My Texas Bison Bonanza

[Ludwigia]

18 hours ago, KimTexan said:

 

I put everything in the trunk and took my hip waders off. As I had been digging I guess dirt was falling down into the legs of my waders. My legs were covered with mud. I had mud all over the front of my coat from holding the skull fragment.
I hadn’t had supper. I had worked up an appetite and was really hungry. I had managed to bring one small bottle of Gatorade and that was it. I was thirsty too. I looked horrible though. My hands were covered with mud and my hair was matted. I reached into my glovebox and pulled out a container of wipes. It was empty. Leave it to my daughter to put an empty container back in the glovebox.
I went to push my hair out of my eyes and felt mud in my hair and on my scalp. I had not realized dirt had been flying into my hair as well. I had little pellets of mud covering my scalp. I tried to shake and brush them out, some only stuck worse. I didn’t have any water either. I wouldn’t be caught dead looking like this. Especially on a Saturday night in a town where everyone is out on the town and dressed up. So instead of going through a drive through or the usual Braum’s I drove home.
 

I've been in that sort of situation more than once over the years. You tend to forget everything else in the frenzy of digging out the supposed find of the year. Probably the best thing to do before you get home is to drive through the carwash with the windows rolled down.

Great story, Kim. I was with you all the way and hopefully I can accompany you tomorrow as well.

 

[Rowboater]

Really great descriptions and incredible finds!

[KimTexan]

8 hours ago, Kato said:

 Keep on collecting but make sure to let someone know where you are and when you will be getting back. Nowadays with cell phones things are easier in that regard.

I did message a fossil acquaintance/hunting  buddy and tell him where I was going. I sent him the exact location and when I expected to leave. So I am trying to be safe. Of course I left 2 hours after I expected to, but I let him know. I also let him know when I was leaving. Then he was so good as to actually message me briefly a couple hours later to make sure I’d made it home safely.

This place is actually not that remote compared to a lot of places I go. I’d be more afraid of people there than nature or animals.

[DE&i]

Riveting story @KimTexan what do you think the age of the deposits are. 

[Kato]

8 hours ago, KimTexan said:

I did message a fossil acquaintance/hunting  buddy and tell him where I was going. I sent him the exact location and when I expected to leave. So I am trying to be safe. Of course I left 2 hours after I expected to, but I let him know. I also let him know when I was leaving. Then he was so good as to actually message me briefly a couple hours later to make sure I’d made it home safely.

This place is actually not that remote compared to a lot of places I go. I’d be more afraid of people there than nature or animals.

I’d be more afraid of people there than nature or animals.

 

That's a good idea. I've run into 2-legged skunks out there as well...enough that I at least carry pepper spray just in case.

[KimTexan]

On 1/17/2019 at 5:52 AM, DE&i said:

Riveting story @KimTexan what do you think the age of the deposits are. 

 I honestly don’t know. My guess would be late Pleistocene to early Holocene. More likely Holocene, but that is a barely educated guess.

 

The maps say Cretaceous, but there are little pockets here and there mapped as Terrace Pleistocene to Holocene a mile or so away. This area of Texas is known for little surprises of Pleistocene finds though. You hear about them occasionally and they are finding mammoth and bison and other stuff, where supposedly it wasn’t Pleistocene or ice age that should have mammoth material.

 

I am not a geologist and my knowledge of the layers is limited, but there are 2 areas I know of that are Pleistocene which have similar strata. Above where the bones are is this calcium carbonate pebbly type layer mixed with a silty gray dirt and very fine sand. The bones are in a silty clay dirt, but with a fine grain sand in it.  As you go down in the layers the sandy grain becomes more coarse and sandy. 

It is hard to tell from this pic, but you can see a pebbly layer with light pebbles above the bones and then a thick sand layer a foot or 2 below the bones. There are various coarseness of sand in the middle. 

 

 

 

I don’t know if layering like that occurs in modern deposited in my area or not. I honestly haven’t spent much time analyzing layers without fossils.

 

 

[dalmayshun]

its like reading a serial novel, soo o very cool. Glad you allowed us to share your excitement. Congratulations. Don't know about digging in the bank where you are, in Fla, the high flood line is considered the line of demarcation for state property on "navigable" streams. 

[KimTexan]

When I got home I set to work on cleaning the bones I had retrieved. The skull portion I wet a towel down and laid it over it to keep it moist and to keep it from getting too brittle. I left it alone with all the dirt and mud on it. Currently it sitting in my largest casserole dish/lasagna pan . I did go and buy a large aluminum roasting pan that I plan to transfer it to once I get my stabilizer.

I was still so excited about finding the bison and into cleaning bones up that I forgot to eat. My kitchen looked like a mud bomb had gone off in it. I really need a mud room or a table out on the back patio with a sink or something..

Saturday night I was so excited that I could hardly get to sleep. So I was up past midnight. I had a commitment at 11:00 Sunday morning. A number of mom's are getting together to cater lunch for 300 people at a conference this weekend. The funds we earn from the catering will go into the club fund raising account for a scout group my daughter belongs to. So we were preparing some of the food in advance. The fund raising is to be able to go to the organizations international camporee that will be this August in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. They have it every 5 years. We went 5 years ago and there were 50,000 people there. It is a huge deal, but it takes a lot to be able to pay for the week long camp and the trip there and back. 

Anyway, since I had to be there at 11:00  my plan was to get up and head back out to the site and arrive at sunrise, then leave the site at 10:30 to go get cleaned up and change clothes at a friend’s house that lived 5 minuets away. She was going to the event too.

This time I put on another pair of socks, but it was in the 30s, cold and damp. My feet and hands were still cold as I worked. I occasionally had to stop work and go walking around to warm 
my feet back up. I removed more dirt from the far side of the skull, inside the bank and along the left side. As I did so I kept hitting bone other than the skull to the left and the back.  I had the right side of the skull pedestaled. I decided I would work on uncovering the thoracic vertebrae and work from the far left side of the vertebra and work towards the skull. 
As I proceeded to uncover the 6 thoracic verts with their vertebral bodies exposed on the edge of the bank I began to hit bone above them. I uncovered 3 more thoracic vertebrae and part of a rib lying diagonally across the top of the other 6. Here is a pic. The thing in the front is my mud caked chisel. I kept peeling off the mud, but it would cake up again. The maxilla or nasal bone are on the right.
 

This is a shot after I got the other 3 verts removed. It was about 9:30. I had an hour left to get these 6 verts and the skull out. 
All but 1 of the 6 spinous processes were fractured somewhere near the middle when I found them. I think all but 1 had the tips of the spinous processes broken off as well, but they were still there in place. I attempted to glue all of them before moving with multiple layers of glue, but it didn’t seem to help a whole lot. The bones were moist.
I let them sit a bit as I removed more dirt from around the back edges. Then I put more glue on and let them sit again.

I went over to where the femur was in the bank. I had it out in maybe 5 minutes.  Sorry, I realize it is blurry, but it is the only one that is close up. You can see the head of the tibia on the left. At least that is what I think it is. I did not manage to get that bone out. Maybe this weekend if nobody has found it and disturbed it or collected it.

I then went back working to remove the vertebra starting at the left side. I had to remove the dirt from the underside of the vertebral bodies so that they would move more freely and so the vertebrae’s transverse processes wouldn’t be damaged or broken during the move.

I had told myself that I would stop working on the other bones by 10:00and finish whatever I needed to do by 10:30 to make it to my event. 

I laid out long pieces of alumina foil before I made the move. 
I began to remove them one by one and wrap each in a piece of foil. The foil is 12 inches across for scale. Sorry I should have rotated the pic. I collected at least 10 thoracic vertebrae. One was from Saturday night. I haven't laid everything out and counted what I have.

I got the first 4 out. The 2 on the far right, their spinous processes were lying under the maxilla and left mandible. I decided to leave them there and I’d try to take them out with the rest of the skull.  I began to take down the layer of dirt to the left to pedestal the remaining 2 verts along with the maxilla portion of the skull so I could get foil wrapped around the whole mass. As I began to removed the dirt under where the verts were though there were 3 ribs underneath them. I hadn’t planned on that. It set me back time wise. If you look close there is also another rib lying perpendicular to the maxilla in the very back of the cavity.

Those took some time to extract and remove. One of the ribs was fractured in 2 places. I applied glue, but this glue just wasn’t working that great since the bones and dirt were moist. Once that was done I could finish pedestaling the left and back sides. 
I got that done and then wrapped it as tightly in foil as I could and tucked it under the edges of the mass of maxilla and the 2 vertebra. I put another layer of foil to close gaps and hopefully hold whatever may come loose in place. Then I planned to try to lift and flip it gently upside down.
I am no pro. I am sure many of you can point out rooky mistakes. I have never done such an extensive extraction. I’ve been on 2 dino digs and excavated a lot of Edmontosaurus bones large and small. None were articulated, but often there would be a jumble of them together. Someone else always did the plaster cast for me as I watched. 
I know putting a field jacket would have been the ideal thing to do. I didn’t have plaster and I didn’t have time to let it sit. I honestly thought about covering it with foil and then coating it in mortar mix that I had weakened by adding some other ingredients to it. I did have mortar, but I didn’t know how hard it would be to break up. Also it would make it way too heavy for me to carry.

Once the foil was on and in place I lifted the back of the maxilla with one hand and slid my other hand under the vertebrae spinous processes and maxilla. Then I lifted the whole thing and flipped it upside down then set it back down. The 2 verts came loose. I removed them and wrapped in foil. Then I covered the exposed bottom of the maxilla mass with foil so nothing would fall out.
At this point it was after 10:30. I messaged my friend to tell her I wasn't going to make it to her house. It was going to take me a long time to carry everything out. I had carried in a large tub to put the bones in, but I had sat on it at one point to get something out of my boot and shattered it. I placed what bone I could in my pack. I put the maxilla in the big tub and then arranged some of the verts in there with my messed up bottle of glue. It was covered with dirt. I didn’t have any of the long slender replaceable tips with me. 
There were a couple tools I couldn’t fit in as well as lids to smaller tubs I brought. I opted to leave them there for now. 
The broken tub wasn’t easy to carry. It was heavy and awkward. I had to keep stopping to rest my arms or reposition how I was carrying it. I got to a point 2/3 of the way back to my car and decided I couldn’t keep carrying it. I put it down. I took out what I could carry in my hands and walked the rest of the way and unloaded it in my car. I emptied my pack into the car so I could refill it with stuff from the tub to lighten the load more. I went back with my pack and rearranged the contents of the tub and got it back to my car with no difficulty. I was too tired to go back and get my tools plus I was running late to the event.  I plan to go back and get them another day. I hope they are still there.

 

After everything was in the car I took off my waders. No wonder my feet had been cold. The 2nd pair of socks had completely slid off my feet and were in the tip of my boot. As before mud had gotten into the top of the waders and my pants were covered with mud. It was now 11:00. My friend wasn’t home anymore. I didn’t know the lady whose house I was going to. I didn’t exactly want to show up caked in mud. I needed a place to change. I was too embarrassed to walk into some public place looking like that. So I found a non-public place to change my pants.
I took a pic of my pants before I put them in the washer. My other pair of pants from the day before were in the same load. I thought it was a good test of how good my washer was. The soil is kind of a tan sand mixed with regular brown dirt.

I have not had time to go back and get my tools. 
I came home Sunday evening worn out, but I managed to wash up more of the bones. I didn’t finish cleaning them up till Tuesday night. Almost everything I collected on Sunday was busted up. So I need to glue them back together before I take pictures of them all. Some are pretty fragile so I won't be moving them anytime soon.

 

I'll post a few pics here in a few minutes.

[KimTexan]

Here is a pic of a few of the thoracic vertebrae after washing. That is a 24 inch ruler on the right.

 

Here is a diagram of thoracic vertebrae from googling the term.

This is one of the verts glued back together.

 

This is a little piece of horn core that I found with the skull.

I have not done a thorough cleaning though. It’s very fragile around the broken edge. I’m going to wait to clean it until my new glue and stabilizer arrive.


I will post some more pics when I get the vertebrae glued back. I’ve got a lot of bone. Some of it is large fragments from the pelvic area I believe.
It will be a while before I’m ready to take pics of the skull and maxilla. But when I pull it together I will share it. 

 

Thanks for reading my trip report!

[Nimravis]

Great report Kimberly.

[KimTexan]

19 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

Great report Kimberly.

Thank you Ralph.

[ynot]

That is quite the project You found! Congratulations.

What are You going to do when You get it all out?

[KimTexan]

5 hours ago, ynot said:

That is quite the project You found! Congratulations.

What are You going to do when You get it all out?

I have no clue. I wish to keep the skull and a few of the vertebra and some of the leg bones. I may see if my university would be interested in having the other bones. They have a paleontology program, but I think it’s almost 100% dino stuff. If it’s mostly whole it seems a shame to split them though. So I am not sure yet.

[dalmayshun]

as I said before, so very cool. Congratulations...horn core is beautiful, I especially like the fact that you took and posted in situ photos of the bones, so helpful for us who haven't seen anything like that in the "wild". So excited for  you. 

[Max-fossils]

This is getting crazier by the post, wow! 

I'm sure that you'll at least be able to get a great partial skeleton in display with all that you're finding. How cool would it be to have a bison in the living room?  

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

Dang, that’s one heck of a find! This is a great post as well.  

[KimTexan]

2 hours ago, Max-fossils said:

This is getting crazier by the post, wow! 

I'm sure that you'll at least be able to get a great partial skeleton in display with all that you're finding. How cool would it be to have a bison in the living room?  

My house is kind of small (1800 square feet) for display something that large. I’m not sure how I could work that into my furniture and living area. But if I had the space it would be very cool to have.

I’ve been imagining the skull mounted above the fireplace. Also one of those thoracic verts mounted on a natural rustic wood plaque with custom cast iron looking rests.   

It’s a bit too tall for a coffe table. Maybe a shelf mounted along the spine to make it appear somehow that the bison is holding the shelf, but those thoracic vertebrae spines are something else. Such a shelf would be shoulder height or higher. 

 

I have been trying to think of ways to display my fossils. I haven’t settled in anything yet, but I have an idea I really like and think I may be able to afford and make myself.

[Shellseeker]

On 1/16/2019 at 11:47 AM, KimTexan said:

I’m still excited about it. I hope to post the 2nd day of excavation/extraction this evening or tomorrow.

 

Great Story, Kim.. Thank you.. I am excited also.  What a photo it would have made with mud-splattered hair..

[KimTexan]

4 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

 

Great Story, Kim.. Thank you.. I am excited also.  What a photo it would have made with mud-splattered hair..

Thank you.

I do have a pic of me many years ago where I’m covered in mud head to toe after 7 hours spelunking in a cave.

 

LOL That would have been quite the image. I think the visual was a bit more like chocolate sprinkles all over the top of my blond head, only it was mud and the sprinkles were a bit bigger than sprinkles. When I realized I was smearing some of them in I stopped and decided to let it dry until I got home and could see what I was doing.

I am not secure or confident enough in myself to share most unflattering pictures of myself on public media. I do have ones I find funny and unflattering that I’ll share occasionally.

[Walt]

On 1/16/2019 at 8:59 AM, Nimravis said:

I absolutely love the smell of skunk. My wife thinks I’m crazy, but it’s a great smell to me. I don’t know why that is and I know there’s a few other people that I know that also like that smell.

I clicked on the informative button...... but would have preferred an "informative, yet disturbing" button to click 

[Walt]

Congratulations on a great find, Kim.  I cannot think of anyone more deserving.  You are out there slogging through the muck every chance you get and I love to see people's perseverance pay off!

And thanks also for taking us along with a great report! 

 

[Shellseeker]

3 hours ago, KimTexan said:

I am not secure or confident enough in myself to share most unflattering pictures of myself on public media. I do have ones I find funny and unflattering that I’ll share occasionally.

Few of us are .. certainly not me.  I was thinking that I (or maybe you) would just love to have that photo around so just I could recall myself at a crazier time and place. 

[KimTexan]

2 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

Few of us are .. certainly not me.  I was thinking that I (or maybe you) would just love to have that photo around so just I could recall myself at a crazier time and place. 

I do take some pics of myself in some crazy and funny situations at times. A year ago 12/27/17 I spent the day out hunting in 26-28 degree weather in a creek. I bundled up so well that my head was sweating quite a bit. At one point I thought a twig had gotten stuck in my hair. I kept trying to brush it away with my gloves on. Finally I took my gloves off to get it out of my hair and realized it was my hair. It had frozen. I couldn’t see myself, but it felt like I had icicle dreadlocks. I took a pic of myself when I got back to the car. I have a pic to remember it. It wasn’t so dramatic looking as it felt having frozen clumps of hair swinging from my head. I sure felt weird, but was pretty cool. No pun intended.

 

So I take pics. I just don’t share many on public media. I had a stalker guy years ago who plastered pictures of me all over the walls of his house. He had worked for me the year before. I had no clue he even liked me or was obsessed with me until a mutual acquaintance went to visit him. He said it was very disturbing. I’ve had other similar  issues with a few other men I either didn’t know or barely knew stalking me. I totally don’t get it. It’s just weird. So, I’m not big on posting many pics of myself on social media. That and I don’t like how I look.

[garyc]

On 1/16/2019 at 8:59 AM, Nimravis said:

I absolutely love the smell of skunk. My wife thinks I’m crazy, but it’s a great smell to me. I don’t know why that is and I know there’s a few other people that I know that also like that smell.

I thought I was the only freak! I actually put the windows down in the car when I drive by that lovey fragrance. Don’t think I’d like being sprayed by one though. That would be a little overpowering.

[Ramo]

Drive-by roadkill skunk and close proximity skunk spray are two completely different smells!

Nice bison by the way!