There's a reason spear crafting is so much cheaper than the rest of the weapons.

Bro this just happened to me

you could try using the hoe and pathen to remove the grass.
Never threw spears; just poked things.

There IS a console command to search for items nearby.
F5 -> "devcommands" -> find [spearname]
Spear names dont match exactly, but if you type spear, you can [tab] through different ones.

If you threw it flat its most likely still there. It is possible to throw one so far it disappears thou. The command has limited range, and spears can fly FAR so dont give up after one ping.

edit: vegetation quality to minimum while searching helps.

Also this IS cheating technically. But also throwing spear is super fun and you have to fail to learn so... your choice gl!

In a recent patch they added the starry effect that raises from items on the ground to the spear. Still doesnt guarantee you will find it but try looking around about 20 meters from your character as you run around instead of right in front of you. The whole cant see forest through the trees idea. On my spear guy I have one "main" spear that I use for melee, and three others for throwing all on the hotbar. The main being currently upgraded for the biom im on and the others either flint or later on fang. Since I have lost spears in the past I try not to throw my main. I hear ya though...... its frustrating. I wish you the best of luck!

in settings, lower the foliage. then you'll see better.
also, crafting a new spear shouldnt be that difficult. funny story thou. i hunt Gjaals with the special spear attack. you can imagine where my spaers go from time to time. thats why i have a couple in reserve. you can also carry 2 or 3 spears

also, if you already are in devcommands, you might as well just spawn in or craft for free a new one

I have no idea how to find the spear. I've never made one for just that reason. Throwing away my weapon in the middle of combat seems like a bad idea to me.

As for getting encumbered, that really shouldn't happen, but it seemed like that also happened to me recently, although not in combat. I wonder if it's a new bug?

FWIW, one of my first deaths was running away from what I think was my first encounter with some greydwarf, and picking up a pile of wood (on purpose) that encumbered me. It didn't take long after that...

This sounds like a job for the Spear Recovery Squad!
(Inspirational music playing loud)
(Que the fireworks)

Perhaps you'll one day meet a fuling with a familiar looking spear.

Originally posted by Rhapsody:

Perhaps you'll one day meet a fuling with a familiar looking spear.

LOL, that made me laugh.

Originally posted by Faceplant8:

As for getting encumbered, that really shouldn't happen, but it seemed like that also happened to me recently, although not in combat. I wonder if it's a new bug?

I'm sorry, I misspoke. I wasn't actually encumbered, just at max capacity, such that auto-pickup of the spear would have made me encumbered. I assume that is the reason it did not auto-return like it normally does.
I normally make sure to toggle loot pickup off during combat if I am going to use the spear, for that very reason. But it all happened so fast. haha

Hehe, feel your pain, have lost a few spears myself at times; but persistence in searching usually pays off.

Of course it depends on how badly you threw your spear. Accidentally one time threw one up in the air, up in the mountains, where I watched it soar away, then drop, all the way down to get lost into the sea of trees that was the Black Forest below. Finding that sucker was not a fun time. Have to take note of where you were, what direction you threw it in, how far could have it gone... blah blah, then the search. Just when all hope was lost of finding it again, poof, you look at some nook or corner you didn't see before and there it is.

Same principles with plains i suppose. A lot of that grassy terrain can hide stuff pretty well. I do sometimes wonder if thrown spears can get sometimes lost through the terrain a bit tho, same principles of retracing your steps apply. Sometimes coming back to it after an initial search might pop up the spear on the terrain to be seen better...