Fossil hunting in the COVID age: Any word on practicing the activity?

[MeargleSchmeargl]

With lockdowns strangling basically everything right now, one question floats around in my noggin: is there anything on whether travelling for remote recreational activities is alright? I say this as obviously nobody's going (or should be going) to the big name sites where there's probably other visitors to contend with, but what about the lesser known sites where you can be fairly confident there won't be anyone physically exposed to you for miles in any direction? Is there anything in the books about it? I assume the answer is just stay put regardless, but I am indeed curious if there is anything in the books on remote/solo recreational activity away from home...

[FranzBernhard]

13 minutes ago, MeargleSchmeargl said:

I am indeed curious if there is anything in the books on remote/solo recreational activity away from home...

Yes, it is.

Driving is dangerous, hiking is dangerous, rock hammering is dangerous etc. As always, you can be injured and that´s life.

However, at the moment, hospitals, police etc. are heavily occupied with other duties. You don´t want them to be distracted by your unnecessary accident in a remote area. And you don´t want to end up unnecessarily in a hospital at the moment...

Stay safe and healthy!
Franz Bernhard

[Bobby Rico]

Stay safe, stay at home and don’t add any unneeded pressure on the medical staff, we all know the dangers of fossil hunting and now is not the time to risk it. This weekend for the U.K. will be a test been that it is Easter and the sun is out. If the public go out and don’t listen to our government, I am afraid we will be in total lockdown. 
 

 

[caldigger]

What's confusing to people here is we are supposed to be on total stay at home lockdown.  But the yanks on the radio keep encouraging those that feel cooped up to get out, take walks, play golf, go hiking, etc. Just do it alone or with no more than one other person. 

I know our State Highway Patrol is stopping anyone that looks like they are attempting to recreate

( hauling a camper trailer, surfboards on vehicle, etc.) and threatening a $1000. fine if they are not on the road for "essential" purposes ( go back home or get ticketed! ). 

All driving employees at my work have to carry a letter explaining we work for agricultural purposes and therefore are exempt from lockdown, just in case we are stopped.

 

[Ash]

In short this is how I look at the current situation:

 

If you want to do something, don’t. If you need to do something then ok.

 

 

I know it stinks to miss out on fossil time, but this is an event that hasn’t occurred in around 100 years. There’s plenty of time to go look when it’s over, so have some patience, do the right thing, stay at home unless necessary. America is by far the hardest hit country. It’ll get worse before it gets better, ride it out and wait.

[jpc]

1 hour ago, Ash said:

 

 

If you want to do something, don’t. If you need to do something then ok.

 

This is the best advice I have seen on this whole situation.  I have also been tempted to go out for a stroll in the whop-whops... boondocks to non-Australians.  But I would feel guilty having a great time while everyone else is shut in.   

 

Patience. 

[caldigger]

35 minutes ago, jpc said:

Patience. 

But thats a whole 'nother month away from fossiling!  

If the Covid doesn't kill me, the waiting surely will! 

 

[FranzBernhard]

5 minutes ago, caldigger said:

the waiting surely will!

Hang on here, we all will carry you through this .

Franz Bernhard

[caldigger]

You mean it's gotten to the point of needing a support group for depressed diggers?!  Aaaaaa!!!

[Welsh Wizard]

At work we’ve been applying the questions could we? should we? will we? This is largely because we are operating with 5% of our workforce in work which limits what we can do. And just because you can, doesn’t mean you should under the current circumstances.

 

I’m just going through my discard pile and also looking at any unprepped material I may have. Im even finishing prepping things that were almost complete but I never got around to finishing.

[FranzBernhard]

13 minutes ago, caldigger said:

You mean it's gotten to the point of needing a support group for depressed diggers?! 

That was at least my impression .

Franz Bernhard

[erose]

Franz said it best. I'm catching up on cataloging and so far have found what may be one fossil that would extend a known range.

 

It isn't easy to sit inside while the weather has been perfect but I have family in health care and my late father did volunteer EMS. They don't need any extra work. I'm the president of our local paleo society and we have postponed everything, meetings, field trips and our annual picnic and auction. Major drag.

 

 

[Mark Kmiecik]

14 hours ago, Bobby Rico said:

This weekend for the U.K. will be a test been that it is Easter and the sun is out

I thought Easter this year was on April 12th, (April 19th, Orthodox). Is it different in England than the rest of the world? 

[Ash]

4 hours ago, Welsh Wizard said:

At work we’ve been applying the questions could we? should we? will we? This is largely because we are operating with 5% of our workforce in work which limits what we can do. And just because you can, doesn’t mean you should under the current circumstances.

 

I’m just going through my discard pile and also looking at any unprepped material I may have. Im even finishing prepping things that were almost complete but I never got around to finishing.

 

Post up a thread of the preps you’re finishing etc. Keep us amused

[Welsh Wizard]

9 hours ago, Ash said:

 

Post up a thread of the preps you’re finishing etc. Keep us amused

 

I’ll try. Here’s a link to an iguanodon humerus ive just finished and had a stand made this week:

 

 

[michele 1937]

 

 

 

Stay home and put your fossils in order

Espandi

Comprimi

Forse cercavi: Stai a casa e metti ordì

 

 

 

[michele 1937]

Resta a casa e metti in ordine i tuoi fossili

[cngodles]

A week ago I went out and visited a rock outcrop I’ve wanted to for some time. Our particular county was not yet on lockdown. This week, I’d probably be fined for being out and digging along the side of a highway on-ramp.

 

Fossil related, I did find these last week in that outcrop.

[Shellseeker]

41 minutes ago, cngodles said:

A week ago I went out and visited a rock outcrop I’ve wanted to for some time. Our particular county was not yet on lockdown. This week, I’d probably be fined for being out and digging along the side of a highway on-ramp.

There is a wide chasm in the US on correct actions for Federal, State, and local governments and also individuals. I can only relate my situation. I do not claim or support Florida's guidelines and laws as appropriate for all 320 million Americans. We have a mandatory stay_at_home order from the Florida State government.  It has these exceptions:

 

I am compulsive about social distancing. I use surgical gloves, masks, disinfectant, each and every time I go out for whatever reason and I minimize the number of times I go out.  I have  credit cards from my bank that work with waving it over the device rather than insert it. I disinfect the credit card after using it in the old way at the gas pump.

A couple of times a week I go fossil hunting to extremely remote areas where based on experience I do not believe I will see a single person. If I happened to see a person, I would not return again to that specific location.

On 4/4/2020 at 1:52 AM, FranzBernhard said:

Yes, it is.

Driving is dangerous, hiking is dangerous, rock hammering is dangerous etc. As always, you can be injured and that´s life.

However, at the moment, hospitals, police etc. are heavily occupied with other duties. You don´t want them to be distracted by your unnecessary accident in a remote area. And you don´t want to end up unnecessarily in a hospital at the moment...

Stay safe and healthy!
Franz Bernhard

 

Let me acknowledge the risks I take, because I want to understand as many as I can, and then make a choice that I can live with...I take into account that health professionals are giving up their lives tending to the victims of this virus.

[MeargleSchmeargl]

3 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

There is a wide chasm in the US on correct actions for Federal, State, and local governments and also individuals. I can only relate my situation. I do not claim or support Florida's guidelines and laws as appropriate for all 320 million Americans. We have a mandatory stay_at_home order from the Florida State government.  It has these exceptions:

Yeah, this is what I was getting at in the OP. I know the whole thing about risking injury and how that's the last thing you want to do to doctors and nurses right now, but I was wondering how the "recreational activities" clause in the rules extends to isolated activities such as the one we perform regularly. If you ARE willing to take the risk and go to these fossil hunting locations where you could be sure that there's nobody around, could you? Would law enforcement allow it? That's the main question I was wondering.

[Darktooth]

3 hours ago, MeargleSchmeargl said:

Yeah, this is what I was getting at in the OP. I know the whole thing about risking injury and how that's the last thing you want to do to doctors and nurses right now, but I was wondering how the "recreational activities" clause in the rules extends to isolated activities such as the one we perform regularly. If you ARE willing to take the risk and go to these fossil hunting locations where you could be sure that there's nobody around, could you? Would law enforcement allow it? That's the main question I was wondering.

Fossilhunting would be considered an outdoor activity so I would think it would be ok. That is to answer your original question.  Most of what I have heard about any states lockdown guidelines, I believe allow for outdoor activities. One thing that I have been hearing is that it is recommended that whatever outdoor activity you plan to do should be LOCAL. Meaning no hours long drives. No crossing state lines. This is to prevent those individuals from needing to stop somewhere along the way. ( gas stations, grocery stores, etc...) Again the advice from others should be heeded, for all the obvious reasons. But I wont preach since I went fishing recently. But it was only a 20 minute drive from my house, with no stops along the way and practiced social distancing of well over the recommended 6 feet. More like 20- 30.  That being said I wanted to go out again but they are estimating that for us here in New York in the next 2 weeks we are going to reach our peak. It may be time to not be selfish. 

[Shellseeker]

4 hours ago, MeargleSchmeargl said:

If you ARE willing to take the risk and go to these fossil hunting locations where you could be sure that there's nobody around, could you? Would law enforcement allow it? That's the main question I was wondering.

 

It is riskier for me to go fossil hunting than it was 2 months ago. I go alone by mutual agreement.. that means no backup, but I used to hunt alone all the time. I go to far more remote areas than I used to,  generally larger gators and the possibility of wildlife encounters. I appreciated the difficulty of getting there.  2 hours by car, an hour by kayak each way (NO stops) tends to discourage most people and the gators help.

 

I absolutely go fossil hunting because it is the joy of my life,  I am content on the river, it is isolated from other humans and therefore the virus, it has a positive effect on my attitude, gets me a lot of exercise that I would not do otherwise, and because of all this , keeps the relationship with my wife on a reasonable good level.

 

Absolutely, law enforcement allows it!!! I carry the governor's order to show to authorities. Boating is allowed, kayaking is allowed, fossil hunting is allowed.

 

This works in Florida.  You need the rules and regulations in Georgia for recreational and exercising activities. 

[Shellseeker]

15 minutes ago, Darktooth said:

Most of what I have heard about any states lockdown guidelines, I believe allow for outdoor activities. One thing that I have been hearing is that it is recommended that whatever outdoor activity you plan to do should be LOCAL. Meaning no hours long drives

Have not heard that in Florida, but it may come...  CDC projection of Florida's peak is May 2nd. If the numbers start climbing remotely like New York, I expect the regulations to tighten. We will see.

The State is capable of adapting. Originally they suggested social distancing on beaches. When crowds formed, they closed the beaches and beach parking...

[FranzBernhard]

Summing up:

On 4.4.2020 at 6:21 PM, Ash said:

If you want to do something, don’t. If you need to do something then ok.

 

5 hours ago, Darktooth said:

It may be time to not be selfish. 

 

Thats all!

 

Stay safe and healthy!
Franz Bernhard

[Pilo]

Our Department of Game & Fish has some useful guidance whilst partaking in outdoor activities: