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December 3, 2008

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Here are two links to posts dealing with how to post pictures on Black River Fossils forums.

1. How to Post Pictures on Black River Fossils Forums by ditchweezil

2. How to Post Pictures on Black River Fossils Forums by Daryl

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Shark Teeth

Why all the sec...

Why all the secrecy?

5/2/2005 1:34:53 PM

legacyForum

725 posts

Why all the secrecy?

I am just curious. Why is most everyone so secret about collecting places? It's not just with fossil hunters, but with other collectors too. I would venture to guess that most shark teeth etc found are either on private or govenrment property and not ours. The common sense answer is that we don't want others to find ( maybe the big one ) in "our private area".

Personally I enjoy seeing the good finds that are posted here by others.

5/4/2005 11:41:09 PM

scubapaul

70 posts

RE: Why all the secrecy?

I could tell you why, but its' a secret ;-) Seriously though. Nobody wants to give up their honey pots to strangers because it takes a lot of effort and time to find them in the first place. Being a *very* remote hunter, I only get to hunt a few times a year and rely on the kindness of others to let me in on places to hunt as I cannot search for them myself. I too love to see the other stuff people find (and secretly wish it was all mine!) Being so remote, that is what gets me through the winters and other times when I cannot make it down for extended periods of time. Since the only spots I get that are good are from friends, I cannot give them out to other people as that would be a violation of trust from my buddies. If the fossil collecting areas were plentiful and everybody could find a ton of good stuff, people would be a lot more likely to share but it seems like the areas are harder to find and even harder to get in to so that is not the case.

5/5/2005 12:50:59 PM

ditchweezil

342 posts

RE: Why all the secrecy?

amen.
just look at other sports like fishing. ask an avid fisherman to tell you where his best spot is and gauge his response. them's fightin words!
don't even bother asking a hunter because he'll be carrying a gun. refer to previous southern platitude.

8/25/2005 1:19:32 PM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Why all the secrecy?

Is it for business or pleasure? Are these areas kept secret because you guys want to sell good finds or just don't want others to get that 6" meg that has to be there?

8/31/2005 3:06:28 PM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Why all the secrecy?

Why all the secrecy?? Well I will keep this one short and give just two examples. First example is a beach I used to hunt pretty heavily. Not even five years ago you could go down there on a Saturday in the middle of the summer and you would be lucky to see another collector. Not saying people did not hunt the beach but there were only about three other people that I would consistently run into at various times. As the years progressed and the word got out more and more people starting coming to the beach. Now on any given weekday in the middle of the winter you will be very lucky if you see less than five people hunting the beach. And in the summer forget about it you won’t even find a place to park. I once counted twenty people collecting a beach that is probably only a quarter of a mile. Not only are there tons of people there but there are a lot of ignorant people there as well. There are people who will actually climb up the cliffs and start digging in one of the fossil rich areas. They have trenches running along the cliff face about 30-40 feet up that they actually sit in while they dig dropping all sorts of sand and clay on people below. I used to hunt this beach at least three times a week and now I maybe only go there three times a year. And it probably wont be long before this beach gets added to the list of dozens of other beaches that have been closed due to ignorant collectors. Another example is a story told to me by another collector. I was out collecting one day and stopped to chat with a fellow collector. He was telling me about a nice land site that he had been surface collecting for about the last ten years. He then went on to mention that he had told a few other people about the site so that they could also enjoy it. Well not even a month after revealing the location he stopped by it to find that all the accessible fossil layer had been dug out. A site he had collected for year destroyed in a month’s time. These are just a few of the reasons why people don’t give out theirs fossil sites.

8/31/2005 10:44:00 PM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Why all the secrecy?

Hi Mel. I'm probably one of the "regulars" that you have run into down at "the beach" over the years, and I too have seen some of the stupid stuff you describe. As for the "secrecy" issue though folks, be serious, to most fossil collectors, collecting/hunting fossils is almost like panning for gold. Do you really think that if you found a new vein of gold somewhere that you would post it somewhere for other's to "share"? No way! I have however shared one or two of my "secret" spots with my closest friends who took an oath not to share with anyone else. This way, I don't always have to collect by myself. I always joke with my one friend that if we're out collecting together and he's the one that finds that big/rare tooth, don't be surprised if the last thing he remembers as he wakes up in the local emergency room is a faint memory of "thinking" he found a nice tooth! That's when I explain to the doctor that the impression on the back of my buddy's head isn't from my shovel, but from an odd shaped rock that must have fell and hit him, and any memories of thinking he found a nice tooth were just the result of the head trauma he had suffered. Of course, then I reveal to my buddy the really awesome tooth I found sometime later on afterwards. Just kidding of course...

-Daryl.

9/1/2005 12:58:19 PM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Why all the secrecy?

Hey Daryl, you indeed are one of the regulars that I was referring to. The others being Jim and of coarse Bob, both of which I probably haven’t seen in over three years. Guess the mass numbers of people have kept them away. It’s kind of funny how you talk about hitting your buddy with the shovel when he finds that awesome tooth. My self and my brother are constantly joking about the same thing. Guess it must be something us guys that hunt under the cliffs joke about. I just haven’t figured out how to get the good stuff from fellow collectors at land sites. I’ve been thinking about a sleeping dart. Then when they wake up all groggy I could say man that snake that bit you was huge your lucky I was here to suck the poison out.

9/2/2005 8:17:43 PM

legacyForum

725 posts

RE: Why all the secrecy?

I imagine you guys are from the Maryland area. I grew up in that area and hunted Plum Point and Westmorland. I never had any super secret places to hunt up there many years ago.

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