Two Trips to Two Sites For Shark Teeth Ashley Fm. Charleston SC

[Sharks of SC]

Hello Everyone, 

Made it out to two shark tooth sites yesterday and today. Both locations are reworked Ashley Formation (late Oligocene) around Charleston SC. What really strikes me about the finds collectively is the variation in the colors between the two sites. The inland site (aprox. 5 miles NW) produced the lighter color teeth and bones. This was my first time scouting a site like this successfully. Most of the material was relatively poorly preserved when compared with the second site much closer to home. My thinking is that this is likely the result of exposure to leaching groundwater, whereas the darker teeth come from dredge spoil in which the teeth have spent the majority of their life encased is dense clay and saltwater.

In any case, I made some good finds between the two spots - a couple of nice Carcharocles angustidens teeth, a pair of Isurus desori, a dolphin tooth, a whale tooth, a beautiful three-tipped pathological tooth (tiger shark?), and a nice stingray crushing plate.

As a killer bonus, I found a MASSIVE deer skull with antlers. Big ol' ten pointer with a 171" rack (according to a formula for size rating I found online).

Thanks for taking a look!,

SOSC

Family photo - 

Angustidens - 

Desori makos - 

Whale + dolphin teeth - 

Killer three-tipper

Stingray crusher plate - 

Very, very big deer skull - 

 

 

[Darktooth]

Awesome finds! You did good!

[ynot]

Sounds like a couple of nice days. Nice finds also.

Tony

[FossilDudeCO]

looks like fun!

I totally would have taken that deer skull home.

 

That would be the find of the day for me

[Sharks of SC]

Just now, FossilDudeCO said:

looks like fun!

I totally would have taken that deer skull home.

 

That would be the find of the day for me

Oh I sure did! That's in my front yard - its just particularly difficult to photograph with scale

[MCG DAWG]

Nice finds.  Love those lighter inland colors, especially the chocolate ones over to the left.   

 

That rack is an exceptional buck.  Especially for the coastal area you're in.  However, as a longtime hunter and eyeball scorer, that is more like a 150 class buck.   You have to be certified on how to score them and I've never taken the time but I've looked at thousands that have been scored.  170 class bucks are just absoutely ridiculouosly large.   Google 170 class whitetail as an image search and you'll see what I'm talking about. 

 

Now, a 150 class buck is a real rarity.  They aren't a dime a dozen.   I've hunted for 25 years and have seen one that size in the wild.  That's an absolutely incredible find.  Just unreal.  To me it's better than any of the teeth, and the teeth are exceptional on their own.    The squirrels and mice haven't had a chance to chew up the antlers for the minerals.  Hope he died a natural death and wasn't an unrecovered buck a hunter shot.  Thanks for including the pic of it!

 

Here's a link to some 150 class bucks .    http://lcohunting.com/gallery150.htm

 

 

[Sharks of SC]

Just now, MCG DAWG said:

Nice finds.  Love those lighter inland colors, especially the chocolate ones over to the left.   

 

That rack is an exceptional buck.  Especially for the coastal area you're in.  However, as a longtime hunter and eyeball scorer, that is more like a 150 class buck.   You have to be certified on how to score them and I've never taken the time but I've looked at thousands that have been scored.  170 class bucks are just absoutely ridiculouosly large.   Google 170 class whitetail as an image search and you'll see what I'm talking about. 

 

Now, a 150 class buck is a real rarity.  They aren't a dime a dozen.   I've hunted for 25 years and have seen one that size in the wild.  That's an absolutely incredible find.  Just unreal.  To me it's better than any of the teeth, and the teeth are exceptional on their own.    The squirrels and mice haven't had a chance to chew up the antlers for the minerals.  Hope he died a natural death and wasn't an unrecovered buck a hunter shot.  Thanks for including the pic of it!

 

Here's a link to some 150 class bucks .    http://lcohunting.com/gallery150.htm

 

 

Thats some great info, thank you! I based the rating on a formula on a webpage. It asked for about 20-30 measurements (which are difficult to take) and only allowed for one-inch increments, not exact by any means. It certainly doesn't help that I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I've attached a couple more images - 

[CBOB]

Those are some awesome finds!!  And that deer skull is sweet!!!  Congrats on some great finds!

[RCW3D]

Nice all around! I'm going to have to agree about the deer skull, 150 class...still an absolute brute of a deer for a coastal area.

[flyg]

Lovely finds. I'm surprised the skull is so clean and yet there are no gnaw marks on that rack anywhere. That's a big deer for SC.

 

G

[History Hunter02]

Amazing finds.  I love hunting fossil hunting around Charleston.  That was a beautiful crushing plate.