First ever fossil hunting trip huge success!

[strochim]

Is "The Fossil Forum" worthwhile? Absolutely. I've only been a member for about a month. I'm new to collecting. Up to this past weekend, I had only bought a few fossils, or had some given to me. I had not even thought of going on a "hunt". But I've read many posts in the past few weeks, and got excited to try it myself. I even purchased some tools, thanks to recommendations on this site, and prepared a backpack of essentials. Then, I researched posts from Texas (where I live) to see where the recommended spots were. Post Oak Creek and North Sulphur River were common themes. I decided to give the North Sulphur River a try for my first trip. I figured even a beginner should be able to find something, even just one. Due to some posts saying the Ladonia spots (Hwy 34 and 2990) were over-utilized, I settled on going to the Hwy 24 bridge north of Cooper, TX, which is a 2-hour drive for me.  I went Friday afternoon, January 7th, and spent 2 hours there before starting to lose daylight. I was the only one there (except for my wife, who stayed up at the top, as the cliff down to the river was way too steep for her). I only looked under the bridge, on both sides of the narrow creek at that point, and maybe 100 feet to the east of the bridge, to the end of the first gravel bar. I did not get far at all due to the abundance in this one small area. I split open many rocks hoping to find things inside. I found oysters by the dozens just laying around in the gravel. Some were partially buried, but it was easy enough to tell what they were. I had to make 3 trips up the steep bank to bring my samples back to the car. The final total was 104 specimens. I'm sure most of them are fossil oysters. But some I am not sure of. I'll be posting photos in the Fossil ID section later. I'm also not sure if there are several different species represented. I'll be asking that question also, with photos. Also, I'm not sure if I got a few clams, or if  they are oysters, or just rocks. I'll be looking for more input from you guys.

Mainly, I wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to this forum and for all the posts that helped me get started. I realize I'm just a "taker" (and not a "giver") at the moment, but it's a thrill to actually have such a fantastic day in my very first try. Probably beginner's luck.  In a few days, I'm going to post my second trip, which was the next day, on Saturday the 8th, in the rain. Not even close to the numbers, but a few that I'm very excited about and look forward to sharing.

Hopefully my photos are clear and helpful.

 

Here is the smallest and the largest. The big one is almost 7 inches, and pretty heavy.

 

There were 2 in a rock matrix. This particular one is my favorite of the entire lot, and is really the main reason in my mind that this trip was a total success.

 

This one I found as part of a larger rock that had been split into several pieces. It was actually partly in the river. It appears to be an ammonite impression, although I'll ask about it later in the Fossil ID section.

 

Here are some small samples. I'm guessing the first one is a tooth or claw?? The 2nd one kind of looks like a tooth, but I'm guessing it is just a piece of oyster shell, like the 3rd and 4th ones. The 5th one, the red one, is either a bivalve of some sort, or just a pretty rock. Not sure.

 

 

 

 

And finally, a few unique shapes that I think are all very cool. Please pitch in and let me know your thoughts on what any of them might be. I'm just saying "oysters", as I have no idea of specific species at this point. Thanks again.

 

 

[fossilhunter21]

Wow! That is a lot of very nice fossils!

 

Congrats! 

 

Thank you for sharing!

 

-@fossilhunter21

 

[Praefectus]

Great haul! Good luck on future collecting trips. 

[Lone Hunter]

You have some nice Exogyra oysters, I'm pretty sure anyway,  the round flat one is probably a clam,  and the row of small pieces are all shell I think except the red one,  don't think it's anything but not positive. There is an abundance of oysters here in Texas, you can find them in almost every creek and in gravel roads.  If you go back to NSR  keep an eye out for tiny teeth, it's common for people to bring home a bucket of fine gravels and sift through it for tiny fossils.  Don't worry about being a 'taker', the folks on here enjoy teaching us as much as we enjoy learning 

[A.C.]

Those oysters look a lot like “Exogyra” from the Cretaceous period. I agree the fossil forum is a wonderful tool and really gets me passionate seeing other peoples finds!

[Lone Hunter]

You would really enjoy Post Oak creek, you'll be walking on oysters like these instead and I think they're pretty for shell collections. Both creeks have fossils Cretaceous in age and also recent bones.

[ChristineR]

Thanks for sharing your trip and enthusiasm.  Congratulations on your first finds! There are bound to be many more. 

[historianmichael]

Congratulations on your first fossil hunt! Before you know it, you will be a grizzled veteran!

[strochim]

Thanks a bunch for the responses. It's great to see so many others appreciating this hobby (or profession for some). I'm definitely planning on going to Post Oak creek at some point. My daughter, son-in-law, and grandson live near that area, so I'll have a good excuse to take my grandson out for an adventure. 

I also will be willing to discuss trades or other ideas with anyone interested. I certainly don't need 100 oyster fossils. I plan on displaying a few of them for sure. I was thinking of burying a few of them in a dirt pile in my backyard for my grandson to dig up. That will still leave several of them to barter with. There's always a few fossil dealers at the First Monday Trades Days in Canton, TX. I may see if I can trade for something I don't have. 

Thanks again.

[Jared C]

Nice finds! I also started my fossil hunting journey a but over a year ago, using this forum. It's still one of the best resources I have.

Compare some of your really large oysters to Exogyra ponderosa

15 hours ago, strochim said:

Here are some small samples. I'm guessing the first one is a tooth or claw?? The 2nd one kind of looks like a tooth, but I'm guessing it is just a piece of oyster shell, like the 3rd and 4th ones.

The first is a cool little fossil that I only really ever notice on the Ozan formation - I remember reading on the forum somewhere someone trying to ID it as a cast of a tunnel - I didn't look into it any further, but if you put it on fossil ID I'm confident you'll get a better ID than what I can give.

 

Your 2nd-4th are fragments of the second valve, or "lid" of your oyster finds 

 

You live in a fantastically fossiliferous part of the state, if the NSR is just two hours away - I'm excited to see updates with your finds in future!