Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'fossilhunt'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
    Tags should be keywords or key phrases. e.g. otodus, megalodon, shark tooth, miocene, bone valley formation, usa, florida.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Fossil Discussion
    • Fossil ID
    • Fossil Hunting Trips
    • General Fossil Discussion
    • Partners in Paleontology - Member Contributions to Science
    • Fossil of the Month
    • Questions & Answers
    • Member Collections
    • A Trip to the Museum
    • Paleo Re-creations
    • Collecting Gear
    • Fossil Preparation
    • Is It Real? How to Recognize Fossil Fabrications
    • Member-to-Member Fossil Trades
    • Fossil News
  • Community News
    • Member Introductions
    • Member of the Month
    • Members' News & Diversions
  • General Category
    • Rocks & Minerals
    • Geology

Categories

  • Annelids
  • Arthropods
    • Crustaceans
    • Insects
    • Trilobites
    • Other Arthropods
  • Brachiopods
  • Cnidarians (Corals, Jellyfish, Conulariids )
    • Corals
    • Jellyfish, Conulariids, etc.
  • Echinoderms
    • Crinoids & Blastoids
    • Echinoids
    • Other Echinoderms
    • Starfish and Brittlestars
  • Forams
  • Graptolites
  • Molluscs
    • Bivalves
    • Cephalopods (Ammonites, Belemnites, Nautiloids)
    • Gastropods
    • Other Molluscs
  • Sponges
  • Bryozoans
  • Other Invertebrates
  • Ichnofossils
  • Plants
  • Chordata
    • Amphibians & Reptiles
    • Birds
    • Dinosaurs
    • Fishes
    • Mammals
    • Sharks & Rays
    • Other Chordates
  • *Pseudofossils ( Inorganic objects , markings, or impressions that resemble fossils.)

Blogs

  • Anson's Blog
  • Mudding Around
  • Nicholas' Blog
  • dinosaur50's Blog
  • Traviscounty's Blog
  • Seldom's Blog
  • tracer's tidbits
  • Sacredsin's Blog
  • fossilfacetheprospector's Blog
  • jax world
  • echinoman's Blog
  • Ammonoidea
  • Traviscounty's Blog
  • brsr0131's Blog
  • brsr0131's Blog
  • Adventures with a Paddle
  • Caveat emptor
  • -------
  • Fig Rocks' Blog
  • placoderms
  • mosasaurs
  • ozzyrules244's Blog
  • Terry Dactyll's Blog
  • Sir Knightia's Blog
  • MaHa's Blog
  • shakinchevy2008's Blog
  • Stratio's Blog
  • ROOKMANDON's Blog
  • Phoenixflood's Blog
  • Brett Breakin' Rocks' Blog
  • Seattleguy's Blog
  • jkfoam's Blog
  • Erwan's Blog
  • Erwan's Blog
  • marksfossils' Blog
  • ibanda89's Blog
  • Liberty's Blog
  • Liberty's Blog
  • Lindsey's Blog
  • Back of Beyond
  • Ameenah's Blog
  • St. Johns River Shark Teeth/Florida
  • gordon's Blog
  • West4me's Blog
  • West4me's Blog
  • Pennsylvania Perspectives
  • michigantim's Blog
  • michigantim's Blog
  • lauraharp's Blog
  • lauraharp's Blog
  • micropterus101's Blog
  • micropterus101's Blog
  • GPeach129's Blog
  • Olenellus' Blog
  • nicciann's Blog
  • nicciann's Blog
  • Deep-Thinker's Blog
  • Deep-Thinker's Blog
  • bear-dog's Blog
  • javidal's Blog
  • Digging America
  • John Sun's Blog
  • John Sun's Blog
  • Ravsiden's Blog
  • Jurassic park
  • The Hunt for Fossils
  • The Fury's Grand Blog
  • julie's ??
  • Hunt'n 'odonts!
  • falcondob's Blog
  • Monkeyfuss' Blog
  • cyndy's Blog
  • pattyf's Blog
  • pattyf's Blog
  • chrisf's Blog
  • chrisf's Blog
  • nola's Blog
  • mercyrcfans88's Blog
  • Emily's PRI Adventure
  • trilobite guy's Blog
  • barnes' Blog
  • xenacanthus' Blog
  • myfossiltrips.blogspot.com
  • HeritageFossils' Blog
  • Fossilefinder's Blog
  • Fossilefinder's Blog
  • maybe a nest fossil?
  • farfarawy's Blog
  • Microfossil Mania!
  • blogs_blog_99
  • Southern Comfort
  • Emily's MotE Adventure
  • Eli's Blog
  • andreas' Blog
  • Recent Collecting Trips
  • retired blog
  • andreas' Blog test
  • fossilman7's Blog
  • Piranha Blog
  • xonenine's blog
  • xonenine's Blog
  • Fossil collecting and SAFETY
  • Detrius
  • pangeaman's Blog
  • pangeaman's Blog
  • pangeaman's Blog
  • Jocky's Blog
  • Jocky's Blog
  • Kehbe's Kwips
  • RomanK's Blog
  • Prehistoric Planet Trilogy
  • mikeymig's Blog
  • Western NY Explorer's Blog
  • Regg Cato's Blog
  • VisionXray23's Blog
  • Carcharodontosaurus' Blog
  • What is the largest dragonfly fossil? What are the top contenders?
  • Test Blog
  • jsnrice's blog
  • Lise MacFadden's Poetry Blog
  • BluffCountryFossils Adventure Blog
  • meadow's Blog
  • Makeing The Unlikley Happen
  • KansasFossilHunter's Blog
  • DarrenElliot's Blog
  • Hihimanu Hale
  • jesus' Blog
  • A Mesozoic Mosaic
  • Dinosaur comic
  • Zookeeperfossils
  • Cameronballislife31's Blog
  • My Blog
  • TomKoss' Blog
  • A guide to calcanea and astragali
  • Group Blog Test
  • Paleo Rantings of a Blockhead
  • Dead Dino is Art
  • The Amber Blog
  • Stocksdale's Blog
  • PaleoWilliam's Blog
  • TyrannosaurusRex's Facts
  • The Community Post
  • The Paleo-Tourist
  • Lyndon D Agate Johnson's Blog
  • BRobinson7's Blog
  • Eastern NC Trip Reports
  • Toofuntahh's Blog
  • Pterodactyl's Blog
  • A Beginner's Foray into Fossiling
  • Micropaleontology blog
  • Pondering on Dinosaurs
  • Fossil Preparation Blog
  • On Dinosaurs and Media
  • cheney416's fossil story
  • jpc
  • A Novice Geologist
  • Red-Headed Red-Neck Rock-Hound w/ My Trusty HellHound Cerberus
  • Red Headed
  • Paleo-Profiles
  • Walt's Blog
  • Between A Rock And A Hard Place
  • Rudist digging at "Point 25", St. Bartholomä, Styria, Austria (Campanian, Gosau-group)
  • Prognathodon saturator 101
  • Books I have enjoyed
  • Ladonia Texas Fossil Park
  • Trip Reports
  • Glendive Montana dinosaur bone Hell’s Creek
  • Test
  • Stratigraphic Succession of Chesapecten

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Found 25 results

  1. Hello to everyone! I'm a chemical engineering student in Greece who has paleontology and geology as a hobby. I see a lot of people abroad finding fossils and studying actual samples and I am looking for a way to start on my own someday. What is the best way to start? What are key fossil sites in the Balkans? Are there cases where it is ethical to take fossils for personal interest? In Greece where I live (specifically Athens) there are Penteli and Pikermi with known fossil sites. Additionally, fossils have been found in several islands of the Aegean Pelagos. I have zero knowledge of fossil sites in other countries. As far as ethics are concerned, I believe someone acquiring a fossil should communicate with a university that can collect data and improve its knowledge. A person on their own cannot easily conduct research, not only because of the tools and machines that might be needed but also because they don't have complete knowledge of the fossil record. Also, keeping a fossil for decoration should be done, in my opinion, if the fossil isn't needed to improve the fossil record or if the collector can keep the fossil after research goals have been achieved. I don't want to expand a lot on the subject. I'd love to hear other opinions on the subject and learn about finding fossils.
  2. Today, I went on a quick early morning fossilhunt. I have been anxious to get out hunting, any chance I can considering how mild winter has been so far. I decided it would be best to start today with little, to no expectations and just see what the day would bring. At about 3:30am I woke up to use the bathroom and when I played back down all I could do was toss and turn. So I did that until about 5:15 and I finally got up. Got to the hunting grounds about 7am, just as the sun was making it's presence known. Unfortunately it was only 20° at the site. There was some snow covering the site as well as ice. Obviously this made digging and splitting slabs a real chore. So much so the there wasn't a whole lot I could do. I was hoping that with the sun out maybe it would eventually warm things up enough to make digging a little easier. So for the first 2 hours i kinda putzed around surface scanning and flipping slabs over, looking for something worthwhile. Eventually I started trying to remove slabs. I was actually starting to make a bit of progress, but then the ground got hard again. While trying to remove the slabs, I picked up a small chunk of matrix that fell off. As I inspected the piece carefully I noticed a small Dipluera pygidium and partial thorax exposed on the very edge of the break. I could tell that the rest of it was underneath some matrix. I would of normally been static but the area where the Dipleura was sitting was pretty fractured and I didn't really think I was going to be able to extract it without the whole thing crumbling apart. But I put it in the truck and decided to give it a shot when I got back home. Other then that I only brought home a bivalve and a brachiopod. There really wasn't anything else worth keeping. When I got home I inspected the trilo very carefully and looked at every fracture going around it, I started breaking off small bits of matrix till it got to the point where all that was left was the portion covering the front half of the trilo. I took my angle grinder and made a notch. Then I took a screwdriver, twisted and popped off the top! That is when I got very excited! Now I have found Dipleuras smaller then this one, but this is the smallest one the I have found in this good of condition. It measures at 1 7/16 of an inch. Totally made the trip worth it! Here is before and after pics.
  3. Today I was fortunate enough to get back out on another fossilhunt. Even though I went to bed later then I wanted about 3:50 am I woke up and tossed and turned for the next hour. I was very excited to get back to the site after last week's fun. So I ended up leaving a bit earlier than originally planned. I stopped to get myself a breakfast sandwich and when I got back in my car, a feeling washed over me that today I was going to be lucky. Of course I feel that way everytime I go hunting, but it doesn't always happen. The ride was dark and foggy. This time of year you really have to pay attention to the deer population. We have many in New York and it is now hunting season. So they are very active between sunset till sunrise. Surprisingly I didn't see many on the way there, but just missed a small one that ran in front of my car on the way home. I arrived at 7 am as it was just starting to get light. But between the fog and clouds it was rather gloomy. It started sprinkling but I read the weather report so I was prepared. I was glad to find the area just the way I left it last week. I wanted to work the same spot, but just go deeper. Things started off kind of slow. With the exception of a decent Dipluera cephalon all I was finding was many of the common smaller Brachiopods and Bivalves. But then it happened! I was lifting up a rather big slab, when I flipped over had half of the negative from a Dipluera. The positive was under a bunch of muddy water due to the rain, so I couldn't even see it. It took me awhile to get the water to drain so I could see what I was working with. Once the water was gone I see the back end of the trilo. I could tell that the front half was still attached to the piece I pulled of the top. Even though it was broke I was excited. I figured if I could get both halves, the trilo could be glued back and prepped. Unfortunately when I tried to remove the bottom portion the trilo broke into a bunch of pieces. I tried to not let this ruin my day. I have done this long enough to know that when you find a decent Dipluera there are usually others close by. So I continued working on removing slabs. I don't think more the 10 -15 minutes went by maybe 3 or 4 pieces of rock, when it happened again! I lifted up a slab, flipped it over and there was a complete negative of a Dipluera! I looked down and in the back corner of where I was digging was the positive! My heart was pounding! Now if I could just remove it without it falling apart like the first one. And I needed to move quick before the rainwater started to accumulate to much around the trilo. After a few minutes of careful extraction: success! I came out unbroken! This really meant alot to me today. Most of those who know me know that I have found alot of these over the years. I have either sold, traded, or given away as gifts all that I found. So it is nice to be able to have one in my collection again. After I pulled out this Dipluera there was also a Greenops laying in the same general area. After removing that I was pretty satisfied and only stayed a little while longer. I was tired and the rain was starting to really soak through my clothes. So all in all I had a pretty good day. Here are some pics. 1st- what it looked like when I arrived. 2nd- my truck "The Fossil Mobile" 3rd- Dipluera in-situ
  4. Friday I was able to take advantage of having the day off from work with no Honey-do list to bog me down. What is a Man to do? Go on a fossilhunt of course! It had been awhile since my last hunt in New Jersey so I was due. I almost didn't go as I wasn't feeling the best, but I decided not to let that ruin the day. I spent about 5 hours digging in 30° weather. It did snow for about the last hour or 2, but it didn't bother me. I moved alot of rock and was rewarded with some Goodies. My favorite finds were some Greenops trilobites. Also found some nice brachiopods and bivalves. There is some plant material found at the site. So far I had only found single isolated branches but this time I found a piece with multiple branches. I hope you will enjoy!
  5. Mostly the title! I live in northern New Jersey- i’m aware that NJ used to be heavily submerged, and is host to many locations where you can find marine fossils such as ammonites, trilobites, and other small marine invertebrates- however, i have no clue as to how i can effectively search for and find fossils. I’ve gone to some dried river beds, dug in the banks, layered rock, and panned- but i realize that i dont quite know what i’m looking for. How do i determine if there is a fossil within a rock? How do i find good hunting locations? What are some of the key giveaways that a rock may contain a fossil or series of fossils? And how can i identify sedimentary rocks properly, so i know i’m looking at the right types?
  6. Darktooth

    Back to the Silurian

    Yesterday I was fortunate enough to get back to the Silurian site were I found a complete Dalmanites last month. I met up with @Jeffrey P, @Scylla and his son Grant, as well as their friend Chris who is a member of the New York Paleontological Society. I met up with them around 8:30am. They had gotten there about a half hour or so before me and were already finding things. I spent more time exploring the site then I did the last time as the fossil exposure covers a very large area. I would check out various spots, and it took awhile before I found a good spot to get settled in and do some serious digging. I won't bore you with all the trivial details, but there were plenty of fossils found by all. Brachiopods, bivalves, small horn corals, trilobites, ang even a sponge. I was very surprised by the sponge, which according to Jeff and Gus are rare finds. I actually thought that it was a small concretion and was ready to toss it, but then something caught my eye. There was a small piece broken of the sponge that showed the internal structure. Once I saw that I knew it had to be something and Gus confirmed that it was a sponge. Then a noticed a pattern under the thin film of dirt on the surface. So I was happy. It was only about 36° out but after awhile of digging I ended up removing my jacket as I was getting too warm.( I always dress with many layers in the colder months.) So I set my jacket next to my bucket of tools and moved away a bit. Sometimes later I was talking to Gus when the wind picked up and blew my jacket into the Canal. It was too far out to retrieve it went to the other side. Thank goodness I didn't have anything important in the pockets like my keys or phone. Then a while later Chris had the wind blow his bucket in the water twice. Anyhow, it was really great meeting up with everyone and I had a good time. I will post some pics of my finds and I hope Jeff and Gus will share their finds when they get the time. Sorry not all of the fossils have been cleaned up yet. Pic#1 Sponge 2 Sponge 3 Trimerus pygidium The rest are all Dalmanites partials.
  7. rorybug

    Isle of wight fossil ID

    Found this at Compton Bay Isle of Wight. Does anyone know what it is? Its metally and heavy
  8. Chichixix

    Mimico Creek Trip :)

    Collected some cool small pieces today, around Mimico Creek! What have I found here?
  9. Darktooth

    Tully, New York

    Yesterday, my family and I were driving past the Tully exit on Rt 81. I looked over just in time to see an excavator parked on a big pile of debris from the hill behind the Motel, gas station and Kinney's Pharmacy. I thought to myself, that I needed to come check it out. For those who don't know this is a known fossil site that gets moderate to low use. It is a Devonian local and is a hard area to dig. That was until now. This morning I got up early and drove to the site. I was surprised to find that a good portion of the hill has been dug up. There was lots of debris to look through. That being said there was not the amount of fossils laying about as I thought there would be. I had to look hard but I found some keepers. My best find was a pyritized nautiliod specimen there are actually 2 with some other fossils mixed in.
  10. It has been almost 2 years since I have explored the Cretaceous streams in New Jersey. I have hardly been out fossilhunting at all in the past two years actually. Yesterday my boys had a Winter Percussion Band competition at Monroe Township High Shcool which is only about a 1/2 hour drive to Big Brook. My boys had 2 performances, one around 3pm and another around 8pm which gave me a window of a couple hours to explore the stream in between shows. When I arrived at the stream I immediately saw piles of gravel littering the banks everywhere. A sure tell sign that people have been hitting the stream hard. At this point didn't have high hopes of finding much if anything worthy in the short time I had. I decided to try a spot that produced some nice finds the last time I had been there. Even though the area looking pretty picked over there was a decent sharktooth sitting right on top of the gravel on a small gravel bar. This gave me some hope. My second scoop produced a very nice large Enchodus tooth. A few more scoops produced only small broken sharkteeth. I decided to move on it took awhile of searching before I found another spot that looked possibly untouched. First sift I found a cool little brachiopod in matrix with a bivalve internal mold next to it. The next few shifts had sharkteeth. Then the teeth started getting bigger with a couple being decent. I think I stayed around 2 1/2 hours then my wife came back for me to get dinner before the next performance. Even though pickings were slim I enjoyed having a chance to be there. I have definitely been out of the Fossil loop for some time now. This trip has reinvigorated me. I have been feeling like i want to get back out for some time. As we all know the past couple years has been a challenge for the whole world. Anyways just thought i would share. I hope you all are doing well. Dave
  11. I'm visiting DeLand for a week and a half, and really want to find a spot to search for fossils or shark teeth, haven't found many online and I know people have their own secret spots. Pm me locations if you don't want to share them publicly guys, I am only hand searching with a few family members. I am willing to drive a couple hours to spend a day hunting fossils
  12. FossilsandScience

    Petrified Wood Fossil Hunt!

    Hey everyone! I recently scouted out a new site in southern California and was very successful! We found a lot of petrified wood. I'm not going to be able to post everything, but here are some of the best pieces below!
  13. All, I have been being particularly careful to not go out and fossil hunt during this pandemic...and then with the tragic loss of Doren, irrational fears and depression began to overtake my love for fossils. I just kept thinking about what could happen and what did happen...but yesterday I realized that Cal wouldn't have wanted that. He had a deep appreciation for fossils and fossil hunting, an appreciation that he showed by his generous gifts to all that were interested. I don't know many active people on this forum that doesn't have a little bit of Doren's fossils in their own collection. When I was just a young buck, desperately searching random spots in the rivers of Florida not knowing what the heck I was doing, Doren was there to offer knowledge, insight, and above all FOSSILS! I remember years ago, I did a blind trade with caldigger, much like all of you. I was new to the game, and looking back the fossils I sent him were pretty much garbage to my standards nowadays...when I received his package, I was immediately embarrassed. The quantity and quality amazing...I made it a goal to make it up to him, even though he showed great appreciation for my lacking blind trade. That began years of back and forth between us, my fossil finds got better, and so did my packages to him, but of course, he would counter-he would always counter. Finally, one day, I sent him some bulk! Mammoth tooth, ground sloth, camel, horse-very nice specimens, all found by myself. I even threw in a cannonball that I found just to top off the cake....well...in transit, that cannonball broke free and destroyed ALL of the fossils...Doren meticulously put each of those bits of fossil back together and even made a display for the cannonball along with two civil war bullets he had found. It makes me happy that he kept something I gave him on display... Anyway, enough of the teary memories-I propose an alteration to the blind trade that caldigger loved so much. A blind hunt trade! I am going out Thursday in Doren's memory, to reflect and find fossils, and if there are any takers, whatever I find will be yours! But, you must do the same. If in fact the hunt is a bust, it downgrades into a regular blind trade. It will get us out the house, it will get us finding fossils, and it will give us a chance to honor our generous friend-Doren. @aerogrower-has volunteered to throw in some of his fossil famous cubes(I own a couple), and I'm sure @Bone Daddy can throw in some of those peace river beauties. Anyone up for it? For caldigger?
  14. Darktooth

    Double Devonian delight!

    Today I spent a wonderful day fossilhunting with my 3 boys. The weather was really nice until about 2:30 when the clouds started to roll in and along with it, the rain. That's ok though as we spent about 3 1/2 hours fossilhunting the Devonian of New York. We started off at Cole Hill around 11 am. When we arrived I saw that they had bulldozed an area around one side of the roadcut and played down a drainage pipe. This bulldozing removed some of the talus pile while exposing large slabs that had been buried for years. I spent some time looking through the slabs. While there were some interesting pieces I only grabbed a few Dipleura pygidiums because they were in nice condition. I definately over dressed for the day as it was windy when we left the house so I wore extra layers that I didnt need. I started getting warm fast. We spent about an hour and a half there and I decided to drive over to DSR and see how things were over there. It takes about a half hour to get there from Cole Hill. When we arrived we saw a vehicle and 2 people. As I gathered my tools I yelled over " Hello" and asked how they were doing. As I approached I realized that the young lady was @rachelgardner01 and she was with her husband. So we chatted for awhile. Those 2 had opened up a pretty good area but she said that she wasnt finding much. I started looking around after awhile and picked up some brachiopods and bivalves. I was surprised that my boys were all looking together for a while and they seemed to actually be enjoying themselves. After about an hour Rachel and her husband left and then we left a half hour later. While there were no spectacular finds an had a great time with my kids and found enough goodies to keep me satisfied. Heck, I was happy just being able to get outside 2 days in a row. I will post pics shortly, I have to resize some of them first.
  15. JustPlainPetrified

    Oldman River Spring fossil hunt

    It was finally time to shake off the mud from the Fall hunt and head south to the Lethbridge, Alberta area and search the banks of the Oldman River for ammonites that many have fallen out. Ideally we like to walk along the ice on the edge of the bank. That didn't happen. The highway cam photos showed ice on the river, but our location was wide open. We had lots of wind; so much that the shale was blowing into our faces. About 100 kmh but we held on! Quite the day on the steep slopes and a few success. Imagine my surprise when a chuck I found opened to reveal some great colour. The next day we found our way the a 4500 year old medicine wheel, perched high above the prairie. Look closely in the background and you can see the modern era in the form of wind turbines. I trust everyone is staying safe and avoiding personal contacts and get over this Covid-19 thing.
  16. Hi Guys. So for the past week and a half I have been debating on whether or not to share this story with you. I have finally decided to do it as maybe somebody will get something out of it. A few weeks ago I got the green light from my wife to plan a winter fossilhunt. After contacting a couple members to try to coordinate a meet-up, a plan started to formulate with @Jeffrey P to do a hunt at Ramanessin Brook in New Jersey. A couple days before the hunt an event happened at my job. I don't really want to get into that, other then to say it gave me a scare, health wise. That probably was a sign maybe going on this trip was not a great idea. The day after the event at work, was the day I was planning to drive down. I was going to leave after work on Friday and get a hotel for the night and then meet up with Jeff the next morning. My scare at work had me seriously thinking about just staying home. I took that Friday off of work to rest and relax, telling myself that if I really felt up to it I would still go. But Friday brought another problem a bad snow storm. A state of emergency was issued for NY. Mind you, I have been going stir crazy for months. I really needed this hunt. Atleast I kept telling myself this. So I made new plans. Get up at 2 am see how the roads looked, see how I felt physically and possibly still make this trip happen. So that's exactly what I did. Roads were clear at that time, I felt pretty good and the ride was smooth sailing. I arrived just as it started to get light. Jeff said that he would probably get there around 9 am. So I had a couple hours to myself. I searched for awhile finding the occasional sharktooth and I decided to check my phone for the time. I saw that Jeff had called so I called him back and he said he was about 45 minutes away. After I hung up I went a little way upstream to where Jeff said was a good spot to dig. A few minutes went by and I stood up and felt lightheaded and dizzy. And then everything got scary. All of the sudden I started having all these thoughts, #1- I am all by myself. #2- what if something bad happens before Jeff gets here. #3- what if i pass out face first in this stream and drown. Next thing i know my heart is pounding out of my chest. It went from 0 to 200 in about 2 seconds. I started wondering how far away Jeff was. I got my phone out to call him. I unlock my phone with my thumb print. But this wouldnt work with wet hands. This made my heart beat faster. So then I tried putting in my password but kept getting it wrong. I started freaking out thinking I was going to lock myself out of my own phone. All I could think about was my family and wanting to get back home to them. I made myself calm down enough to try my password one last time and it finally unlocked. I called Jeff and he said he was about 15 minutes away. I decided to walk back to the car and meet him there. I realize now that i worked myself into a panic attack but at the time i was scared. Jeff finally arrived and we talked about what happened. He felt that it was probably a panic attack but told me I should get checked out just in case. I just wanted to get back home. So I left. I felt really bad about not being able to hunt with Jeff but I just did not feel physically or mentally up to it at that point. The ride home was long and miserable. Once I got back home I relieved to see my family. I have never had something like this happen while out on a hunt. I has given me a whole lot to think about since then. I mean I am out by myself alot and what would I do if something serious happened? Not just fossilhunting either but also when I am fishing. I am not saying I am giving up on hunts because i am not. But i will be giving some serious thought about how i go about doing these hunts from now on. Dave
  17. Hello everyone, Yesterday my girlfriend & I went fossil hunting for birthday. This was the first fossil hunt the two of us did on our self, our previous hunts were all excursions with the Belgian Association for Paleontology. We visited two locations, but locations are part of the Formation of Gulpen, around 68 million years old, dating back to the Maastrichtian (these outcrops are part of the Maastrichtian type location where the first mayor Mosasaurus discovery was done). The first location we visited was a limestone outcrop next to the Albert Channel here in Belgium, only a 20 minute drive away. I discovered this outcrop while looking out the window whenever I drive to Maastricht and yesterday we decided to check it out. It is quite a little outcrop, no more than 70 meters wide, but one of the few places left where you can hunt in Limburg. We hunted here for around one and a half hour and we only searched the fallen and loose bits of limestone that were the results of erosion. We didn't want to start hacking in the rock. We mainly found ancient sea shells of different species and some bryozoa's in this location. And a some pieces of wall where teeming with urchin fragments, but we didn't find any intact one near the surface. But since the urchin graveyard was deeply enbedded in the rock and we didn't want to hack in it, we left it as it was The second location we visited was the "Grote Bos" in Beutenaken in The Netherlands. Here there are holloways in the forest that expose some limestone outcrops. This spot is known for it's belemnite which can be found on the forest paths, because the soft limestone gets eroded but hard belemnites remain, making them very easy to find. We found around 25 belemnites during our 1 hour hunt there as well as a shell imprint and a mystery fossil. Like the previous location, the patch of limestone where these belemnite can be found is also only around 70 meter long, but luckily very rich.
  18. Last saturday I went on my 2nd fossilhunt to the "Wienerberger quarry" in Rumst (Belgium) with my girlfriend and the BVP, my fossil club. This quarry is only accessible for fossil collections during official excursions organised by fossils clubs. The quarry existed out of multiple layers, the oldest was a oligocene clay layer dating back to the Rupelian (named for the region) around 33.90 - 20.10 mya, although I didn't hunt in that layer, some of the finds that could be done there were bivalves, gastropods and brachiopods. The layer where most people hunted was a very thin miocene layer dating back probably to the Burdigalian around 20.43 - 15.97 mya. The most common finds here were multiple species of shark teeth and some marine mammal fossils. And then there was another layer were it was possible to find Pleistocene fossils dating back to the last ice age, but the chances of finding anything there was quite slim. So me & my girlfriend and most of the other fellow fossil hunters mostly hunted in the miocene layer in search for fossil shark teeth. The overlook to the entrance of the quarry, looking at the oligocene clay layers. Everyone digging for and sieving through that thin layer full of miocene shark teeth Me looking for some teeth My girlfriend looking for some teeth And while we were digging for the layer like everyone else, the finds were a bit meager at first, not just for us but for everyone. But then my girlfriend found a tooth a bit lower on the hill and we started scraping away the top layer of sand. Turns out that some previous land slides washed the best material down hill, lower than were the rest was hunting and so the spoils started coming. We found most material there including our best find, a 6,5 cm long C. hastalis tooth found by my girlfriend and a partial marine mammal vert found by me! I believe our hastalis tooth was the 2nd largest tooth found that day, only a megalodon found during the trip was bigger. As the day was drawing to an end and our spot was becoming depleted of fossils we took a walk around the quarry to look for a new spot only to return to our old spot to start digging towards the miocene layer again. But this time a little bit more to the right. We found a few nice shark teeth while doing this and a lot of iron concretions but but much else. Only during the last few minutes of the trip I did hit something that wasn't a concretion. After some digging it turned out to be a piece of wooly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) which ended up a little bit above the miocene layers during a previous land slide.
  19. Darktooth

    Maryland trip 9-28-2019

    This weekend family had to drive to Maryland for my son Dylan's Marching Band competition in Annapolis. We drove down Friday evening after I got out of work. The crazies were out in full force during the drive down, but we managed to arrive safely despite the reckless driving that we witnessed. Dylan's school did not perform till 6:30 PM Saturday evening, so the plan was to do a hunt at Brownies for a few hours then meet my parents for lunch, then go to the Naval stadium and watch the other schools perform until my son school performed. After a rather good breakfast at the hotel we headed to Brownies. We were staying in Bowie, so we were only about 35 minutes away. When we arrived around 8:30 there were about 8 cars in the lot. We got our gear and headed out. Originally the forecast was calling for Full sun and a high of 85. So I was expecting to roast while out there. Instead it was overcast with a nice breeze, so we stayed cool the whole time we were there. There was a fair amount of people on the beach already, slowly working their way around to the cliffs. Low tide was set for around 10. The level was already decent when we got there. I noticed alot of trees were down since I had been there last which was a few years ago. Because I had my family with me, I wasnt sure how far down we would go. Once we got a little ways around the corner we began some sifting. I won't bore you with all of the petty details. But I will say that the finds were mostly small and broken. That being said, I think we all had a pretty good time. The weather was nice, moving around the debris was not too bad, and the surrounding was peaceful. My wife made the best find of the day with a decent, cetacean tooth. I was a bit jealous. She found it by digging deeper into a spot that I had already dug. It is different than the other cetacean teeth that I have found myself or have seen come from there. Devin found a few small teeth and some shells. He also grabbed a crab claw, horseshoe crab carapace and fish vert, all which are modern but he didnt care. There where alot of dead horseshoe crabs for some reason. I myself found small teeth, bone fragments, and stingray plates. We stayed till around noon then had to get going so we could meet my parents for lunch. On the way back I could not believe the amount of people back at the main beach there looked to be 100, all of which were searching with sifters! Any ways we ended up going to Fat Boys Crab Shack for lunch. The food was surprisingly good considering the outside of the building was not much to look at. Then we headed over to the Navy Stadium and watched bands perform. After my Son's school performed we had to head home. We didnt get back till 2am. Needless to say I am exhausted today. We found out later, that his school won the competition for their section and for overall. So we are pround! Here are my finds.
  20. Darktooth

    Darktooth Family Trip

    My family and I have been in Maryland since Thursday evening. The past two days have involved alot of walking and intense heat. My calves and feet are sore and I have got a good sunburn. Friday morning we met up with forum member @RCW3D and his daughter. He took us out to a Miocene exposure along the Potomac River. We started our hunt a little before 10am and I think we got finished around 2pm. We all managed to find some goodies. RCW3D'S whale vert and articulated marlin verts definitely were the prize of the day. But I was happy with what I found though nothing as exciting. I found an assortment of sharkteeth, a nice shark vert, a decent size fish vert and misc bone pieces. Devin did pretty good himself scoring a beautifully colored snaggletooth, a drumfish plate ( which he misplaced) a fish jaw minus the teeth, a nice shark vert, and some other goodies. My wife and older son found a few teeth but weren't really hunting. RCW3D helped my kids out by pointing out where teeth were by drawing a circle around them and sometimes just handing them stuff. We had a really great time and appreciate the time he spent with us. After we left, we grabbed some lunch and headed over to Mataoka cottages so the boys could swim and I wanted to do a little shell hunt. We stayed a couple hours found a few shells and sharkteeth and went for a late dinner. Today my wife wanted to go into Washinton DC, visit the monuments and a couple museums. I won't bore you with all the details. Basically a whole lot of walking in scorching heat. Anyways we are headed back home in tomorrow morning. A short trip but it was a good one. Here are some pics. #1- My finds
  21. Hi everyone! After the recommendations of @Manticocerasman, @gigantoraptor & @Joeri_R I joined the BVP (Belgian Association for Paleontology). Today I got my confirmation mail of the membership. I have long been wanting to go out on fossil hunts especially in my own region which consist of cretaceous limestone from the Maastrichtian. Luckily for me the next fossil excursion planned by the BVP is a trip to the Romontbos quarry in Eben-Emael which is only a 20 - 25 minute drive for me. So I did sign up for said excursion but since it's my first ever fossil hunt I want to go prepared and I was wondering if any of you have any tips on what tools and stuff to take with me to the quarry and what tools are best for excavating said limestone. I already know that a safety helmet, safety gloves and a fluorescent jacket are required and that safety glasses and steeltipped working shoes are recommended. I was also planning on taking enough water to stay hydrated, a backpack and a good strong bag to transport excavated fossils and perhaps some matrix to examine later. And I was planning on purchasing this kit from my regular fossil shop. Are there any other tools or items that I should bring? Or does anyone have some tips for an inexperienced beginner? Or is anyone is familiar with the location feel free to share. Thank you in advance and I look forward to my first hunt!
  22. Darktooth

    Running of the Bulls.

    Hello to all my fossil friends! In the early hours of the morning, my family and I returned to the Arctic of the north, from a weeks vacation in sunny Florida. We had a great time at Disney and Universal Studios. But the highlight of the trip, for me, was a Fossilhunt at Cookie Cutter Creek with @digit (Ken) and his wife, Tammy. This trip was planned since the fall when I had asked Ken if he would be willing to meet up with me for a hunt. Originally I was wanting to hunt the Peace River. A couple weeks ago Ken told me that the water levels of the Peace were too high and we discussed other possible options he mentioned Cookie Cutter Creek as a possibility and I was all for it. I would like to take this time to mention that Ken was constantly giving me updates on the weather and water levels of various waterways and also tons of information about what to bring and what to expect while there. He really put a lot of time into this for which I am extremely grateful. At one point he brought @Shellseeker (Jack) into the conversation to ask if he could help out with any sites that were not flooded. Jack did a few scouting trips on the Peace but could not find a site which was doable. We were hoping that maybe he would meet up with us at CCC, but he could not make it. I would like to say Thank-you for reporting back with us the conditions. Also Ken got the OK, from @jcbshark to access this site so a big Thank-you to you sir as I had such a great time there. The trip was planned for Monday, March 4. I got up at 3:30am and left the resort by 4 i had about a 2 hour drive in which it was pouring rain and lightning. I was afraid that the hunt might be canceled but the rain and lighting stopped after about an hour into the drive. We met up at McDonalds for a bite to eat and then i piled my stuff into Ken car and he drove us to the site. Before we left, Tammy gave me a big bag of homemade Chocolate Walnut cookies. They were delicious. I ate a couple every day for breakfast for the remainder of my vacation. When we got almost to the site we were greeted by a couple deer. I always enjoy wildlife so it was a good way to start the day. A couple minutes after that, we were at the site. For anyone that doesn't already know, this creek is named as such, as it is the only place in Florida, known to produce the teeth of the Cookie Cutter Shark. To find these you must collect and search through the micro matrix. Ken had planned out a system that would benefit us both. He had brought 3 sisters. 2 of them had1/4 inch mesh the other 1/2 inch. In the 1/2 he put in a piece of window screen. He then would put the 1/4 on top, fill it with gravel, shake it so the smaller stuff fell through to the window screen. He then handed me the top sifter to look for the bigger stuff as he continued to rinse the micro matrix in the window screen and then dump it into the bucket. Then he would take the other unused sifter and put that one on top. As I got done searching through one we kept swapping sifters back and forth. It was a very efficient way for both of us to get what we wanted. Ken was interested solely in the micro matrix and I was more interested in the bigger stuff. One of the first things of interest when we entered the creek was a shell layer visible a short way upstream from the access point. There were so many shells jam packed onto the side of the banks. I was going to take a pic of this but forgot. It was very impressive. But I did grab some of these shells so I have pics of what I took. It was just a bit further from this were we spent most of our time searching the gravel. More to come...............
  23. Darktooth

    Cole Hill 1-8-18

    I decided to try my luck at Cole Hill today after seeing @Calico Jack and @Al Tahan's recent luck. With last night's rain, the roads were a bit slick on the ride out, but not terrible. I arrived around 10 and quickly saw where they had been working. They both said they had only been there for a short time but there sure was fresh rock thrown everywhere. Somebody is fibbing! I decided to work a spot close to where I found my last couple, mostly complete Dipleuras. I wish I had something exciting to report but all I found was a lot of the usual suspects. Cephalons, pygidiums, Bembexia, various brachs, bivalves, and nautiloids. None of them were in great condition, but that being said I still had a good time. The weather was pretty nice and I stayed till 1:30. It was nice getting out of the house. Before I left, I heard a car pull in to the side of the road. A lady got out and told me that I needed to get permission to hunt there as her family owned the property. I asked her if she was the daughter of the lady who lives down the road and she said yes. So I explained that I had gotten permission from her Mother back in 2003 and have been coming there ever since. She said her mom didn't recognize the car. She was very polite about everything and I talked to her for a bit and also explained that I have talked with the mother from time to time and some other family members who hunt the property in the fall. Then she went on her way. I stayed just a little while longer as my back was starting to hurt. Better luck with the trilos next time.
  24. Darktooth

    What a great weekend

    Well folks Spring has finally arrived in Central New York! We actually had two days in a row of sun! The thermometer is reading 70º as I write this. Me and the boys were busy this weekend. Yesterday we collected some gypsum specimens, shot their BB gun and a found an old Coke bottle. Today we went to Briggs road for a short Trilo hunt, went fishing and went to one of the nicest waterfalls in our area. We all enjoyed being outdoors and soaking up the sun. While at the fossil site I found a huge spotted salamander wedged in between the shale. I felt bad for disturbing it but I didn't see it until I had already destroyed its resting place. I don't think it was actually out of hibernation yet as it was very sluggish. Here are some pics. 1- Gypsum 2-Coke bottle 3- Salamander 4-Dylans finds 5-Davids finds 6&7- Devins little trilo roller 8- My finds
  25. Darktooth

    Cole Hill Road 6-25-17

    Today my poor boys suffered. All because their father felt the need to find a trilobite. Yesterday was my nephews birthday. He lives almost three hours away. We left about 8:30amand didn't get home till almost midnight. I already knew that they would be exhausted in the morning and when they are tired it is hard for them to get excited about anything. BUT good old Dad had big plans so I got them up at 7:30 and I could tell it was going to be a rough day. We arrived at 10am and I debated on were to start. There was a lot of debris sitting on top of my favorite layer. I decided to try working a bit higher then I normally do. I was finding some decent things right off the bat. Then I started finding a lot of parts and pieces of Dipleuras. I just knew I would find a whole one. The boys didn't even get into it all all. They just wanted to leave. I tried to talk words of encouragement. They weren't having it. Then I told them we would leave as soon as I found a whole one, and I'm getting close, so it shouldn't be long. Well at about 1:00 I thought it wasn't going to happen and I should end their suffering and take them home. But just a couple more minutes. And then it happened! I grabbed a piece of matrix and it all crumbled into a hundred pieces and I saw the pygidium and partial thorax hung upside down from the cliff face. My heart started pounding, I had high hopes it was all there. I gave a couple gentle whacks with my hammer and then pryed it off with my prybar and Whalla! A semi prone, approx. 3 3/4 inch Dipleura. Unfortunately the left eye and cheek is missing. I tried in vain to find it, but to no avail. But most off the cephalon is there and its enough too make me happy. And my kids were happy that we could finally leave. A win for all! Here are some pics enjoy!
×
×
  • Create New...