Purse State Park 2/23/19- Overhunted who?

[FossilsAnonymous]

After the long month without fossil hunting, we decided to go to Purse on a free weekend. Now that it is a former state park, it's a lot harder to find because there is no address to it, so hopefully it can recover from some of the hunting that has taken place upon it's shores. I really, really wanted some nice Macrotas after all the talk I had heard about them, and thankfully, Purse didn't disappoint. It was the middle of hunting season there, and we werent wearing anything particularly bright, it was a little nerve racking hearing the boom of gunshots far of in the distance. We started by going right towards the cliffs after hearing a comment about a big otodus found there. After only finding small things, including some nice Cretolamna and Carcharias, as well as a couple goblins, we turned left, and that was where things got interesting, still peppered with the occasional crack of a gun. My identification for Paleocene fossils isn't positive, because I'm used more to Miocene, but I believe the tooth on the right may be a Macrota. It's around an inch.

The teeth kept racking up. We had easily found at least two hundred, and I really can't wait to identify and label them. We were both quite tired, being as we had gotten up pretty early that day and explored the whole beach. No otodus, but around 230 teeth and hopefully a big ole' Macrota!

 

[FossilsAnonymous]

Sand tigers look really cool in the water (and in my hands!)

[jcbshark]

Nice findscongrats!

[digit]

Very nice--love the in situ and site photos. My wife and I were fortunate enough to hunt along that shore last October with @MarcoSr and his friend Mike. Very fond memories of freezing our wader-covered backsides off that morning with the temps hovering around 37F! Far from an expert in the species coming from the Paleocene Aquia Formation but Marco can speak definitively.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[FossilsAnonymous]

@jcbshark @Darktooth Thank you very much.

@digit the main problem is in my hands not so much as me overall! The water is bitter cold and when the teeth fall through cracks in a scooper... well, you have to take one for the team! Purse is quite beautiful.

[MarcoSr]

5 hours ago, FossilsAnonymous said:

but I believe the tooth on the right may be a Macrota. It's around an inch.

 

Nice teeth.  If the tooth on the right has striations on the lingual face (looks like it does from the picture), it is Striatolamia striata.  Striatolamia macrota is an Eocene species.

 

Marco Sr.

 

[Castle Rock]

I would like to ask about one comment in the original post, namely that Purse is a "former" state park???  Am I simply MISreading that remark or is it literally true? IF so, is the land (and ACCESS!) reverting to PRIVATE ownership?   I have only been to Purse once and, being that I live in WEST TEXAS, I certainly don't expect to get there often.  I would appreciate some clarification of the actual status of the area. THANKS!   Dave 

[Kane]

5 minutes ago, Castle Rock said:

I would like to ask about one comment in the original post, namely that Purse is a "former" state park???  Am I simply MISreading that remark or is it literally true? IF so, is the land (and ACCESS!) reverting to PRIVATE ownership?   I have only been to Purse once and, being that I live in WEST TEXAS, I certainly don't expect to get there often.  I would appreciate some clarification of the actual status of the area. THANKS!   Dave 

It was subsumed as part of the Nanjemoy Wildlife Management Area (WMA) a few years back, if my information is accurate.

[Adam86cucv]

2 hours ago, Kane said:

It was subsumed as part of the Nanjemoy Wildlife Management Area (WMA) a few years back, if my information is accurate.

I didn't know that and I live in Maryland.  I just checked the state park website and it is not on the list anymore.  

[Castle Rock]

Since the area has been SUBsumed, can we then Assume that there is no change regarding public access??

[Adam86cucv]

1 hour ago, Castle Rock said:

Since the area has been SUBsumed, can we then Assume that there is no change regarding public access??

Yes, the wildlife management area is open to the public.  I'm sure that it was a budget idea to save money on park rangers having to patrol... instead it is now under the state DNR police.    I know that WMAs are open to hunting so checking MD DNR especially in the fall is a good idea. 

[Bill S.]

Nice! Purse State Park is now Nanjemoy Wildlife Management Area, about 2.5 miles south of Mallows Bay (a nice paddle among some 200 sunken ships from WWl) on state route 224, and is controlled by the rangers at Smallwood State Park, which is a great place to camp, and get information about the area. My wife and I were there in September 2017, on a kayaking trip on the Potomac, and Chesapeake Bay. We found lots of tiny teeth at the edge of the water, less than 3/4" long, and turritella fossils, oyster shells and the opercular doors from large whelks eroding from the bank. We found that you need to be patient, let your eyes get accustomed to looking for smaller objects, and allow the tide to go out and look in the sand and gravel of the tidal zone. Simply sweeping the sand up onto the beach with your hands and looking will uncover quite a few teeth. Look for small, black, shiny objects, which are the most common fossils - shark teeth, ray dental plates, etc. It has not been over-collected. A pleasant, but mosquito-y half mile walk down to the water from the parking spot out on the road. Plenty of shade in the morning, but it gets hot and sunny in the afternoon. Bring water, snacks, and sunscreen, a bathing suit and shoes you can wade in. Many slumps from the cliffs and fallen trees to work your way over and around. If you get there on the high tide, walk north along the shore looking in the sand and gravel and then return as the tide goes out. there is a creek that washes out into the river about half to three-quarters of a mile north of where the path comes out onto the beach, which apparently brings the teeth down out of the formation, as well as what comes out of the low cliffs, which deposits the teeth along the shore. We also went to Calvert Cliffs State Park across the peninsula on Chesapeake Bay, and found a few nice shark teeth (goblin shark) 1 and 1/2 inches long or less, oyster and scallop shells (Chesapectin jeffersonius). About a 2 mile walk to the beach from the parking lot, it is a mild hike, and the trail comes out between two exposures (tall cliffs) of soft, fossil bearing matrix. It is against the law, and deadly dangerous to dig in the cliffs. You'll be well-satisfied with beach collecting.

[Scylla]

Hey, we're you there Saturday, February 23? I was there with two of my kids and my nephew. We were meeting up in the DC area for the weekend and I didn't think we were going to get out to hunt, but at the last minute we got the nods from the moms. Helps to have a 9 year old with puppy dog eyes advocating. "Please mom?" I just acted nonchalant and offered to take the kids on an educational outing. (Somehow I happened to have my waders and fossil scoop in the back of the minivan ) We only had an hour and a half of beach time, but we all came away with nice teeth. Nothing big and nothing rare this time. We thought the thunderous booming sounds were artillery fire or some such thing. You could feel it in your chest, seemed like more than regular gunfire. We got a little lucky with the rain as it mostly stopped for us until we were done. We didn't even see another collector the whole time we were there, but we were at the smaller parking area to the north. We did have to leave before the low tide at 3, so most of the teeth are still there.

[digit]

11 hours ago, Scylla said:

We thought the thunderous booming sounds were artillery fire or some such thing. You could feel it in your chest, seemed like more than regular gunfire.

Yup. I remember this from the time Tammy and I were lucky enough to go our with @MarcoSr and his friend Mike. Obviously, a military firing range somewhere not to far distant. Sounds like they were using more than cap pistols.

 

Any photos of your finds?

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[sharkdoctor]

The rumbling was probably from the Naval Explosive Ordnance Division just up the river. They can get really loud sometimes.

[digit]

Sounds like a fun job.

 

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Tidgy's Dad]

Nice finds and super pictures. 

[Scylla]

On 2/27/2019 at 10:53 AM, digit said:

 

Any photos of your finds?

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Sure

 

[Scylla]

Ok, how about these

Nothing spectacular, but each of the kids found their own pile too.

[digit]

Nice. Looks very much like our finds from our trip there.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken