Hemi-God Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Perhaps not weird, but definitely unexpected. .. *NOT an expert.I haven't a clue what I'm doing.But I'm loving every minute of it. .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Perhaps not weird, but definitely unexpected. You never tail-gated at a fossil site? Whut? "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...
Missourian Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Perhaps not weird, but definitely unexpected. Is that a ford? Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Is that a ford? <groan> The pun thread is two doors down... "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...
vertman Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Several years ago my good friend Brent (Boneman007) and I were popping up huge slabs of Kamp Ranch Limestone along a river bottom here in Texas. We had large pick axes, a huge crow bar, etc.with us. We worked for a long time popping slabs and picking teeth from them. After a while we both became muddy from head to foot. When we began to leave the river bottom, we both smelled, how can I say it politely...wacky tabacky. We climbed up over the river bank right into a crowd of high school kids who had gotten their trucks into what they thought was a secluded spot where they could do some smoking and drinking. Here we come, huge implements of mass destruction in hand, covered in mud from head to toe. We got pretty close to them before Brent drawled in his best Deliverance voice, "How ya'll doing?". Now, Brent is a pretty big ole boy. Sometimes he scares me even when he is not muddy. I am pretty sure a couple of them probably soiled themselves there on the spot as one of them came to the forefront and said, "N-N-nothing, sir!". I am pretty sure they thought we just buried a body. It was really really funny!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosco Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 My son and I were chased off a site by a helicopter.... What? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgrilusHunter Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Is that a ford? Loved it. "They ... savoured the strange warm glow of being much more ignorant than ordinary people, who were only ignorant of ordinary things." -- Terry Pratchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big2th Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I have two stories- both VERY different. 1) About 15 years ago, while collecting a Paleocene site on the Potomac River, I saw the rear end of a rabbit quivering from a bush. I figured as I neared it, that it would hear me and take off about its business. As I got closer, it made no effort to leave, yet continued to quiver. Given that the bush was near the beach and collecting area, I walked closer and used my stick to push the bush aside a bit, only to notice that the rabbit was already a goner and in the process of being slowly enveloped by a very large snake! Not one to interrupt a meal, I decided that the fossils were calling, hence I left immediately. 2) About 20 years ago, while collecting in the famous Aurora, NC Lee Creek phosphate mine, I was on the same trip in which about 20 students from Duke University were in attendance. The rules were far less strict and the hunting area much greater back in those days. For those who have had the good fortune to collect there before, you are aware that there are very large hills in the mine, some of which are separated by deep water. I hadn't seen another person in over 1.5 hours at one point of that day. I crested a hill, collecting along one side and heard some sounds on the other. Apparently, two students of opposing genders had become disinterested with paleontological pursuits and decided to explore biology instead (broad daylight, Saturday, 60 people in a 1x2 mile open pit). Like #1, above, I had fossils to collect and abruptly left that scene! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsessed1 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Is that a ford? It has to be a ford... a GMC would have made it to the other side! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Ok, here's one. When on geology field camp in Wyoming, we stopped at a ranch to hunt for tiny insects in a shale exposure. At lunchtime, we sat under a tree to eat. As we talked over who found what or whatever, someone noticed the half dozen or so coyote skeletons that were hanging down from the tree all around us. Oooo-kay.... I guess they wanted to send the varmints a message. "Round here, when you shoot a coyote, it's common to hang it on a fence post. The folklore is that it will scare off any others. On open range, I suppose tree hanging is an acceptable substitute. Anna and John SE Oklahoma ____________________________________________________________________________________ "Life is an occasion, rise to it." --Mr. Magorium, "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" http://www.johnsdiscoveries.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vordigern Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 not really wierd but I cant even count the number of times a deer has suddenly burst out of the woods leaping down into whatever ravine Im in at the time and giving me a mild heart attack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boneman007 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 How about suddeningly looking up from the river bottom and seeing that there are police in all directions including a complete SWAT team. Suddenly a SWAT guy pops up from the weeds in front of me about 20 feet away and says "You aren't a short mexican guy"... Luckily for me, I'm a 6'4" unarmed white guy, so I had to agree with him. Seems a short ARMED latino man had escaped from jail and was in the trinity river bottom with myself and my two friends. Needless to say, we called it a day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Maybe twenty years ago, I was looking for fossils along the beach near Santa Cruz when something dark appeared at the surface of the water maybe twenty yards (about twenty meters) to my right. It was a seal, a harbor seal (I think). He popped up and was just looking at me. We looked at each other for several seconds, then I turned and looked back but he was gone. Another time around 1990, I tagged along on a science field trip led by a friend who taught at a local high school. One of the stops was near Pt. Ano Neuvo, I hiked a little north of the group and spotted a dead sea lion that had washed ashore. It had a big bite taken out it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoc Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Neat stories, all! Mines not too weird. Just a bit unusual. A few years ago, in Western NY, I was fossil hunting a creek, and noticed a 6 inch catfish, partiallly out of the water on his side,...just laying there. He was moving a bit, but looked like he was pinned to the ground. I moved a rock near him to see better, and try to get him back in the water, ... and a 2 1/2 foot black snake was holding on to him with his fangs - when I moved the rock, he startled, ... slithered into the water, and took the catfish with him.... Neat, but it kinda creeped me out. Regards, Had a very similar experience. Saw a small commotion in the water and a banded water snake came out dragging an eel. We stopped to watch as the snake tried to wrap its coils around the eel (you know slippery they are). After about 5 minutes of wrestling with the eel, the eel got away and flopped back into the water. The snake faced us ##### as it decided that we had distracted him and caused the eel to escape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowsharks Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Not weird, but scary... One hot summer evening I was at Brownies beach after work. Low tide was around 8 or 9 pm as I recall, right about when it starts getting dark in the Summer time. Anyhow, I packed a small flashlight anticipating I might stay too long and it would get too dark on me for the long walk back out along the cliffs. As I had figured, it got dark and I was at the complete opposite end of the collecting area so I had a long walk back i nthe dark, but I had my small flashlight to guide me out. For those of you who know this beach/collecting area you'll be able to picture what I'm talking about. As I reached the end of the cliffs and rounded the corner where the cove is on the left I saw someone with a bright flashlight way up ahead on the main beach. I proceeded to walk through the water, still about a hundred yards from the main shore of the beach. As I walked through the water, making splashing and sloshing sounds, carrying my shovel, screen, and bucket, I noticed the person on the main beach was now aiming their flashlight in my direction. After a few seconds it sort of annoyed me so I started to aim my flashlight back at them to see how they liked being almost blinded. As I reached the beach and stepped out of the water onto the sand the person had approached me still holding their flashlight so as to purposely aim it right at me. I lowered my flashlight and all of a sudden the person said something like, "hold it right there". That's when I realized the person was a Calvert County deputy sheriff, and not only was he aiming his flashlight at me, but he also had his gun drawn and pointing at me as well. I can't even begin to explain what that horrible feeling was like. It's like time stood still for a split second until he lowered his weapon and proceeded to ask me who I was and what I was doing. Well, with hip waders on, a bucket, shovel, and sifting screen, it wasn't too difficult to convince him that I had been fossil collecting and simply lost track of time and it got dark on me before I could get out of there. He explained that one of the home owners near the beach called the police to report some kids making a bonfire and causing a bunch of ruckus and drinking and such. He responded to the call and was down at the beach looking for the troublemakers and all he found was a tired fossil collector. I walked all the way back to the parking lot with him to my car, all the while in a state of shock of some sort. All I could think of was how close was I to getting shot. I don't even remember the conversation back to the car. I'll never forget that night. Last time I ever stayed that late. Daryl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paperstraw Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 That is intense. I'm surprised he never shouted at you to identify yourself, or put your hands up, or even announce that he was with the Sheriff's department. Strange. More stories! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 ...and then there was the time i was driving home one night from a day of solo giggin afield, every few minutes glancing into the back seat at the human skull i had found that day... i just HAD to show this thing to the guys at work before turning it in! Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudduck Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 My brother and his family came to visit me over the holidays. I had showed him all of my fossil finds from the past few months. It encouraged him to go out and look for himself. (it got me out of the house too without getting into trouble with the better half!) I took him and his son down a trail that I have been down before and found fresh digging (contruction) which is a good sign to find fossils. We came up on a male sitting by himself with earbuds in his ears. No one else around. He was hunched down and nodding his head. He had a half eaten sandwich with him. He was starlted to see us as much as we were startled to see him. I spoke to the male, and he said he was just listening to music. He also stated he was new in the area and just moved here from Arizona and that he has only been here a week. It was odd that someone was in an area where you do not expect to see anyone at all. I told him to beware of the rattle snakes, alligators, and the wild boar that we have around here and his eyes got pretty wide. We moved on but was careful to watch our backs. Just had a wierd feeling about the whole encounter. On our way back, he was gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyc Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 My son and I were beach combing at Mcfadden Beach......well known to be a nude beach, but once you get past, you'll likely find washed up pleisto material. Anyway we've got our eyes to the ground the whole time, but I looked up and saw a guy nude-fishing. Told my son let's start heading back. .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interpaleo Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Great stories all around! Tend to see a lot of strange things when out hiking around, but the all time weirdest for me was a few years ago down in Southern California. Just went to a common shark tooth hunting site, where of course people occasionally toss out some trash. One day, right in the parking area, some really lazy person had dumped a half dozen boxes of blood vials and a huge bag of used syringes. There were syringes and broken blood vials spread over like 30 feet...Completely grossed me out on that area for a while. I stay real clear of any bags of trash I see in the field these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cris Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I've had a few strange things happen to me while collecting fossils. The first was while walking a creek in Gainesville looking for shark teeth. I came up on a homeless guy who was shirtless and appeared to be harrier than an ape. He walked up to me and stood a few feet from me, silent. I broke the silence by saying "Hello, how are you?" since he and his torn up blue tarp made into a tent were blocking my way...It was then that I noticed the guy had bloodshot eyes and he wasn't hairy at all, it was hundreds (maybe a thousand) mosquitoes absolutely full of blood all over him. He didn't reply, he just turned around and sprinted to his tent, slid down on his knees and started rummaging around through a backpack and throwing clothes out as he was looking for something. I took off the other direction and didn't look back. The only thing I can think is that he was looking for some kind of weapon. The second strange thing was also in a creek in Gainesville. Forum member "edd" was with me for this one. We were walking a creek and came up on a fresh camp fire with a wheel chair beside it. Hanging from a tree was an ID card and placed very carefully in the wheel chair was a wilted red rose...Mind you, this was about a mile into the thickest weeds and underbrush I've ever went through in a creek and I don't think there were any other access points...I'm pretty in shape and it was kicking my butt to walk through that area. The most recent thing isn't weird when you know what happened, but it sure felt strange at the time. I was while diving in the bottom of a river here in FL. The water was very dark that day and I had maybe two or three feet visibility. I was diving alone and I wasn't used to low vis without a dive buddy. I had a family member with me on my boat, but they don't dive. I was on the bottom, minding my own business when I hear this awful, LOUD cracking sound and start to feet the bottom of the river vibrate and rumble...if I was in any other state, I would have thought it was an earthquake. Talk about a mini heart attack as I looked around trying to figure out what on earth could do such a thing....Then, tons of sediment from upstream blocked literally 1100% of the visibility....I knew there was something absolutely huge just upstream of me....big enough to break logs like twigs and cause the bottom of the river hundreds of feet downstream to rumble....Fortunately, it stopped and I continued the dive. When I came up, I was talking to the person in my boat and they said the people that own both sides of the river there (a millionaire with his own staff that takes care of the property and usually have nothing good to do) swam across the river with a rope, tied it to a giant tree that had fallen and was blocking half of the river and then they pulled it all the way across the river with a tractor by the rope. I heard the tree smacking the river bottom and pieces of it snapping off. It was very unwise of them to do that when they could clearly see the dive flag just downstream of them. If part of the tree had broken off and rolled downstream, it could have gotten me into trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elcoincoin Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Weirdest stuff i found while hunting fossils was a human dental bridge eeeep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caleb Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 My father and I were checking out a new pit looking for trilos and every once in a while we would get a whiff of a dead animal. Now looking in quarries and along roads this isn't uncommon and we just try to stay up-wind of it. After a while of collecting and just ignoring the unpleasent oder, my father said "I found what smells". I looked up and was startled by a dead pig about 5 yards away. I said "Gross" and then stood up and looked further ahead of me. There was a giant pile of what looked like probably a hundred dead pigs. Then glancing into the woods we saw many many bones of other dead pigs that must have been dumped there long ago. Needless to say we left shortly after. Usually we name sites on thier location, however this one we just called "Dead Pig Pit" and we havne't been back since. On the plus side, my father did find a trilobite. Caleb Midwestpaleo.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 ! For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun. -Aldo Leopold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kehbe Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 ! Who's the little bitty guy down in the lower right corner? ROFL That surely qualifies as the wierdest thing I'VE ever seen on a fossil hunt!!! It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. Charles Darwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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