DUDLEY, Mo. -- When Leslie "Allen" Boyer looks for stone Indian artifacts, the stones usually don't look back. But there are always exceptions.

"I was out surface hunting, walking around and looking down, and it was looking back at me," said Boyer. "It was a real exciting feeling."

What Boyer, 45, of Dudley uncovered one day in early February was an effigy or stone doll about four inches tall.

"It was probably either a child's toy or fertility goddess," Boyer said. "I think they wore it around the neck. There is a tulip or crown outlined on the body. It looks like it has a bellybutton. The hair looks like maybe it's a female. It's old. I just wish the one leg wasn't broken off of it."

Dr. James Price, archaeologist, acting chief of the Resources, Management and Education Division of Ozark National Scenic Riverways at Van Buren, said without seeing the piece that it may be an effigy figurine from the Middle Mississippian prehistoric timespan of 1250 to 1350.

Boyer said it was his first effigy doll. "I've been told about them. I've heard stories over the years of effigy statues. They're really rare."

1,000 rocks on a good day

Boyer has been hunting Indian artifacts for 25 years in dozens of locations in Butler, Stoddard, Wayne and Ripley counties. He uses a flipping stick to flip rocks out of the ground. On a good day he will flip 1,000 or more rocks, and chances are two or more of them will be nice Indian artifacts while dozens of others will be artifact bits and pieces.

According to Price, most Indian artifacts found in Butler and surrounding counties are not arrowheads, as a lot of hunters call them, but dart points that were tied to the end of a long shaft or spear. Boyer has turned over hundreds of Indian darts and arrowheads over the years, many of them in excellent form and quality.

But the one he remembers the most clearly was the one that looked back at him in February.

He said with more people hunting artifacts it is much harder to find them today.

"Years ago in the 1980s, sometimes I would find over a hundred in one day at one location," he said. "They're getting harder to find. Sometimes I only find one or two a day, sometimes I have a dry run."

Boyer said the value of Indian artifacts has risen, and as price and demand increases, it becomes harder to find farmers who will allow hunting on their property.

"They used to be worth 10 cents an arrowhead. Now they can sell for $100 depending on the type of point and size. It's no telling what the little statue is worth," he said.

Most of Boyer's artifact hunting is done on the weekends, preferably after a rain storm.

Price said it is not legal to hunt or dig Indian artifacts on state or federally owned land.

"Under the Trespass Law they must have the landowner's permission to surface hunt" on private land, Price said. "The landowner owns the land and what's buried on it."

Price concurs with Boyer about artifacts getting harder to find. "It's a depletable, nonrenewable resource. There's only a finite number of projectile points. When gone, they're gone," he said. "That's why we manage them on public owned lands so they can be preserved for future use."

Fakes routinely made

He said artifact hunters in the area run the gamut from looters and those selling fake artifacts to amateur artifact hunters who label where the artifact was found. "These are the collections that are extremely important to archaeologists," Price said, adding that they are somewhat meaningless if there are no specifics on where they were found.

"Fakes are being routinely made by very skilled artists. Generally I can tell, and so can most experienced artifact collectors. If it's too good to be true, it's probably a fake," he said.

Another item of concern for Price is the recent practice of meth users to hunt and dig artifacts and then sell them for quick cash.

"People who use methamphetamine have a great deal of temporary energy and the ability to stay awake three to four days before they crash, and they can dig an extended length of time and stay up all night," Price said. "This is occurring. ... It's having an adverse impact on the cultural resources of Southeast Missouri."