Getting into a funk...

Alright its been awhile so here I am once again playing catch up. 

Starting with the fossil festival on the 23rd of May, which was my first time ever going.  I was greatly impressed.  Despite parking in completely the wrong area and having to walk back to the parade assembly area to get my car awhile later I had a great time.  I ran into many BRF members including DW, Brachiomyback, Sqqdlq and TonyHolt.  And between the displays and the spoil piles and talking fossils with people it was an awesome time.  I kicked around in the spoil piles for a little bit, early on I found a nice little mako I was pretty happy with, a couple tigers and the usual small stuff, and then later in the day I found a really nice hemipristis serra lower.  But later in the afternoon and probably from the heat I developed a pretty bad headache and also having to be at work by 7:30pm I had to leave.  Fortunately the next day I knew some BRF members were meeting at GMR so the weekend wasnt over yet.

I got out of work at 8:20 the following morning (May 24th) and started the drive up to Greenville.  I got there just in time for the clouds to gather and a torrential downpour to limit visibility to about twenty feet.  After about five minutes when it didnt stop and thinking I just drove an hour and a half for nothing I started thinking about just driving home.  Well of course I decided to give it some time and after about fifteen minutes the rain stopped and the sun came out and I was in my fossil hunting attire, shovel and screen in hand and started movin to my usual spot.

Well I got in and started screening and for awhile, I wasnt finding anything.  Nothing at all.  It was four or five screens before I even found my first tooth which turned into a worn and beaten posterior meg.  But I kept at it and moved around a little bit and the small broken worn teeth and belemnites started showing up mixed in with a really nice crow shark tooth.  I switched to another spot and started digging through a mess of broken branches, plastic bags, leaves and other junk.  The first screen as soon as I had rinsed out the leaves and other plant material I saw instantly a big blade!  SUCCESS!  I moved torward the shore put the screen down and picked up a just shy of a 2" great white.  It was worn and missing a chunk of root, but it had an awesome curve to the blade.  Also just a little bit of feeding damage as well.  But other then that it was a pretty good find.  Well I kept at it and switched spots again and without finding too much else I decided to start making my way downstream to where I knew other people would be searching.  So screen and shovel in hand I made my way down below 10th street bridge until I ran into another fossil hunter who I later learned his nickname was "Goosebumps".  Who had just pulled out a monster mako that looked like it was easily 2 1/2" long.  I kept moving and soon saw Brachiomyback and his daughter searching away.  We compared finds and Brad showed me the echinoid his daughter had found.  That was the first I had ever seen come from that creek!  I will have to keep my eyes open a little bit more and hopefully find one.  But I doubt I ever would in that condition.  We packed up after a little bit and walked down stream in search of GReel.  He was searching away and we all joined him in different areas down the creek.  It wasnt long before I hear them say "Brad, you ever see one of these this big"?  Well that completely sparked my interest and since it was GReel I at first started thinking it was a 3 1/2 in GW or some other monsterous tooth.  But as I walk up I get a glance at something else that I wouldnt have guessed.  A huge horse tooth in awesome condition.  What a find!  I kept at it but the only things I managed after that were a small great white (lower) a  2 1/2" meg with 90 percent of the enamel worn off even though it was still completely whole.  Then making the joke, what I wouldnt do for some enamel, in my next screen I get a big chunk of enamel with the serrations.  Oh cruel fossil gods you do have a sense of humor. 

After that Brachiomyback and his daughter left to begin there long drive home and me and GReel moved downstream a bit.  I pulled out a big dinged up great white and about that time decided to call it a day so I could make it back in time for work that night.

The next Saturday I decided despite working that morning and evening to drive back up to GMR to see if I could find something better then the previous weekend.  I knew that GReel would be there again.

So I got there and this time started off at 5th street park.  I was walking upstream to where I left off the week before and heard the familiar sound of shaking gravel coming from the creek so I cut across the woods and looked down the bank to see GReel screening away.  At that point he had just started and hadnt found anything great so after wishing him luck I continued up the stream and finally jumped in and started screening away.

I got back into the spot and started finding tiger shark teeth (Galeocerdo Cuvier) every other screen as well as some broken meg pieces including a big split piece probably 3 1/2" long.  Then I pulled out the first great white of the day, a small lower with a worn root and what seems like feeding damage but it could just be unevenly worn.  I kept at it with nothing else to be found so I started moving around upstream trying new spots without much to be found.  Finally I found a spot which I thought would be productive due to the large amount of gravel at the bottom but I have a feeling it was just washed out spoil piles because the only tooth I found out of it was a nice crow shark tooth.  After a little bit I kept moving upstream to the last spot of the day in which I got a really big crow shark-one of the largest I have ever found at 1 1/8" wide.  After a couple more screens and feeling like I should have stayed in bed I told myself I would do one more screen.  Well I loaded it up and sorted through it and got almost to the end and didnt find anything and was about to get annoyed when I moved a big rock and right underneath it was a awesome posterior great white shark tooth!  My first one, and in awesome condition.  Just a little wear on the root but other then that it was perfect.  Well I couldnt complain and started making my way back to the car, stopping to talk to GReel and see if he found anything and of course he did, a couple great whites but not too much else.  One of those great whites though was a nice lower with only a little nick out of the blade.  Awesome!  But after I got out of the creek I stopped at taco beel and then drove home to go to work. 

Until next time, good hunting!

~MikeDOTB