PRK Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) Ok ok I found a couple more pictures. So it won't be as short as I first thought! Living here on the west coast, out east is the same area most of you would call way out west, S.dakota/Nebraska. Many, many, years ago, in fact back when I was on a school break, I traveled way out east as far as Omaha on a fossil collecting excursion. On the way there, one of the side trips was to a ranch in the oligocene badlands. Among other great pieces we found, here are a few pics of some of our finds from that trip. Hyracodon Edited June 15, 2013 by PRK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRK Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) While in Omaha, we met a nice couple and we all decided to give the badlands another try on our return trip, it was their first time to the badlands. They werent even fossil people they just thought it would be a nice camping trip. while there he spotted a ridge about 30or40 feet up on a hill out in the badlands. when he reached it he called to me to come look. when I arrived, I saw a sweet little clutch of seven little, baby Stelemyes. Since he found the little group, we mutualy dacided HE gets first choice. It doesn't take long for the weather to demolish turtles, and these little "babies" were especially vulnerable. so for the most part, these little guys were relatively gone. Only three were salvagable. His choice was the only one the weather had naturally prepared, it needed no preperation, a REAL beauty, it had NO distortion( quite a rare occurrence), and was QUITE a trophy. He did love it tho. Beginners luck! He let me have the #2 &3 specimens. And as you can tell by the color, i had to prep mine. The others I'm sorry to say we're rubble. HIS. HIS. mine Edited June 15, 2013 by PRK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Those are awesome! I love your reports, PRK! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRK Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) Thank you bullsnake. Very satisfying and encouraging to hear input from youall! Edited December 30, 2012 by PRK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Ooooooh, those little guys are wonderful! "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...
Crinoid Queen Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Nice Turtle Shells! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KansasFossilHunter Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Wow! Those are spectacular! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masonboro37 Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 (edited) Great report and enjoyed seeing the turtle fossils! Edited December 31, 2012 by masonboro37 Process of identification "mistakes create wisdom". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 I love the turtles. Now you've encouraged me to search through my piles of photos for some of our 1998 Field Camp in SD. Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRK Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 YES PLEASE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Now that I have swept away a few of the cobwebs, I can't recall if I took many (or any) scenery or site pics of the hunting area, but I do have some recent images of some of the finds here: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php/topic/25437-1998-geology-field-camp-finds/ I'll still look for photos.... Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Really nice! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Very nice... The quality of preservation is so good you could sit waiting for the head & legs to pop out.... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrguy54 Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Very cool find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astron Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Nice story and spectacular babies Especially your one seems like it's ready to wake up and to scratch your palm... Astrinos P. Damianakis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoGuy Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 That is such a nice story, PRK. Thanks for sharing. It is also a good lesson in including beginners or those less experienced since their eyesight may more than make up for their newness to the hunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRK Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 (edited) Thanks paleoguy for that nice comment. Not only eye site, but enthusasium too. Edited January 5, 2013 by PRK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRK Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 (edited) I just printed out some old slide photos i ran across, and thought I'd share a couple more cool pics. The first shot (with the old 4x4 car) is where we camped. It's about 50ft from the edge of the top of the badlands we collected. And note how in this horizontal shot, the badlands cannot even be seen, just 100ft away. Its approx 100 vertical feet down into the bottom of the badlands, they are huge. i only had time to collect one small drainage system. Not a footprint or even a sign of human, the badlands were considered unusable land, but NOT for the fossil hunter. Vegetation doesn't seem to want to grow on the bedrock so every square inch of naked rock is fossiliferous. It would take years for a person to search the entire exposure in this picture, and by then it would have weathered enough where you started, you could start fresh again, right back where you started. Huge! The next shot(next post) i took a couple steps forward (about 100ft)just on the other side of the car, to the edge of this huge exposure. Looking down into the badlands. The pic doesn't do the vastness justice. I hadnt seen these pics for 25yrs, it sure brought me back! i love the nebraska badlands. i did return once, on my way to macome, and things had changed so much, along with its hugeness, I couldn't even find this spot again. But there is so much exposure this was not a problem. see next post below PS:I apologise for the low quality of the pic remember I had to print from a slide then use my iPad to shoot a pic off that print! Edited January 4, 2013 by PRK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRK Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 (edited) Looking down into--- Edited January 3, 2013 by PRK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Thank you for going to the trouble to reproduce these archival photos for us: I like history and back story. "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...
PRK Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 And thank YOU auspex---it wasn't much "out of pocket" however it WAS time consuming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I can't quite see the details on that beeeeyoootiful little turle of yours, but a lot of the little turtles have the skull tucked into the shell. Does yours have a skull? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRK Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 (edited) I don't think either turtle has a skull? Can't be 100% sure tho BTW, he kept HIS turtle Edited January 11, 2013 by PRK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRK Posted January 15, 2013 Author Share Posted January 15, 2013 (edited) Although we did see DOZENS of turtle fossils, most were in this weathered condition, and under our time constraint, were uncollectable. Turtle shells for some reason were quite common in this area. It would take much more time, tools, and effort than we had on hand to collect these cool fossils, so we moved on looking for smaller and more reasonable collectables. Imagine seeing a dozen of these crumbly fellas a day. This one is approx. 20 inches. I did find one shell that was a good meter across, but it too was too far gone to collect. You can see why the smaller turtles are more rare! Now and then we did collect a complete turtle, This one is about a foot long. Edited January 21, 2013 by PRK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grenzton Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 Hello PRK. Nice Truck! I like classic cars. Karl I want to die sleeping like my grandfather, not screaming like his passenger! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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