A fraglodon by any other name...

Is still a fraglodon but counts as a fossil in the pouch!

The brief rains from last week managed to subside long enough for the water level at my usual site on the Peace River to come down for a Saturday fossil hunt. Unfortunately for the underwater video quality, the river was more murky than it had been the previous week. I don't know if the rain stirred things up or not. One thing I do know is that after about an hour or so of snorkeling and fanning I was rousted from the depths by the undeniable sound of a boat motor. I popped up from what I was doing to see a large air boat coming my way. As the driver passed by he held up one hand and showed me two fingers (I sure would have liked to have shown him a particular "one" back). It only took a couple seconds for that gesture to register that meant two more boats were coming... greeeeeaaaaaat. The passage of the boats signaled the end of my snorkeling as it destroyed what little visibility there was left. Luckily the car was only a short walk on shore away since I had left my screen and shovel in the trunk. Lesson learned to always bring the screen as a backup plan for such changes in hunting technique.

The switch to a screen actually was a good for the finds pouch. While I had made a couple good finds snorkeling (see video), the finds seemed to come more steadily with each shovel full in my screen. I had switched sides of the river in an effort to explore some new fossiling territory since most of my looking had been on one side. As I searched the screens I decided to go ahead and take some video clips of the better things that I saw after "first shake". You really cant take video of in-situ finds in a screen but you can still get a feel for the excitement after shaking the sand out to reveal that one nice find. As you can see from the photos there were a lot of meg frags to be found including a 3-inch monster shamer. I also found a couple large (what I am guessing) pieces of vertebrae. I am not sure what of so if anyone has a clue please comment and let me know.

With any luck, Mother Nature will be gentle and the water level will stay low and the visibility will clear up for another trip this next Saturday!



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