RJB Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 I took two of my sons to South Dakota just last October. Ive never gone after the ammos too much, but being that I live in Montana now, SD didnt seem so far anymore. I was lucky enough to meet a really nice guy who new his ammos and had a few sites to hunt. Boy did we find some ammos!!! Actually it was my youngest son that did outstanding. I did purty good, but he found the most amazing stuff!!! We went to 4 different sites and it took us 3 days. We were gone from home for 7 days. We were all smiles all the way home from this trip. I have two more ammo trips already planned for this year too! I cant wait! One of the trips will be a river float trip, which will be super fun. I have never done that before!!! All these ammos are not prepped yet, but someday soon I will have some great stuff to show you guys. Here are some pics of some of the fossils. There are plenty more that I didnt get photos of. I just cant wait to start preppin!!! Enjoy RB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 Cool stuff :Thumbs-up: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cris Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Cool finds, RB... The last one is huuuuuuuuuuge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest solius symbiosus Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Nice finds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Nice finds, and I especially love the one with the original shell on it. It is really beautiful. Texas is huge ammonite territory, and I love collecting them. Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanceH Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 What geologic period (and stage) OR geologic formation are those from? I think the loosley coiled ones are technically scaphites. I took two of my sons to South Dakota just last October. Ive never gone after the ammos too much, but being that I live in Montana now, SD didnt seem so far anymore. I was lucky enough to meet a really nice guy who new his ammos and had a few sites to hunt. Boy did we find some ammos!!! Actually it was my youngest son that did outstanding. I did purty good, but he found the most amazing stuff!!! We went to 4 different sites and it took us 3 days. We were gone from home for 7 days. We were all smiles all the way home from this trip. I have two more ammo trips already planned for this year too! I cant wait! One of the trips will be a river float trip, which will be super fun. I have never done that before!!! All these ammos are not prepped yet, but someday soon I will have some great stuff to show you guys. Here are some pics of some of the fossils. There are plenty more that I didnt get photos of. I just cant wait to start preppin!!! Enjoy RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Pierre shale, Bearpaw shale, or Fox Hills sandstone? Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kauffy Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 I took two of my sons to South Dakota just last October. Ive never gone after the ammos too much, but being that I live in Montana now, SD didnt seem so far anymore. I was lucky enough to meet a really nice guy who new his ammos and had a few sites to hunt. Boy did we find some ammos!!! Actually it was my youngest son that did outstanding. I did purty good, but he found the most amazing stuff!!! We went to 4 different sites and it took us 3 days. We were gone from home for 7 days. We were all smiles all the way home from this trip. I have two more ammo trips already planned for this year too! I cant wait! One of the trips will be a river float trip, which will be super fun. I have never done that before!!! All these ammos are not prepped yet, but someday soon I will have some great stuff to show you guys. Here are some pics of some of the fossils. There are plenty more that I didnt get photos of. I just cant wait to start preppin!!! Enjoy RB maaann ive never hunted ammonites before, but that really makes me want to!! That iridescent one is amazing! "Turn the fear of the unknown into the excitment of possibility!"We dont stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 What geologic period (and stage) OR geologic formation are those from?I think the loosley coiled ones are technically scaphites. That first pic comes from some santonian layers in the Colorado Shale? The big ones are from the Fox Hills, and the others are from bear paw i think? This guy was spitting out soooo many names and places that it was hard to keep things strait! Plus with all the excitement it was easy to get confused. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 maaann ive never hunted ammonites before, but that really makes me want to!!That iridescent one is amazing! Hey Mr. Kauffy dude. Somewhere in your huge country you have some really wicked heteromorphs. If I ever find out where, i will let you know. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 Nice finds, and I especially love the one with the original shell on it. It is really beautiful.Texas is huge ammonite territory, and I love collecting them. Hey Roz. Im not sure, but I think I can remember that there are some ammonoids in what is called the 'red zone' somewhere along the sulpher river? anyone know of this? RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 The red zone on the North Sulphur River is Ozan fm, Upper Cretaceous. It is a condensed zone containing a cephalopod fauna including Trachyscaphites, Placenticeras, Menabites, Pachydiscus, Glyptoxoceras, Baculites, and Eutrephoceras. It is a pretty fun place to collect. While Texas is a vast treasure trove of ammonites, upper K formations are more sparsely exposed than lower K, making upper K ammonite collecting more of a challenge. I'll probably do another Sphenodiscus run as soon as conditions allow. These come from the very top of the K in Texas. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest solius symbiosus Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 maaann ive never hunted ammonites before, but that really makes me want to!! Me too. I've only hunted Paleozoic stuff. I've been meaning to hunt for some Goniatites at a locality about 80km east of here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 The red zone on the North Sulphur River is Ozan fm, Upper Cretaceous. It is a condensed zone containing a cephalopod fauna including Trachyscaphites, Placenticeras, Menabites, Pachydiscus, Glyptoxoceras, Baculites, and Eutrephoceras. It is a pretty fun place to collect. While Texas is a vast treasure trove of ammonites, upper K formations are more sparsely exposed than lower K, making upper K ammonite collecting more of a challenge. I'll probably do another Sphenodiscus run as soon as conditions allow. These come from the very top of the K in Texas. Hey Dan. You certainly know your stuff! Ive never been in Texas befor, but seems like most the ammos ive seen from there have no shell material. Do the ammonoids from the red zone have shell material? Seems like I remember somebody who had some with shell material on them? Also, the spheno's from the fox hill are world famous for their beauty, what do they look like from Texas? RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 Here are a series of photos of a Jeletzkytes nebraskensis that I found a couple of years ago. At the time I didnt know that the damage was most likely caused by another squid? But I had a lot of fun prepping it and rebuilding the damaged part. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 Here is a Nautiloid that I didnt find but traded for. Actually I got three concretions and this happend to be the best one. I still wish the living chamber was complete. Im working on a fella right now to get some more. I really do want a complete specimen for my collection. These are known as Arturia and come from the miocene and eocene of Oregon. I think? RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 Here is a big concretion literally full of baculites. I was on a trip from california and hit Utah for trilo's, wyoming for fish, colorado for leafs and then over to Glendive for ammos. On my way back home, I took some out of the way roads in the northern part of montana and found this beauty. Im not sure if its from the Bear Paw or Pierre Shale, but I was quite happy with this find. Oh, I did find some of those little hoploscaphites, but this rock made it worth my while to go all the way out to Montana. At the time, I didnt live here and it was a very long way from home. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Awesome stuff you did excellent work on the ammo :Thumbs-up: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 Awesome stuff you did excellent work on the ammo :Thumbs-up: Thanks Anson. But hey, while im thinking about it, do you, or do you know of anyone who has those 'ghost crabs' from florida. Ive always wanted one for my collection. Just asking. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 RJB While it is true that most TX ammonites are steinkerns, a few formations do present other forms of preservation here. Nacreous ammonites can be found in the Arcadia Park fm around Dallas and the Weno fm between Dallas and Oklahoma. These tend to be in ironstone nodules or weathered out of them. The red zone as well as the Britton fm of Dallas tend to preserve ammonites with a white aragonitic trace of original shell with no iridescent luster, still very cool though. At the red zone you can beat the ammonites free of the strata but in the Britton again you find ammonites in ironstone nodules, sometimes multiples per nodule. There are 7 zones of pyritized micromorphic ammonites in the Lower K of TX including Duck Creek, Denton, Pawpaw, Grayson and perhaps other formations. I think the Pawpaw material is the coolest personally out of our pyritized stuff. One of my favorite pieces is a pyritized Mortoniceras ammonite sitting on top of a Xanthosia crab carapace with lightning bolts of pyrite covering the carapace. I've personally found Sphenodiscus down here in the Escondido and Corsicana fms, although the Kco specimens are fragmentary. The biggest ones I've picked up are both 12 inches in diameter. The best one can be seen in my Oct 25 thread from this same "Hunting Trips" folder. I got 8 or 9 that day and plan to head back soon to see what I missed. I think S. pleurisepta is the dominant species down here, but others such as S. intermedius, S. lenticularis, S. lobatus, and S. tirensis are documented in TX Maastrichtian exposures. I may have multiple species in my collection, but I don't have the references allowing me to key them out. 1 Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 I only have claw fragments, the good crabs come from crystal river formation which is a ways away from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geofossil Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Here is a big concretion literally full of baculites. I was on a trip from california and hit Utah for trilo's, wyoming for fish, colorado for leafs and then over to Glendive for ammos. On my way back home, I took some out of the way roads in the northern part of montana and found this beauty. Im not sure if its from the Bear Paw or Pierre Shale, but I was quite happy with this find. Oh, I did find some of those little hoploscaphites, but this rock made it worth my while to go all the way out to Montana. At the time, I didnt live here and it was a very long way from home. RB wow! quite the concretion. Never seen the biggies that prolific!!! Re the Pierre Shale and the Bearpaw. 'In general' the terms are interchangeable with the former being used in the USA and the latter here in Canada. Geologicaly it's not quite that simple but there is overlap of member stages. It's basically a large inland sea during the Late Cretaceous and, like all continental bodies of water, changed over time ...broke into smaller seas...expanded and shrank several times, etc. Here's a neato baculites I collected this big lad from our Alberta Bearpaw. I held it outside in the sun to help hilite some of the incredible colour it has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrocklds Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 great resto on the ammonite. you have a very good eye for it. Brock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 I only have claw fragments, the good crabs come from crystal river formation which is a ways away from me. Hey Anson. Thanks for tryin. I used to see them on ebay several years ago, but the good ones where you could tell where the carapace was, the legs and especialy the claws always went for about 30 some bucks. I wasnt about to pay that much money for a crab that you couldnt even see!!! Then I went and checked out some websites that had some and they wanted up to 200 bucks for the good ones!!! I was just disgusted with all the greedyness and just left it alone. I do have a paper on those somewhere, but I thought I would ask and see what happens? Looks like I will not be getting any of those again!! Boo,, Hoo,,, Oh well, the fossil crab gods are not on my side yet again. I think somehow I will live. thanks for tryin though Anson. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 wow! quite the concretion. Never seen the biggies that prolific!!!Re the Pierre Shale and the Bearpaw. 'In general' the terms are interchangeable with the former being used in the USA and the latter here in Canada. Geologicaly it's not quite that simple but there is overlap of member stages. It's basically a large inland sea during the Late Cretaceous and, like all continental bodies of water, changed over time ...broke into smaller seas...expanded and shrank several times, etc. Here's a neato baculites I collected this big lad from our Alberta Bearpaw. I held it outside in the sun to help hilite some of the incredible colour it has. Hey Geofossil. that is one heck of a nice one! Im assuming that where the color stops/starts is where the living chamber is? Dang nice though! I still have one in a concretion that is about the size of the one you show, but twice as long. I took off a small piece adn saw the most beautiful color and left it at that. That was several years ago, now I think i know how to prep it? But it may be the very best that ive ever seen? I can hope cant I? RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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