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Feb. 9 2004 Big Ditch Trip
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I waited a couple of days after the big rain before I went to the ditch so it would be cleared up. When I got there, I saw all the cleaning out that the county had done, and I lamented my decision to wait. Next time I'll go sooner.... |
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Its tough to outdo last week
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today I had a tall order to fill if I was going to top last week's find, but like a dedicated ditch warrior, I put on the boots and ratty clothes and went to my first spot. Its a new place just up the road, and it has the possibility to be a good spot with a lot of rain. It rained heavily last night, so I figured the spot was prime. I picked up a bunch of little teeth from the Chandler Bridge piles, but the piles of Ladson Formation were LOUSY. I found a shamer of a meg in one of the ditches, bu... |
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NotSoWandoFour
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Da f0ssZ, fresh with fly new ride pl8Z cruized up to my crib about 9. We rolled to the golf
course first but the crews were working. I showed df where all the scores of late were made,
but then we rode on out to superpit to dig. It was just as we left it, as there has been no
rain since his last visit several weeks ago. df was down into the pit first, and not wanting
to miss out on anything, i decided to just tumble down the hill. its only a drop of 10 feet
into mud 18 inches... |
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NotSoWandoFour
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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After a winter hibernation from toothin', I gave DW the call for some digging. DW's arm took little twisting and he was down with a toothin' trip. He called ThaDude, but he was unable to join us. So I arrived at DW's a little early, and off we were. We drove around to some nice ponds, but the construction companies were working, so we decided to hit the old haunt, superpit. We stopped for some petro, and the smell of fresh java was like the song of the siren...no man can resist. I loaded up o... |
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0 for 2
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I figured that with the mid week rains, perhaps the ditch would be a decent place to hunt. WRONG! I found fewer than 10 teeth, and all of them were broken. I went over to the new pond on the Golf Course, and unfortunately, had the same result there. There will be new ponds soon, and plus, next Friday da f0ssZ is coming down and we're going to do some hunting. After that, there will be much hunting over my christmas vacation. ... |
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In and Out
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today I decided to hit Super Pit because its been awhile since I’ve been back there. I was walking around and I noticed that the area hasn’t been affected much by the rain and finding teeth was scarce. Then I decided to do a little digging. I unearthed a nice great white and decided to call it a day.... |
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More Lunch Hunting
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I had another day where I could take a long lunch so I drove out to Superpit to see if the rain had washed out anything nice. Plus, I always like to check on the place to see if the crews had done any more excavation. When I arrived, it was clear that they hadn't touched it for several months. I'm starting to worry that this pit is being abandoned. I scoured the exposed layer (now mostly just dirt we've already dug through) and managed to come away with a little button meg and a nice horse tooth... |
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A Super Find at Superpit
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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You'd think that after the Cypress Gardens Fossil Show, I'd have my fossil fix and would not need to hunt but you'd be wrong. There was just enough light left in the day to walk Superpit, and walk it I did. The first thing I picked up was a big benedeni with no root. It was cool, though, because we hadn't found any parotodus there yet. I kinda figured we would find one there eventually, but now I have photographic proof! I walked on and picked up a really big chunk of petrified wood. My bigge... |
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An unbelievable find at the ditch
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Sorry its been so long since the last post - I had a car accident and I was out of commission for a little while. I'm all better now, though, so today, I took the weEzlinG out to the big ditch to reap the rewards of a heavy rain earlier in the week. We walked the ditch up and down, picking up teeth all over the place. Well, I was, anyway. He was more interested in the flat, round, river rocks, but hey - at least it held his interest long enough to allow me to scour the ditch! Several hours la... |
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Last Minute Hunting
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I’ve been really busy lately and haven’t had time to put the post up sooner. I only had about 2 hours to hunt for teeth and finally gave up when the sun went down. I didn’t do to bad and I focused mainly on the chandler bridge layer today and scored two descent small angys.... |
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A lunchtime dig to be proud of
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I took a little extra time today at lunch and did something healthier than sit around and eat fast food. Yep, you guessed it, digging. The weather was beautiful outside - No clouds in the sky, nice breeze, about 75 degrees. Nice. Really nice. I didn't waste a minute of time, either. As soon as I got down into the pit, I continued digging on my last hole. For the longest time, I didn't even see any fossils besides whale bone. Then I ran across the big horse tooth and I started digging a little mo... |
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Mid-week sanity check
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today after work I head straight for Superpit. I needed a fossil fix to get me through the week. It was mid afternoon and I was wearing black. The sun was beating me to a pulp as I willed my way through the quagmire. It was surprisingly muddy considering we've had no rain in two weeks. Two and a half hours later I was sapped, but I had found some nice teeth so I was content. On the bright side, though, some new digging has started so in a couple months when they get down to the layer, we're gonn... |
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CopperHeads are bad luck!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today I really wanted to go to other spots, but didn’t have enough time and it would soon be dark and the Big Ditch was the closest. While I was walking an almost 3 ft copperhead snake pops out of no where just a few feet in front of me. You have to always be on a look out for these things because toothin can be dangerous. I won’t be coming back to this spot for awhile.... |
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In search of the elusive meg at Super Pit
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today I decided to head out to Super Pit because I wanted to be the first to find a whole meg from the new area. I dug like crazy for 3 hours and didn't find one whole meg and the day ended with some really bad blisters on my hands.... |
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Make that three days in a row!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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After my great fortune the other night, I just had to go back out to Superpit. Indiana has been salivating to go for some time now, so I took him with me. We biked in and immediately started digging. We both dug quickly because our daylight was waning, and we came across some broken stuff now and then, but it wasn't until about 10 minutes before we left before I found the awesome great white. All this digging (I've been going at lunch, too) is putting a hurting on my back, but with finds like th... |
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Good luck two days in a row
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I didn't get out to the ditch the day of the big rain, or even the morning after. I went to work, and tonite, I finally made it. Apparently, there had been some great finds by others the past few days, so I was hopeful that they had missed something. They did. First, another squalodon tooth from the set I've been collecting. It was a little higher in the layer - actually, the top. That's why its a different color. No time to reminisce, so I moved on. Next came a perfect, cream angustidens. Oh... |
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A trip to make t$ drool
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I've been ravenous to get back out to Superpit since I found out about the digging. Now that I have returned, my shovel has tasted the spoils of victory. Conditions were ideal! It had just finished pouring down rain. When I say pouring, I mean pouring. We're talking several inches in less than an hour. Its the kind of rain that washes away clay. The road in was covered by up to a foot and a half of rushing water. I pushed my bike through it and by the time I passed the flooded r... |
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Good day at Super Pit
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Well today I decided to take a chance and head out to Super Pit. The day actually ended pretty productice for just an hour of digging because the day was cut short by a thunderstorm. The whole megs just weren't there today, maybe next time.... |
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The Marathon
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I had to get an immense amount of toothin in today because of the killer rainfall we've had lately. I'm feeling the tinge of a sore throat coming on, so I'd better go now. I could be laid up for weeks! I didn't need to dig at all today - just walk and pick up the fossils. The first stop was the Big Ditch. The water was still running really high, so I didn't find much. Indiana was there and we shot the breeze for a little bit, but we went our separate ways early on in the hunt. Like I said, th... |
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The Marathon
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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The last stop of the day was Superpit. I haven't been there since I took fossilguy out there, and I figured that no matter how picked over it had gotten, 7 inches of rain would wash out something. The worst thing about this place, though, is the bike ride in. A mile and a quarter up and down a muddy, weed covered, hilly road. The gates are locked on weekends, so all you can do is bike down that road. The hunters have made a mess of it, to... |
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The Marathon
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Well Ditchweezil beat me out their today. The bike ride was really tough, but I don't care I need the work out. I found like maybe 3 teeth walking and I actually found a large amount of teeth digging for just a short amount of time that I did dig, which was about 15 mins. The best mako I found today came from a spot that DW was digging in, thanks man :). It wasn't like it was in plain open view. I noticed it when I paused to take a drink when I was looking down. I'll have to get out the... |
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Its a good thing this hobby is so fun!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today, da f0ssZ and I took the day off work to go do some hunting. This was df's first day back hunting in several months - he took some time off as his wife got closer to the delivery date. He got a new son out of the deal (congrats, man!) but it was time to get some ditch time in. We had almost 2 inches of rain yesterday, so I figured the ditch would produce. I took the secret weapon and he used his patented shovel sift method, but we both came up empty handed. Still, though, it was better tha... |
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Its a good thing this hobby is so fun!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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We figured that since we had good rain, this spot would be good, too. Plus, it was the last place da f0ssZ went before his fossil hunting hiatus, and he found an incredible meg then, so he was hyped to go. We only lasted about 2 hours in the blazing sun, but our search came up pretty much empty here, too. ... |
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Its a good thing this hobby is so fun!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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It was my first fossilin expedition since the arrival of the new baby, and I
thought Micro-FosSz needed to view a freshly pulled Angy from the creek. I
hunted like I hadn't in months --- imagine that. After 2-1/2 hours of
intense fosSzSifting, I had little to show. The best find is a pristine 5/8"
Hemipristis from the Chandler Bridge. We decided to grab some chow.... |
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Its a good thing this hobby is so fun!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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After some kickin chili-dogs at the BRFC Financial Division Headquarters, we
headed off to SuperPit. Surely the rains would have washed out caseworthy
teeth. We walked and dug, but nothing killer. The midday Lowcountry sun
sapped our collecting energy and we bailed out to relax at the DWs pad and
plan our next collecting trip. I hope it is soon.... |
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A good dive in an old spot
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood as my dad, Fossilguy, Fossilgirl, and I prepared the boat and gear for our diving trip to the Cooper River. On the drive out there, we tried to explain to our guests what they would be doing, what the dive would be like, and what to look out for, but there's no substitute for actually doing it. We decided to hit a shallow spot in Durham Creek since it was the FossilDuo's first time in the river. We... |
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A healthy dose of fosspitality
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today it was my turn to show fosspitality to a fellow fossil hunter. Fossilguy and FossilGirl from Fossilguy.com came down to do some collecting weEzil style, and I was happy to oblige. I took them out to Superpit because that place has been churning out the quality lately. Just as I parked the truck and we got our stuff together to go, the bottom dropped out of the sky. I asked if they wanted to wait it out in my truck, but they were eager to... |
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Another early morning trip
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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With all the rain lately, I've been lazy in my collecting. Today, I decided to do something about it, so I woke up before 5am and headed out to the ditch armed with my trusty mega flashlight. The water was still deep, but there were teeth everywhere. I didn't find anything fantastic, but for hunting in the dark, it wasn't too bad of a day. I even made it to work on time!... |
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A day of gems
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today, Indiana and I set off early to dig on the whale. We burned
about an hour wailing on the chandler bridge, but it didn't produce
anything substantial. The sweet squalodon in the photo was found a
little downstream. Not wanting to get all tired out, I decided to walk a
little against my supposed better judgement. Why? because it had been 3
days since the last good rain (aside - Summerville has had 17 inches of
rainfall in July - WOW), and there are people who go there every day.
St... |
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A day of gems
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I dropped Indiana off at his place and met tha duDe at my house. We
loaded up the bikes and headed off for Superpit. 10 minutes after
getting to the pit, I came upon the awesome little meg. I was already
beyond happy, I mean I had already done really well today. Now, I had a
little meg to boot. We dug all over, and as I was digging around the
area where I found the meg, I flipped up a decent great white. I knew it
had potential, but I didn't want to scrape off the mud while it was wet,
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My best meg I ever found to date
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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We have been getting lots of rain all week long and you know what that means lots of nice teeth to be found. I had tried to come out to this spot the other day with a severe thunder storm up above which was a bad idea and it was just to much to find anything so I called it a day and headed home. Than it came to today a nice and beautiful sunny afternoon just the perfect weather for hunting fossils. In just minutes of being down in the pit I spot the 5+” meg about 15 ft. away. I didn’t have t... |
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More Good Fortune
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Again, today as I left work, visions of teeth danced before my eyes. I had no choice but to answer the call, so I quickly prepared myself for an evening in some muddy hole. I couldn't decide where to go, the big ditch or Superpit. I didn't have to think very long, though, because the ditch is pretty busy lately. Lots of people go there now, so its getting hard to find anything. Superpit, however, seemed ripe for collecting. We haven't been there in a while, we've had a ton of rain, and hardly an... |
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The POS earns its name
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today we hitched up the POS and decided to try our hands in the Cooper with it. Indiana went along to fish and watch the boat for us, so we had a pretty full boat. My first inkling that today wasn't going to go right came when the motor wouldn't stay started. I finally kept it running in choke, but we were crawling down the river. Maybe it had something to do with the load we were carrying, maybe there's something wrong with the motor? I mentally chalked it up to the load and we continued withou... |
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My first dive of 2003
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Well, we finally got in our first dive of the year. I was thinking to myself, "Why haven't
we gone before now?" That's easy, because the land sites are really churning out the goodies
lately. Still though, diving is awesome so we hit the river. When we went out there, we
really didn't know exactly where we were gonna go, so we looked for a new place up in the
creeks. The spot has potential, but we didn't find anything there to make us want to stay
for a second dive. The secon... |
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Mako Fest
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Well today was a day for the Super Pit because of the past rain, we had been getting. I really killed on the makos today and I found all my teeth walking. Overall just a great day.
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An evening at the big ditch
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I've been sick for a few days, and I needed to get out of the house. And since it rained really hard about 5 days ago, I figured I would pick up the scraps left over from the weekend out at the ditch. I was pretty surprised at how much I found this late in the game - and, on top of all the teeth, I found an arrowhead.... |
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A day I can't wait to forget
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today was an early day - I woke up before 7, and I was at the road into Superpit by 7:30. I got on my bike and started riding in when I noticed how dry the road was since we had gone a whole week with no rain. Against my better judgement, I put my bike back in the truck and started driving down the road. I skillfully avoided the first few spots of mud, and when I hit the major one, I was confident. I steered over to the right side of the road, hugging the ditch on the left and the muddy rut on ... |
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A bad day Looking for teeth is better than a good day at work
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today I had an extra opportunity to do a little collecting since it was Memorial day and all. I got up extra early and went down to the ditch so I could hit it and have enough time left over to go do some digging somewhere else. I walked the main part first, and to my surprise there was an overturned Ford Bronco upside down in the ditch. No kidding! I checked for bodies, but there were none, so I continued on my hunt for teeth. I had a little more success in the branch, but still, I didn't find ... |
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A bad day Looking for teeth is better than a good day at work
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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My next stop was Superpit. Since da f0ssZ's find there last week, I've been excited about going. By the time I got out there, though, the heat and humidity were in full effect. The mud caking my boots didn't make walking very easy, either, so my stay was short. I got in about an hour and a half before I was completely sapped. I wished I had picked a spot with some shade, that way I could have lasted a little longer. Oh well, there's always next week.... |
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The Winds of Change
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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After a brief but satisfying run to the border, we went back to Superpit so da f0ssZ could see the happy hunting grounds. We only had an hour to dig, so we went at it like men on a mission. We each picked out spots, and in df's first (literally!) shovel-full, was a meg. You could sense his excitement as he excavated it. First, we just saw a root lobe - then another, then the blade. We kept waiting for the defect that makes you go "Awwww!!!", but gladly, it never came. It was df's day to make the... |
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The Winds of Change
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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After a Bell pillage, we headed off to SuperPit. After spending a few
minutes walking and picking up fragladons, I decided to dig a little. I
located a spot near some whale bones, removed 1" of layer and a beautiful
Meg shone it face. I swear the bourlette smiled at me.
We departed shortly thereafter and the euphoria of the collecting day has
not waned. ... |
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Perfect conditions, but that's about it
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Anticipation was high today as we had lots of rain this past week. Collecting would surely be top notch. The roads would be muddy, though, so we would have to bike everywhere. Unfortunately, we had to tell t$ he couldn't go because we couldn't fit 3 bikes in my truck. I feel I should publically apologize for the fossil dis. I'll make it up to him sometime. Anyway, we head off to Superpit first. It had definitely received plenty of rain, but there really wasn't much laying out for the grab. We en... |
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The Heat is On
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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We had an immense amount of rain on Tuesday of this past week, so today we definitely were going someplace where we could just walk to pick up teeth. We decided to give Top Secret a rest and went to Super Pit instead. And for a change, we went in the early afternoon. All the gates were open as an added bonus, so we didn't have to bike in. Good thing, too, because it was a scorcher! The heat index was over 100 today, so we probably shouldn't have been outside to begin with, but we couldn't stay a... |
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The Heat is On
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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All my teeth laid out on dw's bbq grill.... |
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Good luck in no time flat
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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You wont believe how great the angy is I found at the ditch today. The
pictures speak for themselves and I found the tooth in plain open view at
the starting of the ditch from the school side and I didnt even go past that
area I only collected for about 20 to 30 mins than left I didnt have time to
hunt the whole area. The angy is 2 3/16 inches and almost perfect just
small patches of the bourlette are missing.... |
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The Magic Chalupa
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I think today actually started when my wife got home around noon. She had taken my son to play golf, and on the way home, they stopped at Taco Bell. She had an extra chalupa, and she brought it to me. I drenched it in fire sauce and happily devoured it, not knowing of its magical properties. 2pm arrived and tha dUDe arrived ready to extend his lucky streak from last week. I already had the bikes loaded in my truck, so we were on our way. Since we had great rainfall yesterday, we were planning a ... |
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Triumph at Lafarge
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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We hit the Big Ditch, but the pickins were slim. I managed a decent 1.75" Tan C. Angustidens. ... |
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Surprise Guests and a Trip to Remember
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Last night I got a call from Roy from Times Scientific telling me he and Ed were thinking about coming down and doing some hunting. It didn't take much to convince me to take the day off, so plans were set in motion for a full day of 2thin. They met me at my house, and I was instantly in awe of their waders. Long have I wanted waders of that sort, but I've never seen them anywhere. They would be handy out at the ditch today, because the water is still pretty deep. I just bought new boots, though... |
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The mud teaches me a lesson
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Since daylight saving time started this week, so did my after work fossil hunting expeditions. With all the rain who could blame me? I went out to superpit with high expectations. The last time I went out there (I didn't do a trip report because I didn't get a chance to find anything. There were rednecks with automatic weapons shooting blindly into the pit. I left not wanting any extra holes) we noted some serious possibilities because of some intense digging. Well, I hit the edges first. Big pi... |
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Pride and Pestilence
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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We didn't drive back to Superpit with the intention of digging. Instead, we only wanted to pick up the fossils rinsed out by the rain. We biked back and walked the hills and ditch in about 30 minutes. There weren't many teeth, and we knew there wouldn't be, but I found my best tooth of the day back there. Then it was time to go home. Thus ended the 8 hour 2thin marathon. Not that we didn't want to do more, but with as many people who are hunting nowadays, it would have been tough to find another... |
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A birthday dig in solitude
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I took the day off today for my birthday dig. Since it fell on a weekday, there was no one else to go with me, so I had to hunt in solitude. Its all good though, because to get to superpit, I had to carry along the mountain bike. Its down several miles of muddy, country roads, and there's no way I could get my truck back there. It was a gorgeous day - 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Plus, there was a slight breeze so I barely got hot on the ride. But, riding a bike with big boots on wa... |
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Another good fossil day thanks to the rains
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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We had a nice drenching rain yesterday and that makes collecting pretty good. ThA duDe and I had already planned on going, but we planned to go at 10 so we could sleep in. Tha duDe just moved this week, and he doesn't have a phone yet, so I couldn't get ahold of him to tell him to get here earlier so we could pillage the Big Ditch before we went out to Superpit. I checked what time sunrise was before I went to bed last night and told myself that I wouldn't set an alarm, but if I woke up early... |
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Rain turns me into a fossil hunting animal
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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For the 3rd day in a row, I spent my lunch hour hunting teeth. Today it was the Big Ditch's turn to feed my crack-esque craving. Yesterday when I drove by, I saw that it had plenty of water in it, and I considered getting up early this morning to be there when the sun rose. My wife gave me a weird look, though, so I resigned myself to going at lunch. To my horror, when I arrived I saw another car. Someone else had the same idea that I did. As I walked along the top of the ditch, though, I did... |
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Great potential at a new spot
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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On a hot tip, I combed a rural hunt club to find a new (to me, anyway) pit. Since the gate was locked, I ended up having to walk. I ran into lots of hunters, though, and they were able to point me in the right direction. By the time I got there, though, I already had blisters on both heels. I was there to hunt, though, and hunt I did. I walked all over the thing, picking up teeth all along the way. I started digging one hole and found the killer mako. I probed around for another place, and af... |
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A Christmas drenching
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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As an extra little holiday present to us, mother nature poured out her goodness all day Christmas Eve. I know we had 3 inches or more. The ditch is the place to go when that happens. Anyway, its never good to go the day after a heavy rain - the water is still too deep and cloudy, and the only stuff to be found is generally not worth flooding the boots with icy ditch water. Plus, the next day was Christmas! Who in their right minds would go out collecting on Christmas? It was out of the questi... |
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In search of another place to hunt
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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This morning thA duDe and I went out in search of new spots. I got a lead from this guy about a ditch that was recently dredged where another person found a 5” tooth lying out. We were going to go last weekend, but the spot we chose instead turned out to be pretty good. We found the ditch and the spoil piles, but it was not what we had hoped. I had visions of so many megalodon teeth that we couldn’t pick them all up. Instead, we found a few dinky, cruddy little teeth and some fragments of tee... |
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An Unexpected Megalodon
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Dude! I love the rain. Well, its not the rain so much that I love as it is what the rain does: erode the layer. Since Monday when I found that insane angy, I've been at the Big Ditch either before work or during lunch everyday. Yesterday and Tuesday I really didn't find much, but today I found enough to make a post. When I got out there, I met the county workers who maintain that ditch, and today was the day they were to clean the downed trees out of the channel. I'm very appreciative of that... |
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Vindication!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I wrote this massive post yesterday about how much fun I had on my trip to Aurora, but still I had this empty feeling. I had no tooth to carry around and caress while I watch tv. A day of toothing with no payoff is tough to bear. While I was in church, though, it rained like crazy yesterday morning. I knew that there had been 3 rains since I had hunted the Big Ditch, so the chance of success there would be high. I set my alarm for early this morning and headed off to the mosquito infested hal... |
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No encore
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Almost the whole gang was down today for the Columbus day dig - T-moNey, da f0ssZ, thA duDe, and I went to the ditch in hopes of some lower water finds. If not, we would dig the chandler. We met f0ssZ there, and by the time we arrived, he had already scored 2 nice angustidens doing the patented f0ssZ shovel sift. We went our own way and immediately started on the CB. I bounced from spot to spot, favoring those places where the Wando sat right on top of the CB layer. There were plenty of spots bl... |
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No encore
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Sunday night, da f0ssZ called and said he would meet us at the big ditch. That's cool. We needed to pillage that place, and with df's eagle eyes, we would surely accomplish it. He actually beat us down there even though he lives 100 miles from the ditch and we only like 2.5 miles from it. He's more dedicated, I guess. When we got there, though, he already had two nice ones. Jealous but determined, we went off to seek our own fortunes while he continued to strike it rich. In the photo, top lef... |
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That was a short dry streak
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Tropical Storm Kyle, which had been parked off the US coast for like a month finally decided to head our way yesterday. It poured all morning long, and in some places, it dumped 10 inches of rain. My house was one of those places, and you know what that means ;-) Yep, a trip to the big ditch. We had originally wanted to dive today, but the rain really filled the Edisto to the rim, and diving when levels are high is basically suicide. Imagine looking for teeth in the ripping current and a tree sl... |
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Wait till you see THIS!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Man, I was dying to get out and find some teeth today. Its in my blood, you know? I was up at the crack of dawn - 5:30 to be exact. I still had a sore throat left over from weekend illness, but it didn't matter. If I didn't find some teeth, I was gonna bust. It rained Sunday, and I just found out about a construction site they are actively working. Trouble is, they start working at 7, so I had to be there early. With flashlight in hand, I combed the muddy field. There was NOTHING! What a dis! We... |
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The best angustidens I've found in a year and a half
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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If you read my posts from last week, you know that there has been an inordinate amount of rain that has fallen on my area. And the best places to go after good rain are places that erode nicely. The big ditch is one of those places. I'd been keeping an eye on it, but its been too high to go. You'd need scuba gear! In fact, the ditch overflowed. Yes, it overflowed. I know that because of all the debris that is up on the banks. It must have been a site to see. The giant concrete slabs that the cou... |
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A Cooper Classic!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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My pal da f0ssZ went out to the Cooper River for some diving and had a spectacular day! Its one of those days you dream about having. He was cool enough to snap some photos of his best finds for me to put up on the site. He was actually lucky enough to find the actual fossil bearing layer under water, and now you can see why everyone looks for it! ... |
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My first dive of 2002
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I got kindof a late start this year with the diving. We had a late cold shot that put us off until now. At any rate, my dad got his boat fixed and I bought a new regulator, and we were both ready to try them out. The Boy and thA duDe were also itching to get in the water. No, not because they needed to bathe, its just exciting, you know? Anyway, everything was on schedule and we were in the water. The boat started right up! A miracle! Normally we are sitting at the dock 20 minutes before it runs... |
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Finally!! Some REAL rain!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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You hard core fossil hunters are going to love this one - yesterday, as I sat in the training seminar at work, I watched out the window for the forecasted rain every spare moment I had. I told my wife that I might stop by the field on the way home Thursday (yesterday) if we got any good rain. But the rains never came. At least not in the quantity I wanted, anyway. When I got home, though, I found out that the rains had been more than ample at home. There were flooded streets everywhere! Surely I... |
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A double shot
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Knowing that the rain probably washed out some teeth at the Big Ditch, I went and walked it after work. I didn't find anything collection worthy, but I did find a decent quantity of teeth. There are some nice stretches of Chandler Bridge that are naturally eroding there, so the possibility of nice angys in the future is still there.... |
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A quick dip in the ditch
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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It has been a REALLY long week at work this week. Today, I bailed at 4 and hit the big ditch after work. We had some nice rainfall this week, and its nice to go to this place. I need Aurora practice :-) About 10 minutes after I got there, thA duDe showed up, so he hunted the right side while I hunted the left. We both did ok, but I had to leave after an hour, so this is what I was able to scrounge up in that little bit of time. Not too bad, huh? Shame on the angys!... |
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I just couldn't stay away
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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It rained again, so after work, I dropped by the ditch AGAIN. I only had 30 minutes, and I didn't find as good of stuff as yesterday, but hey, you can't find the killers everytime. I did find one giant vertebrae and a decent mako.... |
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Not bad for an hours work
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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We had a nice rain the other day, and knowing what I know, I had to stop by the ditch on the way home from work. The angy at upper left is small but flawless. Just right of center, there is a croc tooth, and next to it is a dolphin tooth. I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again - I can't believe that this place still produces as well as it does.... |
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The ditch is back!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Over the past few months, I have oft lamented the fact that the best spot to find teeth that I know of was no longer productive. Well, that was until we finally had enough rain to make me curious about it. I went after work and BOY was I surprised. The gravel I knew and loved was again easily visable against the green Chandler Bridge layer. And there were teeth again! I still can't believe that my spot is back. And its even better. The junk that they used to fill in the sides had teeth in it too... |
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I am lousy gator bait
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I took the day off today to go diving with a friend of mine. We hit the Cooper of course, and I was the first in. I found all most all of the teeth in the photo below in this spot. Man, it was a gold mine. I really wish we could have dived more there. Why didn't we, you ask? Well, when I came up from my dive, my friend says "Dude, get in the boat... hurry up." I replied that I was swimming as fast as I could, and why? He was looking toward the bank and motioning for me to come around the boat. H... |
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Nice pleistocene stuff from the Cooper River
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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My buddy John asked me if I wanted to go diving with him today, and I have never been one to pass up on a dive, so of course, I went. The day started up kinda tough because it took us an hour to get the boat started. With a little oral siphoning of the gas, John got it all started and we were on our way. Man, check out the haul! Upper left is a petrified beaver jaw, next to that is some coprilite (fossilized poop), and next to that is a nice petrified antler. The second row had some really nice ... |
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An arrowhead but not much else.
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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The ground is really hard since we haven't really had any rain. I hit the new pond again, but there wasn't really anything there. Next, I went to check out a lead in Crowfield. It seems there is a really big pond back there somewhere, but even after some walking, I couldn't find it. I saw where they dumped all the dirt and it was loaded with nice rock, but I didn't really find any teeth worth a darn. I did find an arrowhead on the road though. I don't find many of these, so even though its chipp... |
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Another killer day at the creek
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Two days ago, we had 3 1/2" rain, and if you have been following my site for long, you know that I always hit the creek after a good rain. I had to wait until after work, but when I finally arrived, there were some real sweeties laying out today! First and foremost, check out the 3" Angustidens. It is a real drooler. Perfect except for 3 serrations near the tip. The 3rd tooth from the left on the top row is another perfect 1 1/2" Angy. The 5th tooth from the left on the top row is a perfect lowe... |
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Killer day at the creek
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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OH MAN! What a day at the creek! There was a terrential downpour two days ago, and I finally got out to the ditch today. I raked in the fossils - most interestingly, look at the vertebrae - they are massive for a land site - almost 4" in diameter each! The one on the left has a huge bite mark in it, too. You can easily see it in the photo (the long straight line in the middle of it). The gouge is almost a half inch deep! The meg who ate this whale for lunch must have been huge. I had a gr... |
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Best day so far this year
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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The rain I mentioned before was great for the ditch which was the second spot I went to. The rain cleaned it out and so did I. Check out the haul of awesome teeth in the first photo. 3 perfect Angustidens, 2 complete Great Whites, and 2 complete Makos. I didn't have time to get pictures up of all the smaller teeth I found but there were a bunch! Today was a good day!
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The creek is back in service!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but they were doing some major work on the creek where I find most of my teeth, and for a few weeks it has produced next to nothing because of these dams they put up to stop the water from eroding the ditch. They finally filled in the portion of the ditch that was holding all the water, so now when it rains, it all pours over the top of the dam, and the rest of the ditch can get washed so I can find teeth. Well, we had a pretty nice rainfall, and I went o... |
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What a way to start out the new year!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I was going to go digging with a buddy of mine today, but he wussed out. I decided to go back out to the creek to see what I could find. I didn't expect to find much since a whole weekend had passed and there had been no new rainfall. That creek is usually pretty picked over after a weekend, so I really went to just find smaller specimens. But, my lucky streak continued! I came away with another pristine 2 1/4" and an almost killer 2 3/4". Interestingly enough I found that one less than 100 feet... |
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Nice haul, including the most perfect Angustidens I have ever found.
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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The past two days, we have had dreary, rainy, cold, nasty weather. Today, we had the first sunny day, so of course, I had to go back to the old faithful creek. Rain always brings out the best in this place, and today was no exception. I wasn't even the first one there today. I saw this guy when I walked up and I was all "ahh man, he found everything so I am just wasting my time." It always pays to look because everyone misses stuff. Check out the total haul in the first picture! I even found two... |
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The most teeth I ever found in a day plus A Thresher AND a Benedeni!!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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What a day today! They just dug out the creek this week, and last night we had a really nice rain. I walked from end to end and found hundreds of teeth. The top photo shows the whole haul. The bottom photo shows the picks, and they are PRIME! 7 Perfect angustidens, 2 nice Makos, a giant Thresher (only my third one!!!), and a museum quality Oligocene Benedeni. I have never had luck this good!.
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Average day at the creek.
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Not many details today. An average day. The best finds today are the nice smaller Angustidens at upper right and the 3 sweet Hemis in the middle. I heard that someone found a nearly 5" Angustidens out at the creek today. What a find! Comparable to a 6 31/32" Meg!
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Gobs of teeth, part 2!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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I had to work today, and believe me, I wasn't happy about it. I got everything done that I had to do, and I headed on down to the creek while I waited on everything to finish up. I had intended to walk again, but there were out of towners there digging, so the bottom was covered with silt and I wasn't having very much luck. So I started scraping at the bank and I just kept scraping up tooth after tooth. I never run into this kind of layer when I am looking for it! So I walked back to trukkasauru... |
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Gobs of teeth!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Just Sunday, we had some really nice rainfall - Exactly what I have been waiting for. Not just me, but everyone else around here who collects fossils, too! I got out as soon as I got off work and went straight to the new ponds. There weren't as many lying around as I thought, but I didn't do too badly. All the orange teeth came from there. After there, I went to the creek. I knew that they just dug it out again not too long ago, but I totally forgot until I stepped down into it. Oh Man! Teeth la... |
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Probably the last day diving this year - good thing it was a bag filler!!
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today, my dad and I went diving in the upper Cooper. Vis has never been better. We were in over 30 feet of water and we could still see light from the surface! In fact - we didn't even need a light. I think it was because of a variety of factors. It has been unseasonably cold here lately, and the water temperature has dipped down pretty low. Cold water means better vis. Plus, there has been very little rain. Result - I hauled in the teeth. There are two pictures below - one of the few good teeth... |
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A banner day at the creek with 3 perfect Angustidens
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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In the past week, tropical storms Gordon and Helene blew through here dropping massive amounts of rain. Yesterday, I drove by and saw that the water level was about 6 feet deep!! I have never seen it that full before, and today it was still 3 feet in places. The weeds and bushes along the bank were all laying on their sides - had I gone yesterday, the water would have been way over my head in most places. Today, I could resist no longer - I had to go to see what was there. I braved the muddy, sn... |
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Some nice teeth from the creek
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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We've had some really heavy rainfall lately, so me and the boy went to the creek today. We got there really late, so it was really picked over, but we did come home with several nice ones. The Angustidens is pretty close to flawless, and the other is a reef shark tooth - a REALLY rare find. They aren't very large, but they look really cool. I have found less than 5 of these my whole life.
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Bag filler day in the Cooper
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Most people would say that we were crazy to go out diving in the Cooper on a holiday, but today the weather was pretty bad, so there weren't many people on the water. And the vis was KILLER!! I am thinking like 10 feet. Lets just say when I was on the bottom, I could still see a bit of light from the surface - I have never seen it that good before. We dove on a huge rock bed that we found last year, and found literally pounds of teeth. (I found an anchor, too. I dragged it around my whole... |
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Some nice Angustidens from the creek
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Another trip to the creek this afternoon. Nice rain last night, and I found these Angustidens. Amazing that as many times as I have been to this place, I still find this many nice teeth!
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Another decent day walking the creek
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today, me and the boy went up to the creek again since we had the massive rain storm last night. We were undoubtedly the first there, but the creek was still way too deep, so instead, we walked the hills. No great shark teeth today, but note the whale teeth on the lower right. The double rooted one is from Squalodon, the Shark-Toothed Whale - A rare find.
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A decent day walking the creek
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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It has been raining like crazy around here, lately. I figured it would be a good time to go walk the creek. I found quite a haul of mediocre teeth today, along with one nice one. The rightmost and leftmost teeth are Makos, the very bottom one is a Great White, and the rest are Angustidens. The Great White is superb!... |
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Two nice teeth from the creek
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Last night we had one heck of a rainstorm, and everytime it rains, I consider it my civic duty to go scour the creek. The water got over 3 feet deep there, and it really rinsed everything out. I look in the bottom clay really carefully after storms like this, because the increased water level picks up sand and blasts everything, thus exposing new fossils. I found many teeth, but these two sweet Angustidens were the best of the day.
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An ok day diving the Cooper
Berkeley County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today, I hit the Cooper River on the incoming tide, and boy was is rippin! The first dive we were in about 40 feet of water with about 1 foot of visability. It was so good because the current was so fearsome. Anyway, most of the stuff I found was beat to fragments, but I did come up with a complete, although worn, 2 5/8" meg. It has some decent coloration to it, but the real treasure from this dive was an old Milk bottle. I had only seen these in pictures before yesterday, and now I have one! It... |
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