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What Is Your Standard Fossil/mineral Hunting Gear?


DeepTimeIsotopes

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So far I haven't seen anyone mention carrying in a bulldozer or backhoe, essential gear if you ask me. ;)

 

I only carry in what tools I am using for the day and still my kids backpack must weigh close to 50 pounds. :faint:Luckily the fossils I regularly collect are small and lightweight.

 

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13 minutes ago, caldigger said:

So far I haven't seen anyone mention carrying in a bulldozer or backhoe, essential gear if you ask me. ;)

 

I only carry in what tools I am using for the day and still my kids backpack must weigh close to 50 pounds. :faint:Luckily the fossils I regularly collect are small and lightweight.

 

A rare glimpse into @caldigger‘s favorite hunting site can be seen here01C54104-6AF6-465E-A5B0-EE7B55ABCD8A.png.87f69605618806251f58d0e82ba2df2d.png

If you look closely you can see him sitting there with his backpack. Just kidding! :rofl:

My pack is usually close to 50 pounds when I’m hauling out. If I can’t fit it in my pack with my water bottles, I’m carrying it out in my arms.

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Each dot is 50,000,000 years:

Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic...........

                                                                                                                    Paleo......Meso....Ceno..

                                                                                                           Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here

Doesn't time just fly by?

 

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  • 3 months later...

Lets see, I usually carry a cotton duck LL Bean tote.  If the ground is rough or I am traveling more than a couple of miles I switch it for a backpack.  For my hammer I use a masonry hammer from Home Depot.  It has served me well for years now.  Depending on the rock I may carry a cold chisel and a crack hammer.  Lunch and twice as much water as I expect to need.  Plastic bags, newspaper to wrap the fossils, 3x5 cards for labels, and a sharpie pen.  The 3x5 gives me lots of room to make notes, which I transfer to my collecting journal that night.  I never take my journal into the field.  Floating around in the bottom of my tote, where I trust it will remain unused for another dozen years, is a waterproof case of matches, a folding knife, and a space blanket.  If I am going into steep, rough terrain I carry 20 feet or so of parachute cord.  It is so much easier to lower the tote down to the next ledge, leaving both hands free, while descending.

 

More often than I care to admit there is a plastic bag with several fossils I collected the day before, because I forgot to carefully check the night before!!!!  lol

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On 2/3/2019 at 10:02 PM, caldigger said:

So far I haven't seen anyone mention carrying in a bulldozer or backhoe, essential gear if you ask me. ;)

 

I only carry in what tools I am using for the day and still my kids backpack must weigh close to 50 pounds. :faint:Luckily the fossils I regularly collect are small and lightweight.

 

Six sticks of dynamite weighs a lot less and gets the job done in a fraction of the time. :D

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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1 hour ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

Six sticks of dynamite weighs a lot less and gets the job done in a fraction of the time. :D

What is your obsession with dynamite?!

 

You must be a real hoot on the fourth of July.

 

 

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6 hours ago, caldigger said:

What is your obsession with dynamite?!

 

You must be a real hoot on the fourth of July.

You laugh but they used dynamite to get dig out the Burgess Shale. Maybe he’s onto something.:headscratch:

Each dot is 50,000,000 years:

Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic...........

                                                                                                                    Paleo......Meso....Ceno..

                                                                                                           Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here

Doesn't time just fly by?

 

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7 hours ago, caldigger said:

What is your obsession with dynamite?!

 

You must be a real hoot on the fourth of July.

Not obsessed; just practical. I'd rather carry out pounds of fossils than pounds of equipment. :D

 

 

Mark.

 

Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them!

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All I'd really bring to a fossil hunt (assuming that it has to be something I can grab) would be some ziplocs this wonderful object:

 

Related image

I haven't had the honor of holding a rock hammer yet.

If you're a fossil nut from Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Redondo Beach, or Torrance, feel free to shoot me a PM!

 

 

Mosasaurus_hoffmannii_skull_schematic.png

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