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Spies In The Woods.


Traviscounty

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First of all, I would like to apologize to the folks on here who warned of talking about specific hunting sites. I am fairly new to this hobby, and I have tried to be somewhat careful, but didn't think it was that big a deal. I think everyone needs to be aware that some people have very little respect for your hunting grounds. I know there are a lot of locations that are well known, but I will be following the advice I have received from a couple of experienced individuals. If someone gives you a spot to hunt, do not tell others. When you find something, only give out the formation and a very general area!

I am not sure if there are many people less experienced than me, but I feel like this is important. :)

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You are very right Travis. I think I may have been way to generous with where I have been hunting and am now paying the price.

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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You are very right Travis. I think I may have been way to generous with where I have been hunting and am now paying the price.

That's why I posted this. ;)

I know that you and I have not talked about certain spots, or ones that were given to us. However, I realized that I might just learn a few things and stumble on to a great spot myself? :o

I really just want to make sure everyone is aware that some people get on here just to "peruse"???

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First of all, I would like to apologize to the folks on here who warned of talking about specific hunting sites. I am fairly new to this hobby, and I have tried to be somewhat careful, but didn't think it was that big a deal. I think everyone needs to be aware that some people have very little respect for your hunting grounds. I know there are a lot of locations that are well known, but I will be following the advice I have received from a couple of experienced individuals. If someone gives you a spot to hunt, do not tell others. When you find something, only give out the formation and a very general area!

I am not sure if there are many people less experienced than me, but I feel like this is important. :)

Those are all good points. I normally try to judge the person by their character before telling them any secret spots. I always keep quiet if someone shows me one of their spots and tells me not to tell anyone else. Otherwise you'll have 50 people there before you finding everything :)The key is trust. Sometimes you get burned but that's why you start people off on little secrets :D

The soul of a Fossil Hunter is one that is seeking, always.

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I understand your point... I would hate to have a spot like that and have it looted before I could return.

However, I don't mind sharing my best spot (only spot) with you all. It is the playground at the school where I teach. That quarry rock can have some little gems in it. Too bad they are all the size of a pea. I have turned some students on to hunting for stuff and, of course, the stuff they find is ten times better than the stuff I find.

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I've yet to find a really good site since I've been a member on this forum so this post has me thinking about just who I'd tell, etc. I have taken a break from collecting for the last 8 years except when my kids twist my arm to take a fossil home. I am changing that now to more active collecting since my daughter is into it. I can tell you though it is fun to find fossils, take a picture, and leave them. This is especially so for fossils in situ. If something is encased in rock on public land I am inclined to leave it alone and I won't tell others.

On the other hand, if there is a site destined for landscaping or a creek that is slowing grinding down whatever is in it anyways, I don't mind sharing, maybe after my daughter picks it over really well first. My goal is more to educate my kids and the collection is a fringe benefit. I've donated or given away a lot of my best finds.

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I'll admit I have mixed feelings on this topic. In my first trip report on this forum I very specifically put in the GPS coordinates for the sites I found/visited. I haven't seen anyone else do this to-date and I'll admit to debating with myself whether I would do it a second time.

Here's why: when I started exploring this interest in fossils I found it very difficult to find any site information on any "fossil" forums/blogs/pages etc. It doesn't help that I live in Washington state which is very "new" geology-wise and doesn't have a lot of the more interesting stuff. I eventually gave up looking at these sites as they all seemed to basically go like this: "Here are Gramps, Joe and me at the you-know-where site. Some of you might recognize it from the hill structure... wink wink". Not particularly helpful to the newbie starting out -- pretty much felt like an old boys club where I had no chance of ever getting in.

I abandoned the fossil sites and decided to do it old school. I dug up a bunch of geologist reports (geologists love writing reports) and was lucky to find some with area descriptions or section map descriptions that I was able to distill down to pretty decent locations (with the help of Google Earth and others). Now I can easily imagine that some of you will say "that's the way it should be" but I would submit that I am also somewhat stubborn and more willing to do the research than others would or have the time for.

Also, I believe that not all sites are created equally.

One of the sites that I give GPS coordinates for in my trip report is a huge shale road cut. The next Ida is not going to be found in this site -- but it could be a great site to get a new generation of fossil experts started. I would like a parent looking for an easy access site that would keep kids busy and interested for several hours easy to find.

Would I do the same if I found the next Burgess Shale? Probably not, for some of the reasons already stated or implicit in this thread.

How do we find a middle point where we're "helpful" to those exploring the hobby/science, but not too "helpful" to those who would exploit the information? It's a tough question.

Dave

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I'll admit I have mixed feelings on this topic. In my first trip report on this forum I very specifically put in the GPS coordinates for the sites I found/visited. I haven't seen anyone else do this to-date and I'll admit to debating with myself whether I would do it a second time.

Here's why: when I started exploring this interest in fossils I found it very difficult to find any site information on any "fossil" forums/blogs/pages etc. It doesn't help that I live in Washington state which is very "new" geology-wise and doesn't have a lot of the more interesting stuff. I eventually gave up looking at these sites as they all seemed to basically go like this: "Here are Gramps, Joe and me at the you-know-where site. Some of you might recognize it from the hill structure... wink wink". Not particularly helpful to the newbie starting out -- pretty much felt like an old boys club where I had no chance of ever getting in.

I abandoned the fossil sites and decided to do it old school. I dug up a bunch of geologist reports (geologists love writing reports) and was lucky to find some with area descriptions or section map descriptions that I was able to distill down to pretty decent locations (with the help of Google Earth and others). Now I can easily imagine that some of you will say "that's the way it should be" but I would submit that I am also somewhat stubborn and more willing to do the research than others would or have the time for.

Also, I believe that not all sites are created equally.

One of the sites that I give GPS coordinates for in my trip report is a huge shale road cut. The next Ida is not going to be found in this site -- but it could be a great site to get a new generation of fossil experts started. I would like a parent looking for an easy access site that would keep kids busy and interested for several hours easy to find.

Would I do the same if I found the next Burgess Shale? Probably not, for some of the reasons already stated or implicit in this thread.

How do we find a middle point where we're "helpful" to those exploring the hobby/science, but not too "helpful" to those who would exploit the information? It's a tough question.

Dave

Very well said Dave. :)

I just want to respect the people that have done the work, protect those that might not know what they've got, hunt for some fossils, and eat a really good tunafish sandwich!

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to some, fossils are merely money laying around on someone else's property, waiting to be harvested as completely as possible and turned into cash as rapidly as possible.

so if you will think of your sites like they do, as places where ten-dollar bills (or maybe hundreds) are lying all over the ground, and more will be uncovered each rain, then you begin to see why telling others of your sites can be a problem.

it took me a while to realize how the game is played, and i still wish it wasn't the way it is, but there's nothing that i can do to change it.

by the way, the internet is the same way. i see people posting their phone numbers, their email addresses, their exact birthdates, their city of birth, etc. bots crawl the web 24/7 mining data like that for every purpose imaginable. i suggest using private communications when information about yourself needs to be shared.

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No matter what you are involved in, there are folks that are going to try and "cheat" you on it. Just seems to be how it works these days. On the other hand there are folks that are super nice and enjoy helping others out.

If someone gave me their "special site" and said don't tell anyone, they can trust me that I will not tell anyone. It's just not in me to go and "cheat" someone. If someone feels good about "cheating" so be it, more power to them, it's just not in me and never will be. I'm trying to raise my kids with the same mentality.

I truly believe what goes around comes around.

JMO

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I have some sites that I will tell others about and some I wouldn't give away no matter how much torture is invloved. Construction sites are good to give to other people as are well known much advertised on the web sites. I was hunting NSR one day and saw some people approaching. I asked where they were from and they replied "Indiana" :wacko:

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I was at the Mineral Wells dump one day and some people showed up and they were from Michigan. Even saw the plates on their car.

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I'm sure those people from out of state are merely here on vacation and not here to reap the land.They are probably hitting a spot or two while on vacation.

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The folks I met were here during Christmas break. They had already been to the NSR the day before. They had found sites on the net and were hitting them while they were here.

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I'm trying to raise my kids with the same mentality.

I truly believe what goes around comes around.

JMO

AMEN brother! You get back what you put out there!

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to some, fossils are merely money laying around on someone else's property, waiting to be harvested as completely as possible and turned into cash as rapidly as possible.

so if you will think of your sites like they do, as places where ten-dollar bills (or maybe hundreds) are lying all over the ground, and more will be uncovered each rain, then you begin to see why telling others of your sites can be a problem.

it took me a while to realize how the game is played, and i still wish it wasn't the way it is, but there's nothing that i can do to change it.

by the way, the internet is the same way. i see people posting their phone numbers, their email addresses, their exact birthdates, their city of birth, etc. bots crawl the web 24/7 mining data like that for every purpose imaginable. i suggest using private communications when information about yourself needs to be shared.

I couldn't imagine selling a fossil that I actually found. That would be heartbreaking for me. I don't know how people do it. I can't even manage to sell fossils that I have bought. And my wife loves me for it.... ;)

Fossils have much more intrinsic value than extrinsic, for me anyway........

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I have to admit, I am new, and I have actually given away a place or two... but nothing that seems like it could 'run out', because it is based by the ocean... naturally, everything can run dry, and I dont think I would give away the information again.

Of course, we all want to share our love for things.... but that might be able to be done in otherways than just giving away our precious places!

I dont know anything that valuable, so I am okay... (for now..)

"To do is to be." -Socrates

"People are Stupid." -Wizard's First Rule

"Happiness is a warm Jeep." -Auspex

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I couldn't imagine selling a fossil that I actually found. That would be heartbreaking for me. I don't know how people do it. I can't even manage to sell fossils that I have bought. And my wife loves me for it.... ;)

Fossils have much more intrinsic value than extrinsic, for me anyway........

I know how you feel. I'm a newbie and don't want to let go of anything. However at some point when you are sitting there with boxes full of 100's maybe thousands of echs or bones or whatever, what is the point in keeping all of them? Is there a prize for dying with the most fossils?

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I know how you feel. I'm a newbie and don't want to let go of anything. However at some point when you are sitting there with boxes full of 100's maybe thousands of echs or bones or whatever, what is the point in keeping all of them? Is there a prize for dying with the most fossils?

Amen:D, and no there is no prize<_<

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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There a lot of sites that have abundant fossils (which are not worth much money), particurly sites with marine invertibrates. I think most collectors are willing to share their knowledge of these sites with other collectors.

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I know how you feel. I'm a newbie and don't want to let go of anything. However at some point when you are sitting there with boxes full of 100's maybe thousands of echs or bones or whatever, what is the point in keeping all of them? Is there a prize for dying with the most fossils?

You have a good point, but I don't think I will have that much opportunity. My wife isn't really into the hobby, and I have a young son at home. I just can't really justify leaving for a couple days frequently to go hunting.. my priorities aren't that out of whack. My chances to get to a spot and collect will probably be few and far between. I am just hoping to find a couple decent teeth, some verts, and maybe a few jaw frags before my time is done. I will hopefully eventually find a couple spots relatively close for stuff like that.. maybe a couple of those nice Texas ammonites too. I'm not moping around or anything either... I just like to keep some perspective on the situation. If I find a nice spot to find some of that stuff, I'll go.... If all I find is a bunch of old rocks, I'll be ok with that too..... :)

And yes, I hope I die with plenty of fossils that my son will enjoy.... And the Lord willing, maybe a few with some memories attached. I don't think I have much a museum will want anyway.

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