bunch! I’m located in Richland county, not sure how close that is to you but if you want to PM me I may be able to disclose some secrets of Ohio that may help you and your treasure hunts, my son is 8, he’s my rock hound and hole digger depending on what kind of treasures were after! I just never introduced him to any kind of video games other than my phone. Way I see it, I’m doing alright and video games weren’t part of my childhood so my boy should be alright without it also 🤷‍♂️

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              • #8
                CanUdigIt
                I did the same with my best friends kids, same ages. I very very much suggest going over arrowhead identification first cause what happened was they were bringing every half-way triangular rock to me and they got discouraged fast cause I had to tell em they weren't arrowheads.

                Unfortunately I'm in SC or I'd love to have y'all out, it's real important and so good that you're getting the kids outdoors. I've heard good things about the Ohio River, but more general suggestions like asking to look in a plowed field and in washouts hold true anywhere. When I've been hard up for places to look I look for sandy dirt patches in grass or along railroad tracks. Along the tracks they can also maybe find the skulls from animals that got hit, which I personally think is cool.

                In the same vein another fun outside activity is trying to find all the bones from an animal and articulating them. You can also deflesh an animal yourself, there's great tutorials online and articulating a skeleton is fun like a puzzle and also teaches kids soooo much about biology and how animals have the same bones as us but sometimes they work different. If you're hard up for a carcass you can ask at any taxidermist and they'll happily give you something, mostly they take the skin and throw the rest out.

                Finding fossils is a fun thing to do by itself or in conjunction with arrowhead hunting.

                When I was a kid I'd spend all day building a rock dam in a creek.

                I bought a Daisy slingshot from Tractor Supply (they also sell them in Sporting Goods in Walmart) and was really surprised how easy it is to be relatively accurate with one right off the bat. Have them shoot at targets and get further and further away. Then have them find their own slingshot branches and whittle them down and make their own slingshot (special slingshot flatbands can be bought cheap online, and there's loads of instructions online). Pro tip: the rocks don't need to be round but they do need to be small, like nickel-sized. You can show them trick shooting slingshot videos on YouTube to get them excited.

                My friends kids I took to the woods and "taught" them to sneak around and to look at animal tracks and broken brush and to listen for the sounds different animals make (usually just squirrels, they bound away in big jumps and they sound like they're about the size of a deer) and following animal tracks especially by a creek bank. I told them they were learning to listen to their "wild spirit" and they absolutely loved that cause they felt like they were practicing a special ability they had inside. I think it gave them some confidence in general cause I told them most people can't hear their "wild spirit" anymore (which is very true! I told them those people are called "concrete walkers") and it made them like to go out in the woods cause they felt like they were really in tune with it. We'd wrap up the day finding a good spot with a view as the sun set and watching/listening to the crepuscular animals coming out. They especially loved finding and identifying animal tracks and signs (like where hogs rooted or beaver chewed trees) and pretending to be trackers.

                Learning basic survival skills is fun and can actually be important. A month or so ago I hiked out a couple hours into the woods, and it was getting dark so I thought I'd take a "short cut" which was the right direction but ended up being impassable. I had to walk way way out of the way I wanted to go and ended up having to use Orion to make sure I knew which direction I wanted to go. Was proper lost, thrashing through the brush for 3 hours lol. Probably would have had to call 911 if I wasn't confident which way to go. Kids love stuff like learning to use a fire drill or flints and about tinder and how to choose good wood - and how to make a signal fire by adding green wood to your fire. Even building a snow shelter with brush (practice when there's no snow though haha), how it should be as small as possible and sturdy against collapse. How to use a compass is an important skill. How to follow slopes and dry runoffs down to water. How to purify water with clay in an emergency (something I learned from a vintage DoD "surviving a nuclear blast" booklet. Hell, teach them to survive a nuclear blast (the little things like making a lean-to with a door to shelter from the Shockwave and fallout). Kids LOVE that stuff. Get them to read Hatchet by Gary Paulsen and they'll be foaming at the mouth to learn survival skills! Such a good book.


                With magnet fishing, go to a local public park with a lake with a little dock, that's where you find stuff. People drop tools and knives and stuff getting in and out of their fishing boats.

                Metal detect at popular public parks around benches and picnic areas, you'll usually find coins and jewelry.

                Learn to make turkey calls with a plastic cups, string, and a sponge and go on a "turkey sighting" hunt.

                It's probably too late to hunt for deer antler sheds, but that's a fun activity for Jan and Feb. Ask a hunter to know for sure, supposedly they she'd through May in Ohio but that seems pretty late. Sometimes you can find trophy buck caliber sheds.

                Finding classic glass bottles if they're in to it. Some can be worth a decent chunk of money.

                Learn dowsing for water or gold or whatever. Ol Timers swear by it, I'm skeptical but kids love stuff like that where they can have a "special ability".

                I got my friends kids their own knives and taught them knife safety (ALWAYS CUT AWAY FROM YOUR BODY AND FINGERS!), they absolutely treasured those knives.

                There's a book, it's called The Boys Guide to Life or The Boys Handbook or something, and implicit misogyny aside it's full of of all the cool things that used to be normal "boys' activities" outside. Might get them inspired for things they'd like to do.

                It's great you're getting them outside! Give them stuff to take pride in and they'll be wanting to be out. Also a great way to learn some independence and confidence and nature-smarts, something a lot of concrete walker kids don't learn any more. Good luck with em!
                Central Iowa now, used to be in SC.

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                • Coy
                  Coy commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Oh, and there's some gold creeks in Ohio so you can teach them to pan. That can get boring though and can be discouraging. Building a sluice is a little faster paced.There'll be records of where old gold claims were, find a place downstream and pan. Find out what gemstones aare native to Ohio and look for those too.

              • #9
                Thanks for the responses. I haven't been able to catch up. I'm going to take your advice and if or when I have questions I'll definitely ask.
                I'm not sure when we're going to get out there, but I will post our adventures and hopefully successes.

                Thanks,

                Neil

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