Beginners Luck - Mosasaur Jaw

[Titan]

*Just a note that this is a follow-up post to the VFOTM post that I wanted to share.*

 

After reading a few posts here on the forum I decided I’d go to the NSR when I got the chance. I’d read it was good for beginners and the opportunity presented itself in April, 2020. I decided I’d make the trip and see what I could find. The first trip I hunted I found very little and walked a great deal until the very end of the day when I finally found two small mosasaur teeth. One of which was a Globidens sp. I was instantly hooked. Two weeks later, on my second ever fossil hunting trip I spotted the exposed section of the tip of the dentary which was only an inch above the marl, and kept walking thinking that it was just wood sticking out of the riverbed. Keep in mind it was after a two hour drive and seven hour hike, I hadn’t read much about fossils, and had no idea about how to properly collect a more complete vertebrate. I continued walking and my exhausted heat addled brain finally processed that the chances of there being an old black piece of wood stuck in the bottom of the riverbed wasn’t that likely. So I walked a few yards back and was lucky enough to find it. Beginners luck! I didn’t take a picture of it until I exposed the first tooth.

 

First picture though is just the anatomy of my find as I understand it.

 

This was the first picture I did take of the right dentary.

 

The NSR can rise pretty fast, especially when it’s raining out west and it was slowly rising so my find started going under water. I was stuck between trying to get it exposed and out of the ground in as best shape as possible and risking it going under which I didn’t know how would effect it. To top it all off the only tool I had was a screwdriver.

 

Here is the dentary nearly exposed.

 

And exposed. I dug a little channel that diverted some of the water away, but it was only effective for a few minutes.

 

And here’s the shape it left in the river bottom.

 

By the time I had the find out of the ground the water level was well over the site and the sun was going down. I decided I'd go back as soon as possible to see if I could find any more.

 

 

[Titan]

The next day I went back I was more prepared and the first thing I found was this section of the left angular which was still attached to the coronoid I just didn’t know it then.

 

Next was a small section of what I think is the left splenial. Notice the crumbling of the bone near the bottom of the picture. It was kind of a nightmare watching bone disintegrate in the current.

 

With most of the finds underwater I found I could carve out a pedestal and then pop it loose keeping the bone somewhat protected. The current was a nuisance though. Here’s a complete tooth that was lost to an unlucky break in the marl pedestal as I tried to pop it loose. The right coronoid is by the screwdriver handle.

I was sad this one didn’t make it, as it may have been to one of the sockets in the right dentary. The largest pedestal I dug weighed about 50 lbs but it contained the right articular, prearticular, and angular so lugging it back to the car was an adventure in and of itself but worth it!

*To the gentleman I met named Ron, if you read this it was nice to meet you and thanks for encouraging me on. I hope you found your Xiphactinus!

 

Here’s the hole from it all underwater.

 

Thanks for coming along on the adventure!

[JohnJ]

Great story, James!  

[Huntonia]

Very exciting indeed! Epic find and quite a cool story. Man does this make me want to do more hunting! 

[FossilNerd]

You found that on your second hunt ever?! That is going to be hard to top, but if that doesn’t hook you into fossil hunting nothing will! 
 

Congrats on the epic find and FOTM win, and thanks for sharing your awesome story.  

[Fossildude19]

Excellent backstory!   

Thanks for sharing it with us! 

[FossilDAWG]

Incredible story, incredible find.

 

Don

 

[Titan]

@JohnJ Thanks John, and thanks for your help connecting me to Josh!

 

@Huntonia Thanks, Me too!

 

@FossilNerd I guess I was ambiguous in my post, but it was my second trip out ever. I’d found a tabulate coral on my own land, but it was only the second time I’d left my land to hunt! It sure did, I’ve really enjoyed having a reason to go outside more.

 

@Fossildude19 Thanks, happy to be able too ! Hopefully I'll get out there again soon and find something worthy of sharing.

 

@FossilDAWG Thanks Don!

[FossilNerd]

3 minutes ago, Titan said:

was my second trip out ever. I’d found a tabulate coral on my own land, but it was only the second time I’d left my land to hunt!

Beginners luck indeed! Congrats again!  

[bthemoose]

What an amazing find. Thanks for sharing and congratulations!

[jort68]

One day.... Thanks for sharing!!!!

[Titan]

@FossilNerd Thanks

 

@bthemoose Thanks, and glad you enjoyed the story!

 

@jort68 Happy to get to share something with the forum! Even on the days after this find where I didn’t find anything post worthy I still had a great time getting out. It’s worth being out in nature whatever the reason for being there

 

I also wanted to share this picture for scale. I was tinkering with the camera so the quality is lacking but you can get an idea for the size. 

[Allosaurus]

Wow, super find! Did you go out by yourself or did you have someone along who had been there before? I've been wanting to make the journey to the NSR before its no longer accessible, but being from Idaho I'm not familiar with the area or would even know where to begin. 

[ThePhysicist]

A killer fossil and a wonderful story! We should all hope to be as lucky. I look forward to seeing it displayed! 

[Titan]

@Allosaurus

Thanks! I've only ever gone there alone. I would say it depends on your comfort level, but I wouldn’t let my wife or sisters go alone if that helps. There’s no cell service in the riverbed, and you will run into people most days. I’ve never had a bad experience in Texas, everyone I’ve met has been super nice, but obviously common sense and all would say it’d probably be better to go in pairs. I’ve also never seen women hunting alone there. Unfortunately I have had very uncomfortable/dangerous situations occur in rural Missouri where the methamphetamine problem is rampant, and I take the necessary preparations (2'nd A ) to go alone. Not to be all grave and grim but the reality is if you go alone, walk for many miles away from your car with no cell service and where you might only see one or two people all day you have to be prepared to get home if you get hurt or protect yourself in case of rabid wildlife - even the hominid kind.

 

As far as wildlife there’s feral boars, cows, deer, coyotes, and occasionally you’ll see a cowboy, all of which I’ve seen and never had a problem with. A few things I’d be aware of is the water level and especially overhangs. There are areas where you want to search under overhangs but they collapse from time to time and if you happened to be under a collapsing area it could be real bad. They also don’t make a sound before they collapse, they just go. Locals sometimes race/drive ATV’s through the bed on the weekends, but they’ve always been nice and courteous when I’ve seen them. I do treat it like it's their creek and give them the right of way because they live there. I also pick up trash while I walk as it makes it nicer for the other people who hunt.

 

I did do research here on where to go, but honestly a good starting spot is the Ladonia fossil park. It is heavily picked over, but I think it's a good spot to set out from and there is usually other people about that area hunting. When I go I've always made a day of it and usually end up hunting for eight or nine hours which allows you to cover more ground. One of the days I found next to nothing I was more focused on trying to get as far away from the more popular areas and when I got back a lady had found a really nice rooted tylosaurus tooth in the gravel bar right by where everyone walked by. She and her husband had found a few teeth, plus the really nice one, just hanging out on a single gravel bar for the afternoon and going slowly.

 

@ThePhysicist Thanks! Hopefully someday soon! Right now apartment life with a climbing two-year old doesn't make for a very good display scenario.

[Titan]

Oh and there's snakes, some of them venomous - I forgot to mention them because they're my favorite

[Clint08]

Amazing find, makes me want to visit TX! And fantastic pictures of your find and the journey extracting it.

[Troodon]

Amazing what an excellent story and find.  Congratulations thanks for posting

[Bobby Rico]

Wow you struck gold there. One great find congratulations. 

[sharkdoctor]

Great find and story. Glad you had the presence of mind to take photos as you worked.

 

[Ancient Bones]

I really enjoyed reading the story of  your great find,  nice photos too.  Thank you for the in depth account. 

[Titan]

@Clint08 You should come down sometime! My only regret is not moving here sooner. Thank you, glad you enjoyed them.

 

@Troodon Thank you, I'm happy to contribute something!

 

@Bobby Rico Thanks! Very fragile gold

 

@sharkdoctor Thanks, I regret not taking more on the first day especially of how little was exposed. I truly didn’t think it was going to be much. Most of my initial pictures of the dentary are all blurry…I must have been too excited to hold still. I do find them useful for recreating where bones were found and in what orientation afterwards. I took some video too, but for some reason there’s this high-pitched laughing going on in the background that's way to high to be my voice, punctuated by the phrase ‘no way.’

 

@Ancient Bones Glad you enjoyed them and thank you! Happy to contribute.

[BudB]

Wow, amazing find.

 

[Ptychodus04]

On 10/11/2020 at 2:49 PM, Titan said:

Oh and there's snakes, some of them venomous - I forgot to mention them because they're my favorite

I came face to face with a large cottonmouth whilst climbing out of the NSR once. That was exciting...

[Searcher]

Great find, nice job.