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Feb28Th-High Quality Meg


Shellseeker

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Lately I have been prospecting -- looking for productive areas that might take a week or two of digging. Sometimes we go into well hunted areas looking for isolated pockets, and those pockets can be extensive. I went with a frequent hunting buddy who suggested that we return to an area we hunted for 12 weeks and was the source for my single complete Mastodon tooth.

I was somewhat skeptical since we spent a lot of time there 2 years ago, but I had no better suggestions. A test hole found 4-5 small teeth (tigers, lemons, bulls) in each of the first 2 full sieves so we continued.

The strategy was dig deeper under the sand, under the gravel that drifted in last season, under the discard piles of previous hunters, down to gravel that lays on the bedrock or clay. This mostly produced 5-10 small teeth per sieve and an occasional larger hemi, glyptodon osteoderm, mammoth-mastodon fragment and even a worn or broken Meg --

and then this. Not the largest Meg I have found in the Peace because it is only a little over two inches, but consider the quality -- great serrations wrapping around a perfect tip. Consider this is a 2 mya fossil in a river with fast currents, lots of large and small rocks. Quite a successful day -- It was also a beautiful day -- not a cloud in the sky, little breeze, warm water.

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The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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What a beautiful tooth! It must have been such a rush to see that come up in the screen. I love the dark enamel color too.

Luck is the most important skill of a fossil diver.

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Beautiful tooth. Amazing serrations. A true prize in anyone's book. :meg dance:

Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt
behind the trailer, my desert
Them red clay piles are heaven on earth
I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt

Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers

 

image.png.0c956e87cee523facebb6947cb34e842.png May 2016  MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160.png.b42a25e3438348310ba19ce6852f50c1.png May 2012 IPFOTM5.png.fb4f2a268e315c58c5980ed865b39e1f.png.1721b8912c45105152ac70b0ae8303c3.png.2b6263683ee32421d97e7fa481bd418a.pngAug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png.af5065d0585e85f4accd8b291bf0cc2e.png.72a83362710033c9bdc8510be7454b66.png.9171036128e7f95de57b6a0f03c491da.png Oct 2022

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It's so satisfying when you discover a gem of a find. Congrats. :)

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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What a beautiful tooth! It must have been such a rush to see that come up in the screen.

I am fortunate enough to find some really special fossil about every 4th or 5th hunting trip. When one of these pops up in a screen, I get pleasant tingling starting in my belly up into my chest and arms. I try to dance a little jig but have to be careful depending on the footing of mud, muck, gravel, tree branches, etc.

This one gave me one of those thrills and I go as often as possible to repeat the experience. SS

The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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What a beauty; nice and fat down the middle of the labial side...classic!

"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!

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Wow Jack, what a wonderful tooth,it certainly make up for all the hours we spend digging for little else than a handful of little teeth! I know the excitement that comes when that perfect specimen pops up in the sifter for sure! :fistbump:

Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there!

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Heya Seeker I guess I'm not going to get that meg-making mold back am I? :D

Nice find!

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Very Very Nice! Love the jet black crown with the brown/chocolate root. The Peace has been treating FF members with complete Meg's the last couple days.

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Congrats on finding such a nice specimen for your collection. It's nice when you can finally add something like this; what it lacks in size it sure make sup for in quality/condition. I like the lighter colored bourlette area too.

Daryl.

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It is so nice to see perfect quality megs of any size get screened from the Peace River. Given all that tooth's been through since it left its cohorts in that shark's jaw, it is amazing when one makes it to your sifter in such great condition--1 in a 1000!

Heading back to the Peace next weekend to go try my luck with some friends from Jacksonville. My friend's son and his schoolmate (both in middle school) will have fun hunting on the river no matter what we find. Not expecting anything as special as that buy you never know what the river gods have in store for you. And you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket so off to the river we go. Hopefully warmer and with a lower river level than last time I was out. And hopefully less canoes to dodge now that it isn't President's Day weekend.

Will post pics if I turn up anything worthy (or any mystery fossils).

Cheers

-Ken

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It is so nice to see perfect quality megs of any size get screened from the Peace River. Given all that tooth's been through since it left its cohorts in that shark's jaw, it is amazing when one makes it to your sifter in such great condition--1 in a 1000!

Heading back to the Peace next weekend to go try my luck with some friends from Jacksonville. My friend's son and his schoolmate (both in middle school) will have fun hunting on the river no matter what we find. Not expecting anything as special as that buy you never know what the river gods have in store for you. And you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket so off to the river we go. Hopefully warmer and with a lower river level than last time I was out. And hopefully less canoes to dodge now that it isn't President's Day weekend.

Will post pics if I turn up anything worthy (or any mystery fossils).

Cheers

-Ken

Good luck to you guys Ken!

Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there!

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Shellseeker- tingling in your chest and arms...are you sure you weren't having a heart attack? You know, being stuck in the clay may have been it's saving grace. Protecting it until you rescued it for your collection. Great find!

 

 

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. Not expecting anything as special as that buy you never know what the river gods have in store for you. .....

-Ken

This is exactly how I think about great finds. The river gods pick and choose. Today might be the day of leaving a perfect tooth 6 inches from my shovel or seeing it in my screen...

Shellseeker- tingling in your chest and arms...are you sure you weren't having a heart attack? You know, being stuck in the clay may have been it's saving grace. Protecting it until you rescued it for your collection. Great find!

I do not think a heart attack is as much fun, but some of the symptoms are similar! Your words also have that ring of experience and truth. I do think that the fossil hunting hobby is noble - rescuing a beautiful object from damage.

The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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SS, Now that's a super find and why some choose to dig in gravel! Congrats!. Regards, Chris

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That is beautiful, congratulations on the find.

In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory.

Alfred North Whithead

'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!'

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  • 3 weeks later...

That is a fantastic tooth. The serrations on it are great. Wish I could find Meg's myself but they are a little scarce in Wyoming!

WyomingRocks!

Stephen

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That is a fantastic tooth. The serrations on it are great. Wish I could find Meg's myself but they are a little scarce in Wyoming!

I hear you. I am blessed with the local resources, but I hear that there are some Green River fossils that would peak my interest. Like this feather that Auspex would cherish.

http://www.fossilmall.com/Western-Fossils/vert11/Feather_Fossil.jpg

So many fossils.... so little time..

The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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