jpc Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 (edited) Took advantage of a warm winter day yesterday.. it was in the low 40's and best of all... no wind. My girlfriend and I went to a ranch west of town for a bit of fossiling. This was her first such outing, and I dare say, she had a good time. We first hit the Cretaceous Mesa Verde Fm. Found some dinos scraps and then a few interesting bones. While exposing a rib I found, I realized that I had forgotten the vinac at home. Dang. So we reburied it and will have to go back anothert day. Here is the dino rib. And here is Becky checking out some bones in a fallen piece of sandstone. And here is me examining the bone layer... that dark layer you see me looking at. And then we went off to the southern end of the ranch, about six miles (10km) away. This area always has some turtle pieces weathering out, and less common crocodilian parts. Most of the stuff here is parts and pieces, but I did find my best alligator jaw here a handful of years ago. So here are a few field shots...me examining a handful of turtle pieces off in the distance, and my car acting as king of the hill, with Becky scanning the ground for fossils. After only a few minutes she was already getting picky about which pieces she would keep. Could it be her colecting gene is recessive? And here is the grouping of turtle bones. Any time you see a group lke this... same size, same color, all next to each other... there's a good chance there is more to be found underground. A good place to dig. So I did, and sure enough, the turtle pieces continue in the siltstone. Another project to persue another day. Here is my take for the day. Croc scutes, a tooth and one turtle neural plate. All of these are Eocene...I especially like the big croc tooth. It is one of the biggest I have found form the Eocene of Wyoming. And Becky's finds... Eocene, mostly turtle parts and some croc scutes and a large gar scale top center: A few more Eocene bits including a nice big (incomplete) croc vert and some scutes: And her Cretaceous finds, dinosaur pieces a few snail molds and one piece of ossified tendon: Edited January 22, 2013 by jpc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KansasFossilHunter Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Looks like a fun time- appears kinda chilly with snow on the ground! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dactyll Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 JPC.... Its great to get out... I look forward to seeing what you found near the rib when you go back for it... Is this the first hunting trip of the year?... Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Hi, Jean-Pierre, I can't see all your pics ! Are they on a "private" part of this forum ? Coco ---------------------- OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici Un Greg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowsharks Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 JP, neat pics and finds. Is the dent in the Hornsby's cap from the croc tooth or your tooth ? Is that a Gar fish scale in the one pic? Coco's comment about not seeing the images: From my home computer last night, I could not view the images either - if I clicked on them I got an error message that said something like "You do not have permission ... ". However, from my work computer I can see them fine and click on them to enlarge etc. You gonna remember where that rib bone is? Daryl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 HI cowsharks and coco- Yes the pix were not there last night. I had a terrible internet connection all evening, so I finally finished my report this morning. The gar scale is missing only the tip on the "top" side (=up;North). Yes, it is all one piece. Yes, I will certainly remember where the rib is. That layer is very limited...thet turtle on, the other hand, may be a bit more challenging, That's why I had Becky take a picture of me at the site. I found an old headlight ring out there in the field and put it on the turlte bones (no rocks to make a cairn!). If the cows don't step on it... I'll find it again. Terry D... yeah, first trip of the year. Pretty unusual to get out this early around here. KFH- snow is only as cold as you let it be. Becky is form North Carolina originally, so getting her out there took a bit of convincing. In the end she admitted that it wasn't too bad out there. There is this stuff called long underwear. Might sound strange to the Texas and Florida crowd... & no wind makes a huge difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossiladdict Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Looks like the two of you had a wonderful time! Longjohns is what we Texans call them...when it's cold, wear 'em! Fossils are simply one of the coolest things on earth--discovering them is just marvelous! Makes you all giddy inside! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowsharks Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Looks like the two of you had a wonderful time! Longjohns is what we Texans call them...when it's cold, wear 'em! Folks from my part of upstate NY call them Long-Johns too; some folks call them "Thermals" as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Hi, Jean-Pierre, the pics work well now ! Coco ---------------------- OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici Un Greg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Fossil Hound Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Anytime out hunting for mineralized bones is a great day! Looks like fun - especially since you enjoyed it with yer girlfriend. My wife likes to hunt with me on the big trips, but doesn't like the cleaning and stabilizing. Since this is my favorite part of fossil collecting, it is truely a joy to hunt with her! Jon "Silence is Golden, but duct tape is Silver." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 yES. TWAS A GOOD TRIP. i TEND TO CALL THEM WARMIES, BUT THEN i ALSO TEND TO MAKE UP A LOT OF WORDS. And I type by lookig at the keyboard, not at the screen where I would have seen that I accidentally hit the 'caps lock' button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down under fossil hunter Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Cool post JPC I especially like all the tips, that way when I get there one day I will remember your advice and find the whole turtle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 I have permission from the rancher to return this weekend and it's supposed to be even warmer this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 28, 2013 Author Share Posted January 28, 2013 (edited) I spent both Saturday and Sunday back on this ranch. Two goals... 1) collect the dinosaur rib and 2) explore the potential turtle in the Eocene Wind River Fm. It was warmer than last weekend (alas, it is supposed to get wintery tonight). Yesterday was a bit windy. Today was beautiful, mostly. Here is the oucrop of Cretaceaous Mesa Verde Fm that has dinosaur bones in a conglomerate layer. The problem is that it is primarily in cross-section at the base of the cliff, so it is hard to actually collect stuff here. Got the rib exposed and coated it with the vinac I did not forget this time. Compare this photo with thew first one in the original post. There was also a soft-shelled turtle plate in the cliff wall that I thought I could collect. Did it in several pieces, but that is why we have glue. In exposing it I found another rib. Here it is next to my paintbrush. The rib head is to the left of the bristles; the rib extends behind the paintbrush to a bit past the tip of the handle. Near the tip of the handle is a squiggly white line. That is another soft-shell plate in cross-section... busted it exposing the rib. Ended up not collecting that turtle plate. And then, in exposing the second rib, I came upon the largest tyrannosaur tooth I have ever found. Very dleicate. I have found a few others at this site, and they have been much more solid. This one was waiting to fall apart. Vinac is good. Because the tooth was so fragile, I made a plaster jacket. This thing was in the base of the cliff, in a corner, so this took about three hours and I only skinned a few knuckles. And then off to the Eocene beds to explore last weekend's turtle... it turned out to be pretty worthless... very blown up and the bone was very powdery. Not much you can do with that. I explored a few other places with small accumulations of bone coming out and got lucky. Digging where there was a bunch of gar scales, I turned up my first mammal fossil (I think) from this site... a calcaneum. This, to me, was very exciting. Also found another potentially collectible turtle, but it was not at all photogenic. It is buried now for another visit. A fine weekend was had in the fossil fields of central Wyoming. Edited January 28, 2013 by jpc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down under fossil hunter Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 Wow wow wow, I can't wait to see that tooth once it is out and fully prepped! Congratulations you have done very well, I hope you post more pics soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 30, 2013 Author Share Posted January 30, 2013 It might be a while, but I willpost it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowsharks Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 JP, that T-rex tooth is awesome. I hope it holds together for you during prep...can't wait to see the final product. Daryl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 long handles or underbritches is what we calls 'em... Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nandomas Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 wow, great report. I cannot wait to see the the update Erosion... will be my epitaph! http://www.paleonature.org/ https://fossilnews.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixgill pete Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 Awesome croc tooth! Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt behind the trailer, my desert Them red clay piles are heaven on earth I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers May 2016 May 2012 Aug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 Oct 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakoMeCrazy Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 really nice finds. Looks like fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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