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Bear with me on this trip report, as I'm uploading photos from various devices and attempting to tell a non-boring tale. This past Sunday, 13 May, I went on a fossil hunting trip ALONE for Mother's Day (best Mother's Day ever)! This meant that I could be out as long as I wanted to be, no one to rush me or complain or tell me they have to go to the bathroom a million times. I had an amazing trip, and was very successful in my finds! I've been to Walton twice before and was not nearly as successful. So here we go, I left my house around 11:30am and arrived at Walton at 1pm. The high tide was at around noon, so it was just starting to go out, which I figured would be good for getting first dibs. The weather said it was supposed to be overcast and rain, thankfully it didn't rain on me, and the sun ended up coming out for a very nice day.

Hey everyone, I bought 12 shark teeth from an antique store in Southport, NC earlier this week and the only info that came with them was the little orange card you see in the pictures. I would like some help identifying them please. I think #10 could be a sand tiger shark, but I’m not 100% on that. Also, I’m not expecting an ID on #7 as it’s too worn to even tell if there is any enamel left. Tooth #1 caught my eye due to the tiny serrations. I know they aren’t the best pictures so if you need more please let me know. Ruler is in cm. Thanks in advance!

Was supposed to be the warmest day in over a week, so cabin fever got the best of me and I headed out in search of teeth. The water was really cold and the wind was fierce, so my trip was short (i'll wait for several more days until I forget the cold!) Nothing big, and lots broken. Found several drum "teeth", only one angel shark tooth (another broken and a pretty skate denticle, all near the penny). Think a crab claw tip? Lots of the usual sand tiger teeth with many of the smaller ones having cusps, some small triangular ones and skate teeth. Vertebrae were mostly broken (as were ecphora, left behind). Found some interesting stuff, have to find a way to take scans. And picked up some shells (may attach for ID help).

Went to brownies today, miocene, and I’ll have the haul until here later this week but I would like to know what species this sand tiger is. It’s purty big for a sand tiger, like an inch and a half. It’s got two cusps on either side, they seem to curve inward. I saved up for Kent’s book on fossil identification so I’ll have that by the 28th.

So to make up for the rain yesterday i walked all day today. I went sharks tooth hunting in the morning and found a huge sand tiger and a nice posterior meg, then a buddy of mine who lives down south was nice enough to ask me if I wanted to hunt down his way. So i scrambled off the beach and headed south. Well I was lucky enough to find a bunch of my FAVORITE fossil the ecphora!!! I was also able to collect a bunch of shell for mom not to shabby!!!

There are so many testaments to Purse State Park being a fantastic fossil collecting site online, and because of this I thought I’d go there myself and test my luck. I kept on hearing about quantity, and how Purse yields more fossil sharks teeth per trip than just about any other local site. I was blown away when reading that people come home from a single trip with hundreds of teeth, and of decent size and quality too! And so a few days before Christmas, I packed up my gear and made my way across the border and down the Potomac to Purse State Park.The drive there was just fine, and the park is very secluded, unlike some other common sites. Perhaps its isolation contributes to its lack of a crowd in comparison to the Calvert Cliffs. The park is quite difficult to find as it is not clearly marked; I actually drove past it at first and had to turn around! The parking lot is on the left side of the road, and you have to cross the road to get to the trail. The hike is a little under a mile, which can be a pain if you have a lot of gear. It’s also practically in the middle of nowhere, so be cautious. Eventually, you’ll find yourself on a very nice little beach along the Potomac River. The cliffs run along the majority of the beach, and you can even see the exposed shells and cliff mix in the lower layers of some parts. In terms of area, this site is astonishing! There is at the very least a mile of beach, not to mention the fact that you can venture far past that thanks to the high tide line law in Maryland. You really could just keep walking, and I did just that, but even then I couldn’t cover all of the area even in the eight or nine hours that I hunted. If your looking for a place to hunt where there’s more beach than you know what to do with, head down to Purse.The fossils found here are from the Paleocene Era, much older than the Miocene exposures at the Calvert Cliffs. They are approximately 60 million years old, which is nearly dinosaur aged! One area where Purse does lack, however, is variety. Although you may find loads of teeth, they will all likely belong to only a handful of species unlike the Calvert Cliffs that yield hundreds of different species. This being said, the species found at Purse State Park are fascinating. The majority of teeth found will be those of extinct Sand Tiger Sharks, although you are able to find ray plates and mackerel shark teeth as well. Maybe you'll even be lucky enough to uncover a dreaded Otodus!I got to the park just a few minutes after sunrise, making for a beautiful sight. Once I began searching, I quickly learned that my shovel and sifter were rendered near useless, as I was finding teeth left and right by simply using my eyes. Surface hunting allowed me to cover a lot more distance in a lot shorter time, and I also began developing an eye for sharks teeth; there were a few time I spotted a nice tooth with only the root showing in the gravel or sand! The air temperature was not too bad, but the water was absolutely frigid and I had to take multiple breaks to avoid losing feeling in my hands completely. I tried to cover as much beach as possible without going too fast and missing teeth, and I was quite successful in doing so. To the left of the entrance, I walked for at least a mile finding tons of teeth, and I eventually stumbled upon a large and complete Turritella mold! I had found tiny fragments towards the entrance, but I was ecstatic with this find. But then, I found another. And another. When I looked up I realized I was standing right by a multitude of cliff falls that were full of these Gastropod fossils! There were hundreds of them, both in the rocks and freshly washed into the surf beneath them. I picked up the prettiest ones I could find, even carefully prying one out of the matrix. As sunset approached, I had found hundreds of fossils including teeth, plates, molds, and possible bones (turned out to be pseudofossils). But aside from some good sized sand tigers, I didn’t have anything too spectacular. But in the last hour of searching, I turned over an object that was mostly buried in the sand. To my delight, it was a nearly complete Otodus tooth! My first relatively large tooth, and a great way to end a great day of hunting! Otodus obliquus was a giant shark, nearly 35 feet in length, that was likely the ancestor to megatooth sharks like Megalodon. And since Megalodon was not alive during the Paleocene, I’d argue that finding a tooth from its great great Grandpa is just as cool! And with that, I found another handful or two of teeth on the way back to my bag and began to leave as the sun set over the horizon. On the way out, I got to share my finds with a family who was walking their dog along the beach. They were the only other people I saw in the park all day long; other than that I had the site to myself. I said a big thank you to Purse State Park, and hit the road.In total, I found an incredible 619 sharks teeth, along with over 50 other fossils! Like I said, this site delivers when it comes to quantity. Some of my favorite finds are the large Otodus in the middle, the Turritella, and the long and complete Sand Tigers. I was only able to display so many teeth before my space was overcrowded, and I had to put the rest in a pile. I am beyond happy with the results from this trip; it was by far my most productive trip yet. I hope you all enjoy seeing my finds and hearing my report, and I hope you’ll pay a visit to Purse! As always, Hoppe Hunting!

Trying to learn, so please explain if you answer. My best guess on this is some type of Sand Tiger(this might be wrong as well). There are so many that look similar that I can't figure out which one. So, extinct or still around? Which species? Why? Best guesses are OK with me, I am more concerned with the why. Found on beach at Hilton Head Island, SC. Thanks for taking time to share what you know.

Hey everyone. Recently I have been finding some very interesting shark teeth that i believe to be extinct Mako's, Meg teeth, sand tiger teeth, Otodus obliquus, as well as auriculatus. If anyone would be willing to help with some identifications it would be much appreciated. I have attached an image of the shark tooth I am currently trying to identify. I discovered it on a beach in SC after a beach renurishment project to restore the eroding beach so I'm not sure the age due to it being found on the surface after dredging. I believe it is a species of sand tiger shark but the tooth has two cusplets on either side of the main cusp. Size: Main cusp is half an inch long. Does anyone have any ideas about species? I can post more pics if y'all think a different angle would help produce an id. Thanks for looking!

Hi Everyone, Spent a weekend with family and friends last month in a cabin at Westmoreland, overlooking the Potomac River. Probably my best collecting to date - first Meg (posterior)! The first day: conditions were perfect, the water like glass (see photo). We were able to see the bottom down to 1-2 feet and snagged some larger makos (hastalis) and the Meg in this fashion. Second and third days: much windier, colder. Collecting was OK, but not as good as the first day. Thought the framed "Tooth Art" from the visitor's center was pretty cool! Mike