Aurora Steamer

The smell of fossils in the air signals the time of PCS Spring Season. Such a glorious time of year and it is preceeded by days of dreams of finding megs, honking mako's, and tigers galore. It was 'crisp' in the morning while we waited for the bus. The day ended with just about perfect collecting weather with temps in the low 60's; much more more enjoyable than the 80's we often get in the fall. As ditchweezil mentioned, it was slightly disappointing to see footprints all over the area for weekend one, but it is impossible to complain when you have the privledge to hunt world famous PCS mines. The fact is, we are thrilled that PCS allows us on their property to hunt and there are TONS of great things to be found with a little work. As paleoboy and I walked down the ramp and I waited for him to lead me to the promised land, I happened to spot a small porpoise tooth on the side of the ramp. It is always good for me to find something early, even if it is a dusky tooth just to relieve some of the pressure of finding a tooth - so I tooth that as a good sign. We came across a lot of great looking area, but the teeth weren't there in the numbers we had hoped. It did become obvious to me though that some diligent crawling would yield teeth - when I stopped to chat, I noticed a nice tiger on either side of my foot. The next time I stopped, I found two cow shark teeth sitting next to my foot and then again next to my gloves. I felt so guilty about fining 2 flawless cows, that I turned one in for the festival auction - of course now I will have to but it back. I ended up with a couple of whale teeth, a whale ear, a bone frag with DEEP chew lines on it, a mako vert with smaller chew marks on it ( i love those 'chew toys'). The best mako of the day is fat (and phat) - measureing 2.25" slant length and 2.125" wide. I also snagged a gorgeous meg - 4.5" slant. The key in finding that tooth was that it was in an area where it should not have been. It was eroding out of the side of a hill that was all james city formation - but clearly that was not the entire hill and the meg was coming out the side of the hill; it was covered in the shells that washed down off the hill. Overall, another awesome hunt at PCS. So many good people in the Friends group and guides to chat with that I just don't get to see enough. Special thanks again to PCS for letting us in, to the guides who volunteer their time, and to PCS for letting the Friends group get the first slots of the season. Can't wait for festival - mark it on your calendars, May 24th.