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D-Day Fossil Hunting
Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina, USA |
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June 6, 1944 Allied troops carried out a well planned invasion of Hitlers "Fortress Europe". 55 years later I made plans to meet Govinn at the spoil piles in Aurora to begin a weekend fossil hunting trip. Half the fun is finding the teeth and identifying them, the other half is trying to come up with interesting trip report titles! Ok just kidding. Actually until now I didnt even realize that June 6th was the day... |
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Into the Deep...
Hertford County, North Carolina, USA |
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I'm sure glad Summer is here ! I decided I was going to take a break from surface collecting mainly due to the fact that a few irresponsible fossil hunters have decided to "dig" up trouble in Summerville and I keep coming across new vandalized areas. Anyway... I decided I was going to accompany a few buddies on an out of state diving trip. It was a loooong road trip...but the next day we anxiously hit the water. We knew this river had been hunted to death for many years, but we were go... |
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3 day fossil excursion
Dorchester County, South Carolina, USA |
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Well the day finally arrived Weds afternoon off work and headed to Summerville to meet up with bmorefossil's, ozzyrules, and svillej to do some hunting. Bmore was able to score his biggest Meg to date but I will let him tell that story I was able to score a few decent Megs that range from 2 1/2 inches to 1 1/2 inches, also 3 Angustiden that range from 2 1/2 to 1 3/16th, also found a great white that was 1 1/2 inches that was had some awesome colors. The find of the day for me was a posterior an... |
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The Original Walled City of Charleston
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Last week I got the chance to go behind the scenes and witness an archeological dig going on in the city area of historic downtown, Charleston. The Charleston Wall was constructed during the 1630s to th... |
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my dad's drought is over
Calvert County, Maryland, USA |
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My Dad, Brother and I took a trip to calvert cliffs from May 17th-20th. On the 17th the day started pretty slow and there seemed to be less teeth on the beach than usual. However I did find a nice mako which is 1.25 inches. My dad told me that he was going to walk down the beach and about 15 minutes later he is standing on one of the falls screaming something. I instantly knew that he found something nice and when I saw what he found I couldn't believe it. A 3.25 inch posterior meg! Jus... |
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The Summerville Scoop…..
Dorchester County, South Carolina, USA |
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With my job completed mid afternoon it was time to find some teeth. I navigated through the streets of Summerville to begin my second fossil expedition in South Carolina. I found the location where DW took me on my first trip in Dorchester County and with his prior “blessing”, I proceeded to “claim jump” hunting solo.
It was hot, mid 90s and with a heat index reportedly over 100. This reminded me to invest in some summer hip boots / wa... |
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6/5/09
Calvert County, Maryland, USA |
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This is an old trip from last friday. I ventured to the beach on the way home. I had high hopes that were quickly dashed once I saw how high the tide was. The wind was blowing in hard and the water was up a lot. The waves were making booming noises as they crashed against the cliffs. Far from ideal conditions, but I decided to make a go for it. I made my way down the beach not finding too much just small teeth here and there. ... |
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Walk of Shame
Dorchester County, South Carolina, USA |
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This is a trip from about three weeks ago. I discovered a new spot with future potential. I decided to take a walk around the area to see what I could find. I ran into a rat snake that was camouflaged so well that I didn’t notice him until I was about two feet from stepping on him! Then I made my way towards a hill of dirt that was rich with fossils. I spot a beasty root sticking out of the ground. I snap the ground photo and pray to the toothing gods for it to please be whole. My praye... |
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Getting into a funk...
Green Mill Run, North Carolina, USA |
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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
TonyH... |
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5-30-09 Best weekend in a long time
Surry County, Virginia, USA |
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This was probably one of my best weekends in a long time. I spent several hours on the beach. I finally got caught up at work, and my company’s projects seem to be moving right along. Life is Good!
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5-9-09 Look with your eyes not your hands
Surry County, Virginia, USA |
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This weekend was a lot better than last weekend. I came up from NC to get a little R&R and ended up getting up at the crack of morning to hit the beaches. For some reason I can’t seem to sleep in when I’m home for the weekend. All I can think about are the teeth on the beach that I will NEVER see if I don’t get my butt out of bed and go get them!! I haven’t slept past 6am in over 2 months. When I’m off I’m either at GMR or ba... |
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5-2-09 Sorry so late
Surry County, Virginia, USA |
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This is the problem with not posting what you find immediately… you forget what happened!! Sorry DW. In my defense I’ve been REALLY busy with working full time and running my own company Governale Innovations, Inc. The reason I mention my company is because I’m sure some of you may wonder what the hell Govinn means… It’s short for my company name… now you know (an... |
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11 cusp Hexanchus (Holy Cow!)
Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina, USA - Hexanchus gigas |
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Anyone in the mine back on Saturday, 29 March 08?
For me--- especially with finding this killer cow--- it was a day to be remembered!
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5" Meg
Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina, USA - Carcharocles megalodon |
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My wife found this gem on our very first trip into the mine back in (I think) November 2004. It was found on what the guides referred to as ‘seal hill,’ over on the far left side of the collecting area (as one went down the ramp), nearest the highwall.<... |
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5/31/09
Surry County, Virginia, USA |
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Up before the sun I drove out to the river for an early morning hunt. Govinn was in town and the plan was to meet up hit the beach. As soon as I crossed the James River Bridge in to Isle of Wight County I noticed the marsh along the road side. Looking at the swollen creeks I knew by the time I got to surry I would be walking straight in to a high tide. When I got to the beach I chugged the last gulp of coffee, jumped out of the car and b-linded it to the water... |
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digging in the piles
Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina, USA |
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So we made it down for the festival and we had a blast, ran into a ton of people i have met and some new faces but most of the time we were busy digging away at the piles. We came away with a few goodies for 2 days of work. I would have to say that sunday was better than saturday but they were about even, we found more partial megs on day 2 and we had less people in our way so we were able to get more done. I think i met a few people while digging im not sure but they seemed to know me from br... |
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5/26/09
Surry County, Virginia, USA |
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Hit the beach early this morning. Didn't find much but the weather made up for it. Good times. ... |
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speechless
Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina, USA |
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It almost didn't happen more time then I'll be able to write on this post. My car has been enduring engine problems for almost a month now, THANK GOD for my mother allowing me to take her personal vehicle to North Carolina for the weekend. I arrived @ 2am Saturday morning and crashed out in the hotel room. Saturday was a blast, there were way more people at the festival this year. A big reason was the weather, beautiful and sunny. I finally got a chance to meet mikeDoB and a few other p... |
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5/21/09
Surry County, Virginia, USA |
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High tide Surry side. Not bad. I like the busted tiger tooth.... |
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Got to look close...
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Well Wednesday was a day off for me so I decided to explore a little and see if I could find a new fossil hunting spot. After about only an hour I came across an area that looked like it could be promising. I found broken smaller teeth right away and then minutes later I came across a rarity...A Giant Thresher tooth partially exposed...just over an inch, but a nice hooked one... This got my hopes up...So I walked on and continued to find shamer teeth and several teeth from the smaller shark spec... |
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05/10/09 GMR Better late than never report I guess
Green Mill Run, North Carolina, USA |
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My plan was to get an early start and be at the creek by about 7 am or so, but for various reasons we didn't arrive and enter the creek until about 11 am or so. We entered the creek and started down stream to find gravel to sift and didn't get very far as my shovel and feet felt some gravel, so we took a few test sifts. We immediately found teeth and belemnites in the 1/4" screen sifter, so we decided to give it a whirl right there. My sister took the 1/4" sifter an... |
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May 9, 2009 My first PCS Experience
Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina, USA |
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Before I start off on my report, I want to thank the PCS Phosphate Company and Curtis Ormond for the opportunity given to me to collect at the mine. I also want to say thank you to all of the guides for their dedication, sharing of knowledge, kindness, and everything else they do to help newbies like me stumble about the mine. I met several forum members and they are all very nice folks, looking forward to seeing y'all again.
My plan was to arri... |
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2thhoover 1st tattoo its "sharky"
South Carolina, South Carolina, USA |
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2thhoover came to visit me friday to check out my wife and our new house and we were talking about my fossil tattoo's and he thought he might would like to get one. Well with the weather being bad and not being able to fossil hunt this weekend I hooked him up with a buddy of mine in Augusta Ga who owns his on tattoo shop and drew this out for him and 2 hours later he had his 1st tattoo. Can't post any fossil pics so this will half to do for this week. later Sharkdentist.............. |
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Caught Up! Sort Of!
Green Mill Run, North Carolina, USA |
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Alright, I am now posting for the previous weekends trip. I am sort of caught up! Sorry this is sort of a long post. But I typed it all so I am going to paste it all in anways!
So after four months of faithfully serving me as best a screen could, it was time to retire my screen. &... |
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5/13/09
Calvert County, Maryland, USA |
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It was a good two days for me. I went to the beach and scored another meg. Much like the one from my last trip report, this meg is far from perfect. The root is pretty beat up. But I'll take it. I also found a curious rock... as evidenced by the first picture. I picked up a nice little hemi and 3/4 of a mako as well. Good luck everybody.
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5/12/09
Surry County, Virginia, USA |
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Indian field creek Tiger, York River... |
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5/11/09
Calvert County, Maryland, USA |
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I managed to take in a trip to the beach on Monday afternoon. I found my biggest meg in a while. It's ~2.5 not huge by any means but not tiny either. I also found a couple nice hemi's and a sand tiger. After a couple hours I made my way off the beach. Overall, it was a pretty sucessful hunt.
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heavy rains/lighting strikes
Dorchester County, South Carolina, USA |
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I was able to get out Monday to hunt with toothhoover after the heavy rains and thunderstroms. We decided we would try a land site that has produced some nice teeth in the past. As you can see from the pics I was able to score a nice great white that messured in at 1 1/16th inch with cool lighting strikes through out the tooth and also still had its root rare for Summerville, also a little Meg that messured in at 1 1/2 inches that also had lighting strikes through out the tooth, and last but not... |
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Mos a Sore from Shovelling All Weekend (Apr 24-26 2009)
Green Mill Run, North Carolina, USA |
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Ok that was a really bad title... "Baaaaaad", said the sheep.
Alas, it was Monday. And already the only thing on my mind was the upcoming weekend because what else would I be doing othe... |
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may 7 & 8
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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I had some time between projects at work, so I was able to get in a couple of weekday hunts. Thursday's best finds were a little thresher, a projectile point, and a vert with the tip of a small, serrated shark's tooth stuck in it -- I think probably a hemipristis. When viewed under magnification, it's clear the tooth became lodged during feeding. You can see a small cut on the vert that was left by the tooth sliding across before it came to rest where it is today. I have found bones with bite ma... |
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Meeting the Grim Reaper
Sharktooth Hill, Bakersfield, California, USA |
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On April 29th I worked the night shift in my small town on the central coast of California. As I worked, I dreamed of the fun to come tomorrow morning with 4 new friends from Europe who had contacted me via email and requested a joint dig in an area new to them. The night hours drug on into the wee morning hours and finally 3:30 am came, I got off work and drove to Bakersfield. At 6:00 am we met at a local hotel and put all the digging tools into my big Yukon XL and headed off to the local bl... |
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York River st.park
Surry County, Virginia, USA |
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This morning the dog and I headed out to York river st.park. Teeth are rare on this little stretch of beach but I have found a few. The way I figured it if I find something, cool, if not, it's ok, the dog wouldn't mind. When I got down to the beach the tide was low and the water was calm. With the dog zipping around playing in the mud, I slowly walked in search of enamel sheathed bones. The first tooth I found was a small land mamal ... |
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First trip into lee creek
Lee Creek Mine, Aurora, North Carolina, USA |
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years ago I saw fossils being brought out of a mine located in north Carolina, big legs and rare teeth were just a few things that drew my attention to the place that many call lee creek. There was one little problem, I had to be 18 to get in. So I waited and let the years pass watching meg after meg pulled out of the fossil rich dirt that is in the mine. Well on April 18, 2009 I turned 18 years of age and I would have the chance to hunt the mine.
I began to count down th... |
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Not So Fossilized Fauna April 3, 2009
Green Mill Run, North Carolina, USA |
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Early in the week Govinn sent me some emails arranging a fossil hunting trip for the weekend. Just coming off the Black River Fossils Lee Creek Trip weekend I decided to take it easy this weekend and declined on the invitation. Ha ha ha ha... |
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One Great Weekend!!!!!!
Surry County, Virginia, USA |
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This is my first post and only my 4th time huntinig for fossil shark teeth so bare with me. Even though I have only been shark tooth hunting a few times it has developed into both an addiciton and a deep passion that will stay within me as long as i am still breathing and able to make it down to the beach to soak in the unique experience of discovering fossils in earths present geological exsistence.
Location: ummm, ... |
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