Wyoming Shark teeth outing

[jpc]

Hi all- 

Today I led a group of Tate Museum members to a shark tooth site for a few hours of collecting.  We had a good time and I think all 45 people found at least a few teeth, with many finding many more.  

 

Cretaceous shark teeth form Wyoming are not big.  This site is one of the few I have found that I can bring a group to and there will still be teeth left after we leave.  We had permission from the landowner to do this for a few hours today. At this site, it is somewhat easy to find teeth.  It is much harder to find complete ones.  I left all mine at work. These are the highlights of my wife's catch.

Ptychodus is the most common species to find whole.  There's one at the top right position.  

 

Here is the site.  

 

The highlight for most people was when a herd of elk trotted past us about 1/4 mile away.  

 

 

Oh, did I mention that a few ammonites were found...

 

I did have an unpleasant encounter with a trespassing Harley biker returning from the Sturgis Rally.  I am not a fan of bikers and this guy only helped strengthen my bad opinion of them.  His travel buddy was much nicer and recognized me from TV, and managed to bring his friend back to the legal side of the fence.  I work hard to build good relations with landowners and I do not want it screwed up by an arrogant "I can do whatever I want" {insert cuss word here}.  Please get permission from landowners, everyone.  The repercussions of not doing so get all of us kicked off of fossil sites.  And if you ride a Harley... please be respectful.  

 

Hope you like the fossils. 

   

[Praefectus]

Nice finds! Congrats on being recognized from TV. You are a movie star! It is unfortunate that the trespassing situation happened. At least it seems to have ended amicably. 

[LSCHNELLE]

2 minutes ago, Praefectus said:

Nice finds! Congrats on being recognized from TV. You are a movie star! It is unfortunate that the trespassing situation happened. At least it seems to have ended amicably. 

Congrats!  Nice finds for your wife and you. There are some beautiful and amazing shark tooth and ammonite hunting sites there in Wyoming and North Dakota. My wife and I had a blast there a couple of years ago.  But really, she was more interested in marking the state of North Dakota off her travel list.  And I had too many fossil hunting trips planned - not enough of other type of adventures.  But, it was a highlight of mine for hunting in my few outings with her - especially to find our first Ptychodus whipplei (WY), the larger Turonian age Ptychodus anonymous (WY), and pyritized Ptychodus marginalis (SD). 

[jpc]

pyritized Ptychodus?!  Do you have a photo available?

[LSCHNELLE]

Sorry JPC.  I am quoting you now.

 

Congrats!  Nice finds for your wife and you. There are some beautiful and amazing shark tooth and ammonite hunting sites there in Wyoming and South Dakota. My wife and I had a blast there a couple of years ago.  But really, she was more interested in marking the state of North Dakota off her travel list.  And I had too many fossil hunting trips planned - not enough of other type of adventures.  But, it was a highlight of mine for hunting in my few outings with her - especially to find our first Ptychodus whipplei (WY), the larger Turonian age Ptychodus anonymous (WY), and pyritized Ptychodus marginalis (SD). 

 

Here are two pics of Ptychodus marginalis from a quarry in SD. 

[jpc]

cool.

 

[Troodon]

Nice interesting locality in WY.  What county were you in?  

[Tomasz]

Very nice fossils...

[minnbuckeye]

What a great combo of fossils and wildlife!!!!!! And 45 people didn't spook them. 

 

Mike

[jpc]

11 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

What a great combo of fossils and wildlife!!!!!! And 45 people didn't spook them. 

 

Mike

nope... they just trotted on by like we weren't there.  

 

digit... this is in southeastern Wyoming.  

[fossilselachian]

Here are some Wyoming shark teeth. Identical teeth were also collected in Montana

[henpecked]

Nice finds thanks for sharing with us. I need to get up to casper and introduce myself to you jpc.

[Foshunter]

On 8/15/2020 at 8:31 PM, jpc said:

Hi all- 

Today I led a group of Tate Museum members to a shark tooth site for a few hours of collecting.  We had a good time and I think all 45 people found at least a few teeth, with many finding many more.  

 

Cretaceous shark teeth form Wyoming are not big.  This site is one of the few I have found that I can bring a group to and there will still be teeth left after we leave.  We had permission from the landowner to do this for a few hours today. At this site, it is somewhat easy to find teeth.  It is much harder to find complete ones.  I left all mine at work. These are the highlights of my wife's catch.

Ptychodus is the most common species to find whole.  There's one at the top right position.  

 

Here is the site.  

 

The highlight for most people was when a herd of elk trotted past us about 1/4 mile away.  

 

 

Oh, did I mention that a few ammonites were found...

 

I did have an unpleasant encounter with a trespassing Harley biker returning from the Sturgis Rally.  I am not a fan of bikers and this guy only helped strengthen my bad opinion of them.  His travel buddy was much nicer and recognized me from TV, and managed to bring his friend back to the legal side of the fence.  I work hard to build good relations with landowners and I do not want it screwed up by an arrogant "I can do whatever I want" {insert cuss word here}.  Please get permission from landowners, everyone.  The repercussions of not doing so get all of us kicked off of fossil sites.  And if you ride a Harley... please be respectful.  

 

Hope you like the fossils. 

   

Beautiful scaphite

[Uncle Siphuncle]

Love that Scaphites!

[RuMert]

Nice teeth and scenery. Strange I didn't see the post before