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AJ the Tyrant

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I know that Acro stuff is quite rare and hard to come by, but I was wondering what the best spots in Texas are to find such fossil material. I live in the state, so it would not be too much of an issue to travel to a spot or two to hunt for these theropod fossils. To sum it up, my question is: what are the best spots in Texas to legally hunt for and collect Acrocanthosaurus fossils/teeth (preferably without heavy duty tools or machinery)? If there are any, it would be much appreciated if you list the formation and location.

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31 minutes ago, AJ the Tyrant said:

I know that Acro stuff is quite rare and hard to come by, but I was wondering what the best spots in Texas are to find such fossil material. I live in the state, so it would not be too much of an issue to travel to a spot or two to hunt for these theropod fossils. To sum it up, my question is: what are the best spots in Texas to legally hunt for and collect Acrocanthosaurus fossils/teeth (preferably without heavy duty tools or machinery)? If there are any, it would be much appreciated if you list the formation and location.

Anywhere on land held in the public trust that you can find an exposure of the appropriate formation for acrocanthosaurus. Use a stratigraphic map. Once you find some places like that, search and keep searching and hope you get lucky.

Edited by fossil_lover_2277
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I have seen a total of 1 Acrocanthosaurus tooth on the forum, belonging to the one and only @Troodon. From what I understand, exposures of the Twin Mountains formation and the coeval Antlers fm. in OK are not particularly abundant, not extensively collected (at least compared to formations like Hell Creek & Morrison) and would most likely be on private property. If you can look at geologic maps of the Trinity group and find areas where you believe exposures to be present, you must then find out information about who owns that land and contact them. I would expect this to be a difficult undertaking in terms of having each of the pieces work in your favor.

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There is a reason why what you are asking for is not easily found online.  You stated that reason in your opening comment.  It is unlike asking for recommendations where to find the best barbecue in Texas.  If specific information was published, it would easily position the site for abuse.  

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The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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15 minutes ago, PaleoNoel said:

I have seen a total of 1 Acrocanthosaurus tooth on the forum, belonging to the one and only @Troodon. From what I understand, exposures of the Twin Mountains formation and the coeval Antlers fm. in OK are not particularly abundant, not extensively collected (at least compared to formations like Hell Creek & Morrison) and would most likely be on private property. If you can look at geologic maps of the Trinity group and find areas where you believe exposures to be present, you must then find out information about who owns that land and contact them. I would expect this to be a difficult undertaking in terms of having each of the pieces work in your favor.

The best option is finding a river or “navigable” creek, although the “navigable” definition depends on the respective state (this is provided the given state reserves land under navigable waters for public use). As long as you enter the navigable water way from a public access point, you are good provided you don’t leave the creek/public land (you need to be SURE you research this well, again, this varies State by state, looking it up falls on YOU).
 

But rivers and creeks are also useful as they cut down through the earth, so if it’s the right area they may expose the desired formation when otherwise you might not be able to access it.

 

Also, just because it is okay for you to be in it doesn’t mean it’s the best idea to be there. If the creek is public but goes right through someone’s backyard for example, I personally wouldn’t hunt it, or at least would ask them if they’re okay with it first, explaining the situation, and if they’re not comfortable, respect that and find a different one.

Edited by fossil_lover_2277
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8 minutes ago, fossil_lover_2277 said:

The best option is finding a river or “navigable” creek, although the “navigable” definition depends on the respective state (this is provided the given state reserves land under navigable waters for public use). As long as you enter the navigable water way from a public access point, you are good provided you don’t leave the creek/public land (you need to be SURE you research this well, again, this varies State by state, looking it up falls on you).
 

But rivers and creeks are also useful as they cut down through the earth, so if it’s the right area they may expose the desired formation when otherwise you might not be able to access it.

This maybe be what you are looking for.  This was discussion about where dinosaur fossils could be found in North Central Texas and Oklahoma, but very rare to find one.  

 

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If you do go wandering down a creek or river be aware you may not see posted signs above you marking boundaries for government property like airports and military bases.  It can be easy to lose track of where you are and how far you've gone so check maps carefully.

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Just do what I did. Find a good geological map and with a little luck  you will find some very amazing things. I found mine in North Texas in the Glen Rose / Paluxy Sands .  I won’t tell my sites due to the rarity of them and the fossils but it is possible to find them if your patient and look hard! Good luck and post your finds!!

409A8B77-9D35-487D-BD17-F910B6CD9A97.jpeg

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Edited by Brad84
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Wow, great specimen.  It looks like someone did some great prep on that unless you were even more lucky to find it like that.

 

Yeah, patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet.

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2 hours ago, Brad84 said:

I found mine in North Texas in the Glen Rose / Paluxy Sands .  I won’t tell my sites due to the rarity of them and the fossils but it is possible to find them if your patient and look hard!

Wow! I am not into teeth, but considering the background story, this seems to be a quite wonderful specimen.

Would you like to tell us in how many pieces you found it? Maybe you have a pic of the initial condition? How long did it take to reassemble it?

 

13 minutes ago, siteseer said:

Yeah, patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet.

Personally, I don´t find patience bitter*. But the fruits are sweet indeed ;).

*It also depends if you have gardens with sweet fruits nearby. So you can readily pick some fruits after a trip into (at the moment) barren lands.

Franz Bernhard

Edited by FranzBernhard
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3 hours ago, Brad84 said:

Just do what I did. Find a good geological map and with a little luck  you will find some very amazing things. I found mine in North Texas in the Glen Rose / Paluxy Sands .  I won’t tell my sites due to the rarity of them and the fossils but it is possible to find them if your patient and look hard! Good luck and post your finds!!

409A8B77-9D35-487D-BD17-F910B6CD9A97.jpeg

D138D8F4-C82C-47B1-8AA0-1FBF1753EFE2.jpeg

FEFBC70F-693B-4F09-899E-535FE798106D.jpeg

DF24E47B-36C5-4E34-ACFD-DFE77F9A220A.jpeg

0ABCBEDE-2D96-43E8-AFF8-C7158D3AC1DE.jpeg

that is an absolutely stunning tooth; congrats on finding such a beauty!

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You are correct in saying that someone did a great job on prepping it. This is what it looked like when I first found it. Lucky for me it was pretty obvious lol,

219988E0-38DE-40B3-BCF9-144F79DB09EF.jpeg

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3 hours ago, siteseer said:

Wow, great specimen.  It looks like someone did some great prep on that unless you were even more lucky to find it like that.

 

Yeah, patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet.

 

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I have not found a bunch more to Acrocanthosaurus at the site. There are some tracks which are always fun. I found another tooth ( well half a tooth). It’s wasn’t as big either and one impression on a tooth that unfortunately nature took back. I also found a neat turtle skull at the site. But I can not complain! My first tooth will be hard to top. Here’s the turtle skull and partial tooth.

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02A5733B-D57B-4F19-84DE-C08E78C11A22.jpeg

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33 minutes ago, Brad84 said:

This is what it looked like when I first found it.

Thanks for showing it! This was already a perfect specimen from the beginning. I am rarely envious, but now I am!! "Will finden, will finden, ..." :D

Franz Bernhard

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Acrocanthosaurus became my favorite dino after the first time I saw the skeleton at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science. It is amazing. The teeth in the skull are huge. With that said @AJ the Tyrant the best advice I can give you is do the research. I can promise you, no one is going to give you a hard found location. Look into Acro, find the time frame he lived during the Cretaceous. Find formations that were deposited during this time frame. Then do the leg work. 

 

Like @siteseer said .... patience is bitter but it's fruit is sweet.

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Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt
behind the trailer, my desert
Them red clay piles are heaven on earth
I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt

Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers

 

image.png.0c956e87cee523facebb6947cb34e842.png May 2016  MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160.png.b42a25e3438348310ba19ce6852f50c1.png May 2012 IPFOTM5.png.fb4f2a268e315c58c5980ed865b39e1f.png.1721b8912c45105152ac70b0ae8303c3.png.2b6263683ee32421d97e7fa481bd418a.pngAug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png.af5065d0585e85f4accd8b291bf0cc2e.png.72a83362710033c9bdc8510be7454b66.png.9171036128e7f95de57b6a0f03c491da.png Oct 2022

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8 hours ago, Brad84 said:

You are correct in saying that someone did a great job on prepping it. This is what it looked like when I first found it. Lucky for me it was pretty obvious lol,

219988E0-38DE-40B3-BCF9-144F79DB09EF.jpeg

my GOODNESS, this is quite literally, in my opinion, one of the coolest things I've ever seen on the forum. I literally just showed everyone in my house this photo, even though I'm the only one into fossils that's here right now, I couldn't help myself. I'm amazed at this Acro tooth, especially in that it's from Texas!!! Many, many congratulations.

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“Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think” -Werner Heisenberg 

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