First hunting trip of the year and its a home run!

[hadrosauridae]

Well, 2 days ago I was freezing my butt off in Chicago and today its almost 90 degrees here in Oklahoma!  But warm dry weather is perfect hunting time, so I headed out to a ranch I started searching last year.  After many hours of walking and eyeballing every bit of rock exposure, something finally caught my eye.  I immediately recognized the bone structure, marked the spot and kept searching.  More and more bits started to show up and I immediately recognized the "figure 8" shaped that is distinctive of the sail spines of Dimetrodon!  This is the animal I have been hoping to find since I began my research into Oklahoma fossil locations.  I was super excited.  These were found on surface as "float", so I marked every spot with engineer tape. When I couldnt find any more, I stood back and looked at a perfect triangle pointing to the highest spot where I found material, and it was also several bits together.  So now I have an arrow pointing to my dig site.  My only hope is that I am just finding the tips (since almost all of it was sail spine bits) and the rest of it is still in the ground waiting.  Fingers crossed.  Even if this is the only parts left, I'm still super excited.

 

Most were sail spine bits and some were BIG, huge compared to what I saw on my day of digging in the Craddock bone bed in Texas.  Also a few other bits that might be pieces of rib or limbs.  Also, 2 bits of Orthocanthus shark headspine (actually the first items I saw) and 2 coprolites including 1 that has visible bone bits in it!

 

@thelivingdead531 I know its been 3 years, but I'm a heck of a lot closer to finding that Ddon tooth I promised you!

 

 

My field collection collection

 

 

Dimetrodon sail spine bit

 

That distinctive shape for sail spine!

 

and another one

 

Everything brought home

 

Not a great pic, but the light spots are bits of bone in this coprolite.

 

Othocanthus spine pieces.

 

Ortho head spine showing denticles 

 

2nd ortho head spine with denticles

 

 

[Jared C]

I'm invested, can't wait!

[Ludwigia]

[RJB]

Cool post.  When are ya going back?

 

RB

[digit]

Very cool! Looking forward to progress reports with new finds.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[hadrosauridae]

2 hours ago, RJB said:

Cool post.  When are ya going back?

 

RB

 

Cant make it back until at least some time next week.  

[hadrosauridae]

Just realized that I didnt have the big boi with scale picture.  This is the biggest Ddon sail spine bone I've seen (although I an NOT an expert).  I dont know if species can be determined or narrowed based on size.  All I know if that this is bigger than any of the bits of sail spine I saw in my short time in Texas

[jdp]

Very nice. How much do you think is still there in the draw?

 

Also, what formation is this?

[hadrosauridae]

2 hours ago, jdp said:

Very nice. How much do you think is still there in the draw?

 

Also, what formation is this?

 

No idea, fingers crossed that the sail spine are the first to weather out and the rest is still in the ground.   Although it would still be sad if it no longer has an intact sail. 

I am hopeful, since I didnt find any other bits.  No teeth, no claws, no verts, etc and the erosion debris was pretty thin so if more had been there, it should have been visible. These bits all came from a very small area, with nothing found outside.  Zone was maybe 50 across at the bottom, going up about 20 feet in a triangle shape.  If I had found this a week earlier, I could have brought it to you at the Field.  

 

Formation is in doubt atm.  USGS formations map overlay on google earth shows this to be literally on the contact between Wellington and Garber, but those are also surface exposure zones, so this being deeper than surface means maybe still Wellington?  I know the Garber is predominantly a thick sandstone formation and this bluff is still loosely consolidated mudstone and shale.  

[Mark Kmiecik]

Will we see the whole Ddon? I hope? Go get it, yeah. 

[FossilNerd]

Not bad at all for a first hunting trip of the year! Cool finds! Can’t wait to see how it plays out. 

 

Hey! @Bobby Rico isn’t Dimetrodon a favorite of yours? Better keep an eye on this one! 

[Bobby Rico]

On 4/5/2023 at 2:33 AM, hadrosauridae said:

Dimetrodon

Wow nice find I am and nice report thanks Bobby 

Edited April 7, 2023 by Bobby Rico

[Bobby Rico]

8 hours ago, FossilNerd said:

Not bad at all for a first hunting trip of the year! Cool finds! Can’t wait to see how it plays out. 

 

Hey! @Bobby Rico isn’t Dimetrodon a favorite of yours? Better keep an eye on this one! 

Cheers my friend for the heads up . I love them Sail backs . 

[Rock Hound]

Good luck to you, and your search efforts!!!

[erose]

On 4/6/2023 at 3:24 PM, hadrosauridae said:

 

No idea, fingers crossed that the sail spine are the first to weather out and the rest is still in the ground.   Although it would still be sad if it no longer has an intact sail. 

I am hopeful, since I didnt find any other bits.  No teeth, no claws, no verts, etc and the erosion debris was pretty thin so if more had been there, it should have been visible. These bits all came from a very small area, with nothing found outside.  Zone was maybe 50 across at the bottom, going up about 20 feet in a triangle shape.  If I had found this a week earlier, I could have brought it to you at the Field.  

 

Formation is in doubt atm.  USGS formations map overlay on google earth shows this to be literally on the contact between Wellington and Garber, but those are also surface exposure zones, so this being deeper than surface means maybe still Wellington?  I know the Garber is predominantly a thick sandstone formation and this bluff is still loosely consolidated mudstone and shale.  

Go with the description when the map is in question.  And remember to record really good locality info.

 

Neat stuff!

[thelivingdead531]

Wow!! That is incredible! I’m so happy that you’re closer to finding teeth! And keep them for yourself, they will be your hard earned prize.  I’m so flattered and honored that you remembered our conversation about them and the location, and I’m more than happy that I could help your journey! Keep us all posted for your next finds. 

[Meganeura]

Well this is a super promising start to what I hope is the rest of the animal! Interestingly enough, the shape of the sail spine is pretty much identical to what giant armadillo (Holmesina sp.) teeth look like here in Florida!

[Brandy Cole]

Awesome find!  So happy for you, and I hope to see more as you go.

[hadrosauridae]

9 hours ago, Meganeura said:

Well this is a super promising start to what I hope is the rest of the animal! Interestingly enough, the shape of the sail spine is pretty much identical to what giant armadillo (Holmesina sp.) teeth look like here in Florida!

 

Thats crazy.  I had to look them up, and sure enough they look really similar.

[hadrosauridae]

Story update:

 

OK, after the concentration of finds last time, I wanted to go back and talk with the landowner about what was found and my intention to start a small excavation.  That meeting was on Monday afternoon.  At which time the owner told me, "I've got a guy out there with a dozer clearing ground for a new fence up on that hill".  Talk about a soul crushing statement!   I wasnt without hope, because I knew my spot was about 20 feet off the property line, below the hill, and should be safe.   I didnt have time to go visit until today.

 

 

Talk about a close call!  The dirt pile pushed off the top, spilled down to the very base of my spot.  It was almost buried.  I messaged the owner to PLEASE not push the dirt any further in that direction.  But for now, the site it safe. That fresh scraped matrix is probably loaded with fossils, but it may take a few good rains to settle everything and uncover what is in the new exposure.

 

I went today with the goal to begin screening the surface debris for hidden fossils.  The rain from a couple days prior still had the matrix damp so it didnt want to screen well, but I got enough to fill a 1 gallon bucket with +8 to -4 screenings.

 

BUT! That first scoop... what a scoop! A Ddon vert!  I believe the first pic is a posterior view with the dorsal on the left.  The neural arch and processes are missing. Second pic should be frontal view with neural canal at the top.

 

 

 

I also picked up some more surface finds.  Xenocanthus head-spine bits at the top.  Vert, partial sail spine bit and tiny chunk-o-don  in the middle. More coprolites at the bottom.  Ignore the stuff on the left, those turned out to be just rocks.

 

 

So, thats the new update.  I plan on spending the weekend out there.  As much I want to start digging to see if anything is left insitu, I NEED to first clear all the down-slope debris.  There could be a lot of my Ddon already eroded and hiding, and I dont want to worry about burying those bits with debris from digging.  I hope to have my little bucket  of screenings washed and sorted before going back out.  I'm sure theres little goodies hiding.

 

Until next time!

[Jared C]

I'm hooked, each time I come on the forum I'm hope to see a notification that you posted to this thread! Really crossing my fingers you have a skeleton waiting for you

[automech]

[PaleoPastels]

This thread is so exciting! I love seeing Permian reptile news come up. Best of luck to ya! Keep us updated.  

[hadrosauridae]

I got the first 1 gallon bucket of surface debris screened, washed, dried and inspected.  No additional Ddon bits, but it sure wasn't empty.  Lots more coprolites, most of these are very small, like 1 - 2 millimeters with some bigger.  Most are amphibian with a few more shark in the mix.  Also a few unidentifiable chunks of bone, but they are so small they dont show well in the pic.  The big prizes for the effort are 3 Orthocanthus teeth.  They are broken but still identifiable.

 

 

 

I went back today and collected a 5-gallon bucket of surface debris, but I forgot my small screen, so after I got home and screened out all the minus size, I ended up with about half a bucket.  Oh well, it takes time to go through all this anyway.  All that is now washed and now drying.   After filling a bucket I started doing some more scouting for other fossil sites on the property and ended up finding a nice, green layer exposed with more coprolites and bit of what looks like amphibian skull.  No pics of those yet.  Left them in place so I can take my son out there to see the erosional layers and how to surface hunt there.

[hadrosauridae]

Another day, another update.  If it seems I'm hitting this site a lot, I am.  I dont know how long before the owner puts his longhorns back on it, but I dont really want to have any run-ins with animals that might eviscerate me just by turning their head. 

 

Went back to the property again today.  I scraped off a couple more buckets of material to sort through, but that should be about the last. It looks like its down to matrix now, so I can start actually searching for intact bones.  Also searched through the last bucket of surface material, and found some more shark spine bits, more coprolites, and a few tiny random chunk-o-dons but no more definite Ddon material.  Did find a super tiny vert centrum, about 3.5mm and its hyper-amphicoelous, same as the Ddon verts, but for now its just an unknown.  Probably one of the tiny amphibians leaving all those tiny coprolites everywhere.  Speaking of, there was a very cool coprolite with a 1mm Orthocanthus shark tooth in it!  Something had a tiny shark-snack.  Baby shark, do-do-do-dododo.   Sorry, I dont have a pic yet of the baby-ortho.  Its really hard to get a clear image of it.

 

 

Lastly was this beautiful tooth tip.  Dont let the pic fool you, this thing the size of a toothpick tip. Maybe 1mm diameter on the round profile base. My hope is that this is Ddon, but I know there are other predators this could belong to.

 

 

Then (once again) my son had to show me up.  I took him to the green-pond site to show him what the fossil material looks like on the surface for this formation.  While I'm getting equipment out, he heads down ahead of me.  When I get there he says "hey dad, here's one of those Dimetrodon spines and one going back into the hill."     Sure enough, he had found 2 eroded segments and the end of another poking out of the matrix.  So I got out the camera and the equipment and recorded him excavate his find.  Bad news was that he was chasing the terminal end, so if the rest of the animal had originally been here, it was long gone.  Still an amazing find, and the first real Ddon bone recovery.   After we got home, he prepped out the sail spine and reassembled the sections.  The tip is just laying there in the pic. It had lost a bit of in-between material so it cant be glued back with a super thin CA.  It does still have a small connecting spot, so we are sure exactly  how it goes, it just need some gap filler to give it strength.  I love the curve in it.  I've always thought it was so odd to see Ddon sails with all those crooked and bent spines.

 

 

The other pieces of the 2nd site. Left to right are a random bit of bone material, a piece that resembles the rugosity of an amphibian skull, another unknown bit-o-bone and lastly a piece that resembles Ddon sail spine, but its thinner and only channeled on one side, the other flat.  But, these all point it possibly being a very productive site.