Summerville, SC Shark Teeth Hunt: Advice

[Kroy]

If you are planning to go to Summerville, SC for your first time, and have been hoping to find Shark Teeth, please read this.

 

My Advice:

·         I advise only going if you know someone with known locations, or otherwise plan to hire a company or a guide (I do not have someone to recommend). Finding teeth on your own is quite difficult.

 

My hunt:

I got lucky this time on a 3-day trip. After having visited Summerville years before with my son to great success, we went through over 25 spots (August 2023) with only two teeth found. We were discouraged. Luckily, we found one location that netted us the teeth shown as a last-minute discovery at the end of day 2. We returned on day 3 after morning rain. Our goal was to find a Megalodon tooth (even broken) of 3" or more, which we were successful!! If it wasn’t for that one spot, the trip would have been disastrous. Unfortunately, the spot that we found will soon have a structure over it so I cannot say this opportunity exists for the future.

 

What didn’t work on my trip?

·         My known, secret spots didn’t have shark teeth this time.

·         I had researched fossil formation areas, inland tides, and elevation maps; yet the locations we visited didn’t have shark teeth. We found the right layers, but not teeth (even with low creek flows).

 

What has changed in Summerville? I believe:

·         Inability to use tools is impactful (there is a law against it).

·         I believe the hurricane years ago exposed quite a bit of fossils, but since then the volume of fossils are not being exposed quickly. I should have realized there have been a lack of YouTube postings over the past few years.

 

If you go to the Beach without a guide/company:

·         Going during the day, even at low tide, has too many tourists looking for fossils. We made this mistake.

·         Go first thing in the morning for better odds.

·         Go after a storm.

·         Find a location away from tourists.

 

We are pleased with the results in the images below.
I hope this information is useful.

Thank you

 

 

[Coco]

Hi,

 

Your images are not uploaded.

 

Coco

[SawTooth]

The first time we went a few years ago, About a year after we began fossil hunting, we spent a lot of time researching and were fairly successful, I'm going for my fifth time soon and I am armed with locations we found online and creeks that guides took us to, as far as the tool delima, I would recommend a dip net and a pair of gloves, dig with your hands, sift with the net.

[Fin Lover]

@Kroy, success at the beach depends on tide times, not just going early in the morning. Still, there have been days when we found 150 teeth and other days where we found 10 in the same location and same time in the tide cycle, so it has a lot to do with luck as well.  

 

Summerville is way over-hunted.  As soon as it rains, people are out hunting. There is some wash out with each good rain, but being the first one to it is tricky if you don't live nearby.  

Edited August 8 by Fin Lover
Fixed grammar

[Toothie]

Also, if a guide takes you to a spot, make sure it is public land.  I've been with some guides that have permission to hunt on private land.  If someone goes back without their guide (on private land), all sorts of trouble can happen.  Also, some guides show their public "secret" spots with the understanding that you don't go back without them, especially telling other people about it.  It's an honor system.  Of course, if the guide takes to you a well known public spot, then all bets are off.

[Fin Lover]

Unfortunately, not all guides do things by the book, either.  There are companies that respect the hobby, the laws, and the land, and are very mindful to not cause any harm to their company's reputation or the hobby in general.  And then there are people who see the opportunity to make money off of tourists who aren't familiar with the laws, don't know what land is public vs. private, etc.  They know that there is a sense of trust and an assumption that they, as a "professional guide", are doing everything correctly, even if that is not the case.

 

If you plan to use a guide, please be sure to research them first.  There are people on the forum who can recommend guides in Summerville, if you aren't comfortable picking one off the internet.

[debivort]

15 minutes ago, Fin Lover said:

f you plan to use a guide, please be sure to research them first.  There are people on the forum who can recommend guides in Summerville, if you aren't comfortable picking one off the internet.

I'd reiterate this. I've heard stories of customers getting trespass citations after a paid guide brought them to land they did not have permission to hunt on.

[Kroy]

It was noted that the images didn't load, so I am reloading them.