Don’t Let the Footprints Fool You

This past weekend was the 3rd collecting weekend at PCS this season. If you’ve been watching the weather you’ve noticed that we have not had any appreciable rain in quite some time. With the lack of rain and the number of hunters the fossils should be getting difficult to collect. The fact of the matter is that there are still plenty of easy teeth to scoop up. Just don’t let the footprints fool you. Many collectors this past Sunday were dismayed to see the sheer number of footprints on the mounds. I tried to suggest to many to slow down and look closely at the ground. Of course, we all want the 5” meg sitting on a pedestal but those aren’t going to be there long (there is a chance for that this weekend because we finally had some rain). Most collectors were busy covering ground, but the real treasures take time to locate. Grand tally at the end of the day was a bunch of contortus, couvier, and hemis. A few decent makos, nine dolphin/porpoise teeth, and one juvie chubutensis tooth also made it home with me. Many of the teeth were either in footprints or right beside them. In order to find fossils one must be looking DOWN! Notice how close the disturbed ground is to the teeth in the pictures.