Collecting ethics

[LiamL]

For those of you who collect at locations which are generally in a line, such as a beach. If you arrive at the beach and see someone got there earlier than you do you usually collect behind him or go to the unsearched section in front of him.

A guy in a video said it’s bad ethics to cut in front of people when collecting unless they’re going very slow. What do you usually do in this kind of situation.

[Bobby Rico]

I don’t get to go fossil hunting as much as I want. So when I do I just go where I please. I alway say hi to people on the beach.  I never even thought of  it as a problem , I would not mind if collectors got in front of me.

 

I have never seen a que while fossil hunt. 

[LiamL]

18 minutes ago, Bobby Rico said:

I don’t get to go fossil hunting as much as I want. So when I do I just go where I please. I alway say hi to people on the beach.  I never even thought of  it as a problem , I would not mind if collectors got in front of me.

 

I have never seen a que while fossil hunt. 

I never really thought about it until i watched the video and the guy mentioned it.

[Coco]

Hi,

 

If I arrived on a beach with people in front of me, I will go where I want because otherwise it would be as if the beach "belongs" to the one who arrives first ! But it's a public place...

[thelivingdead531]

Honestly, I will go where I want to. It’s a public beach, and it’s first come, first serve. If someone is saying that others need to wait behind them, then it sounds like someone else found something better than they did and are jealous. 

[Bobby Rico]

With what you been finding recently I would get right in front of  you. 

[Kane]

I don't collect on beaches, but I would think the unspoken rule applies that everyone is given an appropriate amount of space to wander and collect. The notion of queuing up to enter a large public space seems odd to me. 

[LiamL]

3 minutes ago, Bobby Rico said:

With what you been finding recently I would get right in front of  you. 

Hahah yeah, that comes down to how often i collect 

thought there might have been some secret collecting code 

[Nimravis]

I don’t Fossil collect on a beach, but when I go to Sanibel Island, Florida, I shell collect. It is said to be the best beach in the world to collect shells. There are tons of people doing the same thing and they are coming from different directions. I just decide which way to go and start collecting. I always find great shells that people have missed and since I am very discriminating with the shells I keep, I pass off the others that I may have picked up  to other collectors. I would do the same thing when I fossil collect, I may pick things up, but only keep certain things and give the others away.

[Fossildude19]

There will always be those people who feel entitled to everything in front of them. 

Public places are just that, and anyone should feel free to go anywhere they like. 

I would certainly give plenty of space to any who were wandering before me, but if you pass them, everything is fair game. 

 

Giving space to someone collecting a certain location is ethical. Grabbing a shark tooth from 2 feet in front of them while they are walking alongside of you is questionable, but generally whoever sees it first/reaches it first should get the fossil. This situation is easy to avoid if you give plenty of room to other collectors. Don't start collecting until you are an appropriate distance away. 

( This figure may vary. ) 

 

The best way to avoid this situation is to hunt at off hours/seasons, and to give other hunters space. 

It is unrealistic to expect the beach in front of you to be off limits to anyone else.  

[PFOOLEY]

Giving space to other collectors only seems right. Here's the thing, you can't assume that because they are fossicking, that they are good at it.   I've grown to slow my pace and be more patient, this usually puts me last in the "line". It does not stop me from finding great things. My friend Bryan doesn't think it is fantastic when I discover treasure in his footsteps...I, on the other hand, do.  

 

You are a good collector who will probably be successful no matter your place in line.

[Miocene_Mason]

I’m sure I miss plenty of things, meaning that being behind or in front of me makes a  minimal difference. I pass people but I always give them a wide berth and give them a wave and a greeting. No one seems to care.

[erose]

Great advice from others. I agree that cutting directly in front would be bad form. Walking ahead maybe 50-100 yards first is reasonable.  

 

And we all have stories of someone snagging a great fossil that was closer to us than we would like, or us doing the same to another. I'm guilty of both...but karma got me and I lost one of the best platycerid gastropods I ever saw after I snagged it while showing a new club (NYPS) member what to look for. That was the one time I honestly felt guilty. I do believe in karma...

 

My favorite was standing face to face with Bill Heimbrock of the Cincy Dry Dredgers at a great Ohio road cut. He was suggesting where I should search for good trilobites. As we chatted I glanced down and there was a perfect, prone Flexi sitting up a few inches on a pedestal smack dab between his two feet! He just laughed.

[FossilDAWG]

I agree that it is rude to come up right beside or in front of anyone and start collecting.  On the other hand it is unreasonable to say you can never pass someone.  Any place there is a lot of ground to search I'll give other collectors a wide berth but I don't stay behind them.

 

On rare occasion I've had to say something to people who set down right beside me and start picking things up from directly in front of me.  Usually it will be a kid who does that.

 

Don

 

[Bobby Rico]

I agree I would not collection right next to someone and would give them a fair amount of space but in the UK we don’t have that much room to leave massive gaps between collectors. Most uk collectors are pretty respectful to each other.

[sTamprockcoin]

You can collect as close to  me as you want just stay out of my bucket, my knapsack, and especially my pockets! 

[InfoHungryMom]

Interesting perspectives.  I have ONLY collected on beaches (and now on river banks).  I have never met someone looking for fossils, though I also have not been to “fossil hot-spots”.  I was visiting Tel Aviv, and I asked the hotel concierge what beach would have lots of shells/beach glass/fossils.  He called a friend and asked, “Where is there a lot of beach ‘schmutz’?”  (Schmutz = trash!). In Israel, unless you find “The Rosetta Stone” INTACT, it’s unimportant!  I found black beach glass, and pottery pieces, both of which were about 400 years-old.  TRASH to them! (I also found beautiful fossilized shells and beach rocks with fossils- It was awesome!) Another person was collecting in the same beach area, and I was frustrated, but remembered it was a beach FULL of stuff, on a rough area of the Mediterranean Sea.  Every wave brought the promise of “new shmutz”!  (So you found a dead bug in a stone?  Keep it!  Find more!  Clean the beach!)

[Uncle Siphuncle]

I have somewhat of a maverick mentality when it comes to collecting as nature is my escape from a world gone insane. “Pack mentality” eludes me, in fact, people all around me sort of wreck my collecting mojo...I concentrate and work most systematically solo.

 

That said, I try to adjust mindset, approach and expectations at extremely well known areas such as the NSR, even striking up friendly conversation and inviting others to share the bar when they approach.

 

When I need to satisfy my individual achievement tendencies, I like to visit places I’ve found off grid, or search for new ones.

[Walt]

2 minutes ago, Uncle Siphuncle said:

“Pack mentality” eludes me

Collecting of not, there is nothing more peaceful than knowing you are the only person for 5 or 6 miles in any direction...

I watch events on tv where people are elbow to elbow and I am just amazed that anyone would willingly do that 

[Uncle Siphuncle]

2 hours ago, Walt said:

Collecting of not, there is nothing more peaceful than knowing you are the only person for 5 or 6 miles in any direction...

I watch events on tv where people are elbow to elbow and I am just amazed that anyone would willingly do that 

I am happy to work close when each guy has to sit down and dig his own hole, as no one can really impact anyone else’s prospects in that situation.  Then again, it can be quite refreshing to hear only the chirping birds, babbling stream, or rustle of leaves rather than another human voice...esp if they want to pontificate on politics during my recharge time.  Some folks like to penetrate the outback in numbers for safety; for me, the risk/benefit ratio of rolling solo has been consistently tipped in my favor, so far.  I spend plenty of time yip yapping all things paleo through the week, but when it comes time to actually immerse myself in a field problem, 90% solo is a good split for how I’m (mis?)wired.  The 10% is generally comprised of times I can coordinate with my wife, one of a handful of equally busy, tenured Texas buddies, or reciprocity with out of state/country collecting friends.

[Scylla]

I find that on a very crowded beach, collector spacing is very different than on an empty beach. If there are only two strangers on a beach 50 feet is too close, but 2 ft can be plenty of space when there are hundreds of people. This seems similar to the Urinal problem. A special case is when I am collecting with 2 or more children, one always seems to be 1 ft in front of the others. Our family solution is to take turns being in front and your turn ends when you find a "good" fossil.

[sTamprockcoin]

In reality  for me it depends on the attitude, excitement, courtesy, spacing of those around me, my own mental state, safety concerns. One of my best shared experiences was quartz crystal collecting with a friend and his 2 boys (all newbies) who were delighted with every sparkly bit. The worst was an academian who complained that all he could see were "worthless bracs" and declared after looking at 1 rock that there was nothing there -so I didnt take him around the hill to the layer with coral branches and balls!

[caldigger]

Spacing all depends on the length of the handle on your Taser wand.

[ynot]

I have had people start digging directly uphill from My hole, throwing their tailings into My hole. Wrong!

I have had people reach in and dig what I am trying to excavate. Wrong!

I have had people start digging less than 2 feet from My hole and then dig towards My hole. Wrong, wrong!

I have had people "race" to grab something I was already reaching for. Wrong!

 

I believe that if You use a little common sense and leave adequate space for others there should be no problem.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

2 minutes ago, ynot said:

I have had people start digging directly uphill from My hole, throwing their tailings into My hole. Wrong!

I have had people reach in and dig what I am trying to excavate. Wrong!

I have had people start digging less than 2 feet from My hole and then dig towards My hole. Wrong, wrong!

I have had people "race" to grab something I was already reaching for. Wrong!

 

I believe that if You use a little common sense and leave adequate space for others there should be no problem.

Those things frustrate me as well, esp after getting up in the middle of the night and driving hours.  Solo solves all that, as does careful choice of field companions.