Kern County vs. Florida - The Hunt for the Elusive Meg

[ruffalo]

While the Megalodon tooth seems to exist as THE find for many fossil hunters and/or amateur marine paleontologists alike (and rightly so!) it's never been my own personal "holy grail."

 

However.

 

My partner, who graciously tags along and searches with me whenever I drag him out on hunts often hours (or even days) of driving away, is absolutely enamored by the idea of finding one of these guys.

 

I've heard many good things about Ernst Quarries/Sharktooth Hill and the private land surrounding it in Kern County, but I've also heard incredible things about Florida creek hunting - mostly Peace River and some, unfortunately, Top-Secret spots. We luckily have the opportunity right now to go on one (or both if we play our (credit) cards right) of these trips and was hoping those more experienced in the culture of "Meg Madness" would be able to provide any advice, pointers, opinions, comments, concerns, etc.?

[Gizmo]

Best bet would be the Charleston SC area, book one of the many fossil tours. A second option would be Calvert Cliffs in MD, again book a fossil tour. Much higher chance of finding a meg in SC though. Looking at your interests MD might be very appealing due to the Calvert Marine Museum, the Jefferson - Patterson Museum, Stratford Hall Plantation and the Smithsonian being so close.

[Fossildude19]

Megs are incredibly rare at Shark Tooth Hill.  I would go south, instead.

[Fin Lover]

As a South Carolina fossil hunter, I would say Florida.  It took me over a year to find a meg near Charleston and a couple years to find a decent one.  Angustidens are much more likely here.

 

Edit: Let me rephrase that...an identifiable meg.  Most of what you find will be broken right where the cusps would be, so you often can't tell whether it was a meg or an angy.

Edited March 11 by Fin Lover

[jcbshark]

We do find plenty of megs in florida but they do seem to find more and definitely much larger ones regularly im the Carolinas. Good luck on you hunts

[Shellseeker]

15 hours ago, ruffalo said:

I've heard many good things about Ernst Quarries/Sharktooth Hill and the private land surrounding it in Kern County, but I've also heard incredible things about Florida creek hunting - mostly Peace River and some, unfortunately, Top-Secret spots. We luckily have the opportunity right now to go on one (or both if we play our (credit) cards right) of these trips and was hoping those more experienced in the culture of "Meg Madness" would be able to provide any advice, pointers, opinions, comments, concerns, etc.?

I like Megs,  but I have a lot of other fauna that I like better.  

Megs are almost scarcer than hen's teeth on the Pacific coast. A friend sent me this photo of what he was finding in those "private lands" Kern County.  These larger teeth are Cosmopolitodus planus,  the Hook Tooth Mako

 

I think , if you want to find a megalodon, AND

you like Scuba diving, charter a day trip .....

or take advantage of one of those Land digging sites.... 

or one of the day trips on the Peace River...

because at least , someone who has already found Megs will take you someplace that it is possible to find Megs..

 

I generally hunt somewhere in Bone Valley 2-3 times a week. About 20% of the places I go have zero Megs and no fragments of Megs. The rest of Bone Valley has Megs... If you were to send 10 people in to hunt as a group,  pretty certain that 1 or 2 would find a Meg..  Then it is just a question of luck...