CreekCrawler Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 Wow thats some serious "eye candy" can't help but think that the spear point was plunged into a bison! And the juvie Agkistrodon aint bad either.Note the green tipped tail used to lure prey in! Very nice, can't wait for the bannana split! B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Wow, you guys raked in some great stuff. Can't wait to see the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 OK, time for one sweet find. After a fantastic trip with Dan on Saturday, I was inspired to check out another stream I have permission to hunt. I was hoping to find another great ammonite site to repay Dan for the bonus finds late the previous day. It was an interesting hike that did not produce many visible inverts. In the Austin Chalk it can be feast or famine. I was able to pop out one small ammonite and some beautiful pyrite nodules. So, I started the 30 minute hike back to the truck taking the lowest path along the water. In a low receding layer of the chalk that I noticed what looked like a large pyrite nodule hidden in the shadow. It was afternoon; the sun was bright and my eyes had trouble adjusting to the sharp contrast of light and dark. I knocked off a few inches of overburden to get a better look and WOW! BONE! Then wiping off some dried algae...TEETH! Yeah, I know it's possible in the Austin group, but it caught me by surprise! I called my wife and told her the situation. "You're kidding!" I could hear the awe in her voice. I called Dan, but he was many hours away in the Pleistocene. After assessing my options, I decided it would be best to come back a little better prepared the next day. At home, I realized from a small fragment of tooth tip that I had found some part of a MOSASAUR! My guess was that I found the posterior end of a dentary. If so, then the rest of him would have long since been claimed by the stream. The next day, we hiked in with a little gear and began the excavation. I had to remove a lot of hard overburden before uncovering the bone. All that pounding attracted some attention before long. I wasn't the only one with permission to hunt there. A quick covering with newspaper and mumbling about shells was a weak alibi. I didn't have any plaster, and I knew this had to happen before day's end. It wasn't the best way to proceed, but one to learn from. In the end, I was satisfied with the results. Minimal damage thanks to PaleoBond. We spent 10 hours straight in a place with little shade on a day that reached 97 degees F. Then, there was the hike back with over 100 lbs. of rock and fossil...we were spent by the time we got home. Time to start planning the prep.... Austin Chalk - overburden 2.5 Hrs removing rock Double Dentarys? Eco-friendly broom Maxilla? Maxed out Double max? Max Close-up Premaxilla? Looks tylosaur... Not a bad weekend... How's that for dessert? The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted September 3, 2008 Author Share Posted September 3, 2008 John Looks like you got things out in a minimum number of pieces. Truly a once in a lifetime find that I may never experience in my lifetime. But 10 hours? Why didn't you just use dynamite like I suggested? Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 What...a...find... Did you know that, under certain circumstances, a Drool-O-Meter can go up to eleven? "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...
Bill Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Excellent stuff John. KOF, Bill. Welcome to the forum, all new members www.ukfossils check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreekCrawler Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Wow the proverbial "holy grail" of extinct Texas marine fauna! Now the work begins! Prep away! Great find and congrats! B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 That's a really sweet piece of dessert! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiphactinus Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see that baby prepped out!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted September 3, 2008 Author Share Posted September 3, 2008 While we made some good finds this weekend on our own, as for the tag team finds, all I have to say is "membership has its privileges" as we both found things we wouldn't have found on our own. One hand washes the other in this pursuit. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest N.AL.hunter Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Great story and thanks for remembering to take a camera! Loved to see things as they progressed. We all wait for the finished trophy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Wow, looks like you got most of the jaw, and just maybe all the teeth? Probably won't know till you prep it out. The right place at the exact right time! Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oh-Man Posted September 5, 2008 Share Posted September 5, 2008 John, Great day! I found a very similar bi-face blade (5-1/4") up near College Station last year. Do you know anything more about the one you found? Thanks Owen What is geology? "Rocks for Jocks!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted September 6, 2008 Share Posted September 6, 2008 John,Great day! I found a very similar bi-face blade (5-1/4") up near College Station last year. Do you know anything more about the one you found? Thanks Owen On last weekend were my best hunting trips in 2 years. I'm still smiling. Oh-Man, PM me a photo of your blade and I'll give it my best guess. Yours sounds fantastic! The one I "pulled on" Dan was probably a middle Archaic knife for Texas. I've seen a lot of variety in the Friday Biface and Pandora blades. It all depends on the typical age of the local archaeology as to what name you can assign. Latest update on the partial mosasaur skull has another expert leaning toward some type of Tylosaurus! Things should become clearer when can dedicate some time to prep. If any of our expert Prep guys want to offer suggestions, please send me a PM. I really want this to turn out right. Thanks. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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