non-remanié Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 (edited) Nice finds tracer, but I don't really get it... If these are fossils "hiding" in Texas then I guess I was wrong and you guys have it easier than I even imagined! But seriously, these are easy pick-ups I don't see how anyone could NOT pick these up. Yes I agree that I might not have a clue what it was beforehand, but its not even a close call... if ever in doubt pick it up. If there is even the slightest doubt I bag it without a second thought on site. And when I get home its easy enough to purge the nothings. There is a site where I routinely pick up things that I am almost sure are just worn throw-backs and usually they are. But every once in a while they are something different and worthwhile, and as a result, I have an abundance of a certain fossil that literally everyone who collects the site thinks are extraordinarily rare there. I collect by the pick up everything mantra! Edited July 30, 2010 by toothpuller ---Wie Wasser schleift den Stein, wir steigen und fallen--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted July 30, 2010 Author Share Posted July 30, 2010 Nice finds tracer, but I don't really get it... If these are fossils "hiding" in Texas then I guess I was wrong and you guys have it easier than I even imagined! But seriously, these are easy pick-ups I don't see how anyone could NOT pick these up. Yes I agree that I might not have a clue what it was beforehand, but its not even a close call... if ever in doubt pick it up. If there is even the slightest doubt I bag it without a second thought on site. And when I get home its easy enough to purge the nothings. There is a site where I routinely pick up things that I am almost sure are just worn throw-backs and usually they are. But every once in a while they are something different and worthwhile, and as a result, I have an abundance of a certain fossil that literally everyone who collects the site thinks are extraordinarily rare there. I collect by the pick up everything mantra! well, i would agree with you except for two qualifiers. first, you gotta remember that this is an artificial venue where i've isolated the fossils within a small frame, rather than have them be in their real environment with huge numbers of other things. picture picking them out from miles of "strange" stuff. just forcing your eyes to even look at each thing in the environment becomes very difficult after awhile as your mind tries to zone out on you. the second qualifier is that there was a nice fossil in one of the pictures above that nobody's noticed yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
non-remanié Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 (edited) i agree with that. i was mainly going from the first photo. a big bone lying completely exposed on the ground surface in direct sunlight, even with a little moss on it, isn't really doing a good job hiding in my mind though. as for the other fossil that no one has mentioned, sometimes its easier to spot from an isolated picture from one angle, but it also can be more difficult than it was for you in person. i don't know the fauna or anything about collecting in texas to necessarily be able to pick it out but i see a few suspects. anyway i guess your point is to look carefully and pick things up to check if they are even remotely suspect, and i definitely agree with that! sometimes i surprise myself with things i pick up that turn out to be something better than i suspected, but i also pick a ton of nothings up in between. it definitely helps improve your overall collecting "skills" in the long run. well, i would agree with you except for two qualifiers. first, you gotta remember that this is an artificial venue where i've isolated the fossils within a small frame, rather than have them be in their real environment with huge numbers of other things. picture picking them out from miles of "strange" stuff. just forcing your eyes to even look at each thing in the environment becomes very difficult after awhile as your mind tries to zone out on you. the second qualifier is that there was a nice fossil in one of the pictures above that nobody's noticed yet. Edited July 30, 2010 by toothpuller ---Wie Wasser schleift den Stein, wir steigen und fallen--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted July 30, 2010 Author Share Posted July 30, 2010 yeah, the "log" required the situational awareness to scan up higher than normal, and to the side, and note large objects as well, which is somewhat counter-intuitive when you're used to staring at the ground in front of you and picking out small anomalies in gravel. i guess my main point is that i consider it a given that most of us have missed things we'd really have loved to spot. we've had our chance, the extreme coolness was right there near us, just waiting to be found, and we missed it. i know we have. just hope none of the ones i've missed would make me cry very long if i knew about them. hey, we look in amongst vegetation too. this is kind of a interesting thing found under some vegetation where others might have walked on by and not noticed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 yeah, the "log" required the situational awareness to scan up higher than normal, and to the side, and note large objects as well, which is somewhat counter-intuitive when you're used to staring at the ground in front of you and picking out small anomalies in gravel. i guess my main point is that i consider it a given that most of us have missed things we'd really have loved to spot. we've had our chance, the extreme coolness was right there near us, just waiting to be found, and we missed it. i know we have. just hope none of the ones i've missed would make me cry very long if i knew about them. hey, we look in amongst vegetation too. this is kind of a interesting thing found under some vegetation where others might have walked on by and not noticed... tracer, you make some great points. Making a find can be the difference of your gaze stopping short by a few inches or locking in on something less significant just a foot away. Whether you're getting started in this hobby or a veteran, it pays to train your brain with as many images of the fossils you are likely to encounter on a particular trip. Sometimes you will be amazed at how the tiniest detail triggers recognition in your mind. ...both are cool finds. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted July 30, 2010 Author Share Posted July 30, 2010 tj and i have a "game" that we play that allows us to have more fun than we otherwise would. if either one of us makes a cool or semi-cool spotting of something, whoever finds it tells the other to go look in the general area without telling them what, if anything is there. it's funny how much pressure you feel to spot something when you know it must be there somewhere and somebody else is watching you and you know they spotted it before. it's amusing, and both people get the fun of the find and the surprise of whatever it is. and by the way, i have on a number of occasions put my magnifying visor on at home and carefully examined stuff i'd only cursorily examined in the field, only to make a startling discovery of some sort regarding them. you get that epiphany of suddenly realizing what something is, or that it's got features about it that you hadn't noticed, or whatever. fun stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 neigh - neigh, really colorful fun stuff. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rover Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 The fossil in that last picture would have been a little tougher to spot had it not been right in the middle of the picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 Way back when (before cellphones, before laptops!), I spent years collecting at the Westmoreland/Stratford Hall exposures of the Calvert/St. Mary's Fms. on the Potomac (the good-old-days of unrestricted access on those beaches). I learned never to "blow off" inspecting anything my eyes stopped on; not because much of what I picked up turned out to be anything, but because it got me closer to the ground more often, and things I hadn't seen from "the stoop" magically appeared close to the eye-catchers. The tricky part was to concentrate, but not narrowly... "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted July 31, 2010 Author Share Posted July 31, 2010 so anyway, i like this piece of mammoth tooth enamel tj found right by one of the cow tracks in the picture above. cow almost stepped on it and probably would have ruined it. and the reason i posted the not-very-impressive round piece of cancellous fossil bone in sand above was just mainly because i thought it was cool to discover a fossil sitting right next to that sherd of native american pottery. what are the odds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 so anyway, i like this piece of mammoth tooth enamel tj found right by one of the cow tracks in the picture above. cow almost stepped on it and probably would have ruined it. and the reason i posted the not-very-impressive round piece of cancellous fossil bone in sand above was just mainly because i thought it was cool to discover a fossil sitting right next to that sherd of native american pottery. what are the odds? I wondered what the ribbey thing was next to the tracks. Pieces like that make great gifts because most people think it's remarkable to own a small part of a mammoth. ...the odds are pretty big. Like I said before, their unusual pairing make both "cool finds". The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 I saw that, but was thinking it was a shell in the sand. (recalibrating eyes for future reference). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amour 25 Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 Nice finds and yep the second one a piece of a tooth. I know about walking by stuff I found a large piece 2 years back that had footprints all around . Looked like a nice piece of wood but a turn and found to be bone. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now