Greetings fellow enthusiasts. I’m an amateur paleontologist/collector with a passion for marine vertebrate fossils, but love collecting other fossils as well. I frequent most if not all of the public haunts in MD and DE, and sometimes in VA, however most of my collecting is done along the Calvert Cliffs. It’s possible that I’ve met some of you in the past if you collect in those areas. On several occasions I’ve “guided” programs hosted by the MNCPPC (parks dept.) in some of these locations. Regrettably, I haven’t joined a fossil club and often aim to do so, only to let the same stressors that keep me from collecting divert my attention away from the task. Also, I’ve found some nice fossils in high public places, like Myrtle Beach. Most of the teeth are worn and broken, but I have found some pretty nice fossils and a few nice great white teeth that are very difficult to come by up my way. My daughter and I have contests to see how many sharks teeth we can find in a day, or a set amount of time, and I often lose because I wind up giving half my teeth away to curious kids or parents who are wondering what the heck I’m looking for on the beach so intently, or who have no idea what a sharks tooth looks like.  

My beach techniques are fairly simple as I’m a beachcomber that occasionally digs in fallen mounds of material. My favorite tools of the trade are my eyes, a modified clam rake, and a modified turkey straining device (some day I’ll show pics). Those that have met me most likely haven’t seen the barbaric looking tools before, other than with me using them! I’ve noticed over the years that many serious collectors have their “secret” spots, unwilling to share too much info (understandably so), but at the same time these folks are often the same people that are the first ones to donate a nice tooth to a kid or newbie collector that may have not ever collected a tooth before, or the same ones that are willing to share their finds and identify fossils for them. I think that I fall into that category as well, although I don’t really have any secret spots!  I love to find new locations that are off the map, so to speak, but time is my limiting factor. I don’t sell anything that I find and value each fossil that I collect as a treasure. Some day soon I will post pictures of my small but beloved collection.

In addition to my fossil collecting addiction, I also coach a teenage girls traveling fastpitch softball tournament team, which is a full time job in itself (although my salary is not monetary in nature, rather it’s the satisfaction that I’ve helped these young athletes become better players). I enjoy fishing, hunting, and playing sports as well. I’m a Federal employee in the Budget field although my major in school was zoology!

I found this site several years back from a link from fossilguy’s website and have enjoyed it very much, so DW, I’m very thankful for your contributions and the ability to bring us all together for fine discussion and sharing of our treasures. Regrettably I haven’t had the time to post very often, but will post my future finds on a regular basis as often as I have the chance to collect. Likewise, I would love to hook up with some of you for future trips, especially those of you that I’ve met on the beach already, for I’ve much enjoyed our past conversations.

My next trip will be a family getaway this weekend along the James River near Williamsburg, so I'm looking forward to some relaxing collecting there.  I may also venture North to the York to collect some fossils there.  Hopefully next week I will have some nice pics to show everyone of my finds.

I will be down in Myrtle Beach for a softball tournament once again in early August. I was there during New Years and plan to make that trip again if financially possible. I would love to join someone in collecting some non-diving spots in SC some day if possible, but I also understand the nature of the hobby, so I won’t hold my breath, LOL.

Take care and I hope to share as much as I can with you all in the future.

Thanks Ditchweezil (and others) for starting and putting this site together as well as those that contribute to keeping it going. I apologize for lurking so much in the past but vow to contribute from now on.

My folks live down that way (Prince George County) & I'll be down there for the next week or so. We typically collect on the James, so maybe we'll see ya this weekend!