An Easter Fossil Hunt

[Shellseeker]

I usually do not hunt Sundays and never on a Sunday Holiday. However, I usually hunt with Steve and Dave on the Peace River, Dave was returning North soon, so Steve called last night and twisted my arm to go hunting today to a location where we had found lots of larger Tiger and Hemipristis shark teeth 3 or 4 years ago. You can never go home again, but sometimes lightening strikes.

None of us found large Tigers and Hemis, The location had been heavily dug since we were there last. For 3 hours the three of us were finding only 6-7 small shark teeth per sieve,  which is not particularly productive. But the sun was shining, temps were 90 degrees, but we were staying cool in the caress of the Peace River. We just were not finding much despite moving frequently upstream to different locations.  Then I found a gravel pocket that seemed to be missed , maybe refreshed,  but it had 15 small shark teeth,  and then in the next sieve, a Horse tooth.. that figures because they always expect me to be the lucky one. The next sieve I found a very nice sloth tooth. The pocket ran out , we kept on digging with few results, and I went about 150 feet upstream.. probing for gravel,  trying to find another pocket of virgin gravel. Time ran out on the day and I returned downstream to Dave and Steve. While I was upstream, Steve found a Dire Wolf molar,  and Dave found a Bison molar. I did not say anything about luck, but I was really pleased that we all found one great fossil,  when for a long while it seemed all we would find would be small sharks teeth. 

So here are the 3 finds.

 

Close up on the sloth:  This is a 2nd molar of Paramylodon harlani.

 

Close up of the  Dire wolf tooth:  I was fortunate to find this great photo,  courtesy of the NY Times on my searches. Looks like La Brea fossil.

A comparison:

The whole tooth

 

 

In fossil hunting, as in most things in life,  it pays to be lucky.  Enjoy.   Jack

[DPS Ammonite]

@Shellseeker Here’s a great song to listen to while hunting for fossils.

 

[jcbshark]

Awesome finds Jack Looks like a great day for you all!

[Family Fun]

Outstanding Jack, thanks for sharing