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Reflecting back on warmer Days!!
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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I found these near Charleston Harbor this past July. Would love to have some of that HOT WEATHER NOW!! Merry Christmas!! and Happy Hollidays!!... |
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Think we're going to need a bigger boat !
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Well I decided to go diving yesterday...the water is getting cold because of all the frigid temperatures we have been having lately, but I won't let that stop me. As soon as I hit the water I felt how much colder the water has gotten. I descended to the bottom in anticipation of what I could find waiting for me on the bottom. I found some smaller teeth within minutes along with a 4-3/16 inch Meg near the end of the dive...Out of air so I surfaced, floated back to the boat, and grabbed my last ta... |
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I'll take a four inch Angy...make it a double !
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Well today was one for the books...my book anyway. I started out walking around picking up smaller teeth...well I did find a nice Great White... I then continued walking around surveying the ground when I glanced up and then down again. The image diidn't register for a second..then I realized I had just seen a huge Angustiden and lifted my head to look up again to see what I had seen and that I wasn't imagining things...setting 25 feet away 90% exposed was a 4-1/8 inch Angustiden. I walked over ... |
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Labor Day Shamer
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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It's been a busy year and I just haven't had a whole lot of time to go fossil hunting, but I did manage to get out there on Labor Day to do some much deserved, and anticipated, searching around.
The day began with me waking up on a couch at the in-laws house with a killer headache and aching muscles/bones. Apparently I got a little carried away the night before and started wrestling with my father-in-law. I'd like to say I won t... |
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My Largest Angustiden Yet and a Bunch of Pieces.
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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I figured it was about time someone posted again in the Charleston County trip reports. Hours and hours of searching netted a bunch of tantalizing pieces of large teeth. The chunks that look like rocks in the picture are indeed only a small portion of some huge teeth. Then I spotted what looked like a rock which was shaped a little like a huge tooth root. I carefully began digging and ... |
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Fun times in Charleston S.C
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Was able to get out and hunt some last week I meet up with CBK and off we went to the coast the finds were great with a nice vert a few small great whites and a Alopias grandis 'common name giant thresher ' and a very nice parotodus benedeni 'common name false mako' that messured in at 2.56 inches.... |
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Late for Poker Night - 9/22/07
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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This if my first posting at BRF - pictures should improve over time. Enjoy!
I had been itching to do a little hunting for the better part of the last 4 months, but a very busy life kept delaying my search efforts.&am... |
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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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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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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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April 25 & 26
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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My girlfriend was going out of town this weekend and even though she was going to be missed, I was looking forward to spending all day Saturday and Sunday hunting for teeth. Friday night, lying in bed sleeping I dreamed of finding a monster. No joke, this really happened. Now I'm not claiming to be psychic or anything like that, it just shows how badly I wanted to find a big tooth. Saturday morning came and I was out the door thinking, man it would be nice if today were the day. After b... |
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Let the"rains" begin !
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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As far as rain goes...yesterday was the most we have had here in a while with the exception of today of course. Well I was undecided about going yesterday, but the final decision was to do a quick walk between showers at one of my trusty spots. The ditches were flowing and the layer was exposed and do I mean exposed. I spotted a 2-1/4 inch blue Angy with yellow under the bourlette sticking out of the side of rain soaked layer within 15 minutes of arrival. I didn't have my good camera because I d... |
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A quick scan of an older area...
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Another day off...another opportunity to look for teeth and feed my tooth addiction. It wasn't bad weather today so I headed out to a spot I hadn't gone to for a while. When I arrived I saw the fossil gravel mixture immediately and started to scan where the majority was located. I was finding bits and pieces of teeth, but the whole teeth didn't seem to be out in the open. I then grabbed my trusty small shovel and started to flip over small chunks of dirt. Well out of the third or fourth flip of ... |
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Back on land...
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Well since my dive equipment was in the shop getting the free flow situation fixed I decided to go out and hunt on land today by surface collecting. I went to one of my spots where you can walk around and pick up teeth...there is rarely anything huge at this spot, but there are usually plenty of smaller teeth. I arrived with the hopes of finding something good since I haven't looked at this spot for some time. I picked up several teeth as soon as I got there, but most were in bad shape. Well as ... |
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Diving is a different experience
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Well yesterday I went on a fossil diving trip. I am new to this but I'm sure all the divers that are out there know every time you go diving its a new adventure with new experiences. The water is getting colder now that its almost December, but there are teeth to be found so I was going in. Once on the bottom I began to search around in the darkness with my hands and small light. About 10 minutes later I saw the biggest crab I'd ever seen with claws half as big as my hand right in front of me so... |
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new area in north Charleston area.
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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I had to come down to pick up my nephew to come visit his grandmother here in Aiken SC for a week or so. I left Aiken early to stop at a spot that had just went under construction in North Charleston area. In the back of the construction site was a couple of huge mounds of layer as I started looking around the base of mounds I picked up several small teeth and one little Angy the littlest I have ever seen. The time was closing in and I was about to leave when I decided to climb one of the mound... |
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Back to one of my favorite spots...
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Well today I thought I would visit one on my favorite spots after the storm we had yesterday. I first arrived and started to hunt. For about 45 minutes all I was finding was pieces of teeth and the ones that were whole had major flaws to them. Well I decided I was going to dig...I then realized I had forgotten my shovel..oh well I saw that the dirt was soft because of the rain and started pulling out weeds which had gripped the dirt because they had rooted deep in the soil. I grabbed this weed ... |
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When opportunity knocks.
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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If you've read any of my posts you've probably guessed that I do work for a major museum. One of the things I do is organize fossil collecting trips out west. I have permits for 45 square miles of White River Badlands in South Dakota. Another permit covers 20 square miles of Hell Creek formation in Northern South Dakota. My teams were selected months ago and I'm schedules to leave from Charleston on 14 September. This morning I found out that ... |
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Adventures in Metal Detecting
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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A few years ago, I received a metal detector for Christmas. I took it out a couple of times but I never had any success with it so it soon found its way into the closet. Recently, I was out searching for prospective fossil hunting spots when I ran across piles of old bricks that had been broken up as the bulldozers cut a road through a new development. I found a few shark teeth just laying out, but the ponds produced no fossils. I switched gears to artifact mode as I e... |
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The Dredged Ditch
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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A few weeks ago, I spied a freshly dredged ditch in the hood. I waited until it was pouring down rain, and then tha weezling and I went for a hunt. We found some teeth, mostly worn and broken, so nothing great. He found his first arrowhead a few feet from me. What a lucky break! Other than that, we were witness to the wasteland that this creek had become because of pollution. The dredge pulled 14 bicycles, 2 Television sets, a microwave, an air conditioner, hundreds of bottles and cans, and a co... |
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Fossil posts backing up!
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Back in the days before I worked all the time, I would have put up this post soon after I came back from the hunt. Lately, though, unless the finds have been stellar, I've been putting off the ritual. The cleaning, the sorting, the photos, etc. Anyway, These teeth are from a hunt I had with da f0ssZ a couple months ago in one of my favorite ditches in Charleston County. Its tough to find a nice shark tooth there, but sometimes one comes out. I have a killer meg from a pond nearby, so I know ther... |
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Post procrastination
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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It seems as I get older, life gets busier and busier. I've only been able to go out hunting twice in the past month, and the teeth I found in this picture, I found on Thanksgiving day. I had plans of going to one place, but I didn't want to go alone so I called my tooth hunting pal Indiana to share in the feast or famine, whatever was to be. He had just found 9 new ponds, and as he regaled me with tales of hawthorne spread over acres and acres of empty lots, my thoughts quickly turned to how com... |
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At home in a pit
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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For a few weeks, my work schedule was really busy and I didn't have a chance to make a post, even though I went hunting a few times. This is one of those posts. I went out to one of my favorite spots with jedi master to pillage some prime oligocene real estate after some heavy rains. Some digging uncovered some fresh layer, and we were on it like serrations on a megalodon. It was a cold, miserable, rainy day and I was soaked within 30 minutes of arrival. My hands were shaking as I picked up teet... |
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The Fossil Frigidaire
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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On today, the coldest day yet of 2005 in coastal South Carolina, da f0ssZ and I went on a last minute fossil hunt to one of our favorite oligocene spots. Not a cloud in the sky, but the wind was gusting up to 30 miles per hour so the wind chill was in the 20s. nothing compared to the northeast right now, but still cold for here. the spot is primarily oligocene, to clarify. Its got a ton of pliocene and pleistocene stuff, too, but we go there for the rich, black chandler bridge. Its the only spot... |
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The Fossil Frigidaire
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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I called up DW for a unexpected toothin' trip and not suprisingly he was ready to collect at a moments notice. I sorted out a few things around the house to avoid fosstility, and arrived at DW's early for the trip. We decided to hit an old haunt that has produced greatly in the past. This spot has dark Chandler Bridge and has produced some amazing angustidens. As we exited DW's truck, old man winter greeted us with temps in the low 30s accompanied by 30 mph winds. Parts of the collecting area we... |
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Certain Deeds
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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tha duDe met up with me early this morning and we scooted out to one of our favorite land spots of all time. All you have to do here is keep your eyes peeled and the fossils are everywhere. The spot had changed a bunch since we last collected because the center of the pit has been almost entirely scooped away. All that remains now (as far as fossil deposits are concerned, anyway) is the gravel that is falling out of the edges around the edge of the pit. There are still a ton of fossils to be fou... |
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The Death March - part 2
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Our second spot of the day was another old ditch. It is a gravel paradise that will sometimes turn up a megalodon tooth. We walked the entire length of the ditch and each found about the same amount of stuff. Our fossil hunt ended at Taco Bell. Conversation quickly turned to the upcoming diving season. The glories we will recover. ohhhhh yah. that's the stuff.... |
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Piles of splendor!
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Its been quite a while since I've hunted Candyland, and I thought that the place was overdue for a good pillaging. It was nasty, rainy and cold - just like I like it. No sweating, no heat exhaustion, and I never ran out of water. The spot was nothing like I remembered it. No matter, because there were teeth all over the place. Every square inch of the place was absolutely covered with fossil bearing material, so I had to move slow and keep my eyes peeled. I only hunted for 4 hours, but it took m... |
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Just another day at the office
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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To break the monotony of my software architecture brain drain, I sk8ted a little early for lunch to go hunt the porno ditch. Its the sleaziest place I ever hunted teeth, but hey, who can argue with the results? Nothing is really nice, but I never expect more than a good time at the porno ditch!... |
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T$ in the zone
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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After a long week, I was ready to get out and find some teeth. T$, tha duDe, and I went out to Top Secret hoping to use the last two hours before sunset to find some nice teeth. I found nothing great, even though I dug like a madman for the entire time. tha duDe also came up empty handed, but t$ tore it up. I'm sure he'll be making a post because he found one of the best megs I've seen in a long time. Taco Bell gave tha duDe the vindication he needed, though, as he got two free tacos thanks to c... |
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T$ in the zone
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Well, today was my day for finding nice teeth and I focused mainly on the white layer and it payed off. The first meg I found was a shamer meg just a little below 6 inches, I almost cried because I destroyed something beautiful. Then I found another chunk of meg just inches from that one and then I found the killer meg of the day just inches from the last megs. Now I've found two white whole megs from this location and the one I found today I would have to say is the best in my... |
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The Marathon
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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My second stop of the day was Top Secret - always a favorite when we get a lot of rain. This spot has shrunken to the size of the pit. That's right. All the piles are gone now, and I fear that we will soon lose the pit, too. Today it was still there, though, and I made the best of it. I scoured the fresh layer and picked out everything I saw. I thought I found a good meg sticking out of the ground, but when I pulled it out I found out it was all kinds of busted up. I started walking around th... |
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Group Therapy
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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It was a good day because the fossil crew got a chance to hunt together because we aren't usually all present when we hunt anymore. The only thing I have to say about the teeth today was that it was disappointing...... |
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Group Therapy
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Everyone was in for the hunt today - da f0ssZ, t$, tha duDe, and me. DF dropped the fam off at my house to chill with my wife and kids while we hunted the last few hours of the day at Top Secret. After t$'s plunder last week we had high hopes. We quickly dove into the task, all hoping for the fluke meg to show itself early, but it didn't. t$ and tha duDe were off by themselves quietly digging in multiple spots while DF and I adopted the 'sit still' mentality. DF was the first to hit paydirt wit... |
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Group Therapy
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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I decided to carry the family to Charleston to visit friends and
hang out. Naturally, a trip to the Lowcountry would not be complete without
some fossilin'. The whole gang, T$, ThAdude, myself, and Ditchweezil decided
a run to Top Secret was in order. I dropped off FossZette, Mini-FossZ, and
Micro-FossZ and the Weezil crib to chill with the group. As it turns out,
CulVert Ferret and FossZette had over three hours of Fosstility Group
Therapy. They shared stories of late arrivals, gut-wre... |
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Did anyone say megs?
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today I decided to go to Top Secret and a few guys were doing some deer hunting and told me they would be leaving in about 30 mins. So I waited because I mean who wants to be mistaken for a deer and get shot killed either way I don’t want it to happen to me. This place had got some serious rain lately and the teeth were every where. In just a few minutes of walking I find a shamer meg pictured below from the black layer and another one that was in the imprint of a track ho machine, but I didn’t ... |
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My meg streak continues....
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today I decided to go toothin because it’s been about 3 weeks sense the last time I went. After seeing Ditchweezil’s trip on top secret I knew I had to get out there. The place was more filled in than the last time I’ve been there and the place where I found my tusk from last trip was covered; now I’ll never know if there was anything else there because I forgot to dig the area where I found the tusk. I was way too lazy to dig this time and walked the place and there it was another meg almost... |
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Bushwacking Top Secret Style
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Top Secret called, and we answered. I wanted to hit this spot because they've been pumping water through the pit and it eroded out a big new rock area. That was the first spot we hit, and within 10 minutes, I had a beat up little meg to set the tone for the day. An hour later, neither of us had found anything, so I decided to walk around the cesspool that borders the right edge of the pit. That meant beating back weeds 2 feet taller than me that were alive with bees while watching the ground for... |
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Drenching Averted!
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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I found myself with a free evening, so I loaded up the bike and headed out to Superpit. I decided to park in a different spot, though, so the bike ride in would be a little longer but a lot easier. Well, pretty much as soon as I got in the pit, a wicked thunderstorm blew in. The thunder was deafening and the lightning was flashing a little too closely for comfort. I got back on my bike and pedaled my way back to the truck. I was almost there when I started to feel mist on my face. I looked down ... |
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I’m on a meg streak
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today this afternoon I decided to go out to Top Secret mainly because the guys aren’t working today and that I will be leaving to Florida this wed. so I want to get in all the toothing time I can get and school is just around the corner unfortunately. Someone had already walked all the hot spots, but they did miss a area along the ditch that is covered with sewage everywhere. It was a terrible smell and of course it all goes away when you find a whole meg in which I did and I also found this c... |
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The POS earns its name
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Having only found broken stuff in the river, I felt like I needed to try again. Indiana, tha duDe, and I all went out to Top Secret. Even though we had just gone there the day before, I still thought I should walk a few places that we have neglected lately. Tha duDe went straight for the pit. I wasn't far behind, though, because there were reasons we have been neglecting those other spots, if you know what I'm saying ;-) We both were digging like fools, but it was just so hot, and we were alread... |
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Tha duDe's on FirE!
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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I had the day off today, and my initial plans were to get out early and hunt all day. A nightmarish traffic jam that lasted from 6:30 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon killed those plans, though. Its like Summerville was in a hellish traffic jam all day, so all the good spots were being excellently guarded by walls of motorists. I prepared for tomorrow's dive trip, though, so I didn't waste the day. In the evening, tha duDe came over and we went out to Top Secret hoping to find something w... |
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Passing the torch
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Saturday afternoon, I got a call from Indiana letting me know he couldn't go, and t$ has been
strangely absent lately as well, so it was just tha duDe and me for Top Secret. Man, it was
HOT when we got there. By the time we finished our walk down into the pit, we were drenched
with sweat. We welcomed the breeze that a distant thunderstorm brought. 20 minutes later,
though, as we were just getting into the hunt, the thunderstorm wasn't so distant anymore.
Lightning danced acro... |
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Quantity is good, too
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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We still had some daylight, though, so we decided to burn it at Top Secret. Indiana and company had already walked it, but we were there to do some digging. I thought I had a nice meg once, but it turned out to have feeding damage and a dinged up root. tha duDe also had a close call, and his also had a messed up root. We've had days like this before and we'll have them again. But as fossil dorks, we live for the thrill that the occasional big find brings.... |
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Another day at Top Secret
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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I don't know what's up, but I'm sick again. It really didn't matter, though, because I was GOING 2thin. tha duDe came over, and we stopped and picked up Indiana, and we hit top secret. It was a really hot, humid, stagnant, buggy evening. Still, we were determined to find something. tha duDe was the first to hit paydirt with his 2 3/4" mako. We split up soon after that, and I decided to peel the wall back along this ditch in the back. It took me about two hours to go the whole length, but I didn'... |
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Down to the wire
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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I was supposed to go digging in the morning with tha duDe, but my wife didn't get any sleep last night, so I stayed home to take care of the kidz. I wasn't denied for the day, though, and I got to go out in the evening for a few hours. I took a friend that just moved back in to town out to top secret with me, and we hunted the hills like madmen. It was cloudy, so we only had a little time to hunt. I went one way, and he went another, and we didn't see each other again until dark. I don't know wh... |
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Quick stop at Top Secret
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today I decided to make a quick stop to Top Secret. I didn't have time to dig so I walked and ended up finding one descent angy. I love this place.... |
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Meg-spiration
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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With all the rain this week, again our hopes were high at our new favorite spot. We arrived at 3:30 on a beautiful, sunny, breezy, SC spring day. It couldn't have been better conditions to collect. We combed the fields and rock laden hills with the scrutiny of the CSI detectives, but there was no killer tooth to be found. I did find one shamer of a 3 3/4" angustidens, but I won't show a close-up because I wouldn't want to give anyone that same sick feeling I had when I saw the mangled root. We f... |
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The Winds of Change
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Everyone was hyped because today was the first dive of the year. However, we awoke to rainy, cloudy, windy, and cold weather. That translates to miserable conditions for diving. We were all in agreement with the choice not to go, but that left us with the decision of where to go instead. Since we had so much rain last night, I made the call to Candyland and we were in. Since they are actively working that area, the hunting area is getting smaller each time we go, but still, its one of the best s... |
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The Winds of Change
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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We started out the day in dissapointment since we had planned to dive. The
sky was angry, my friends, and diving was out for the day. With a stroke of
genuis, Ditch developed a fossil collecting plan on-the-fly. We headed off
to Candyland with mixed emotions. After a few hours of collecting, Ditch and
I crossed paths and tore into some primo Chandler layer. I scored 4 nice
Angys, and DW had a sweet one. We decided that the Bell was beckoning, so we
found tHa Dude and began to drool at the ... |
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Perfect conditions, but that's about it
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Top Secret had also received plenty of rain, but we were greeted by fresh footprints on most of the good spots. Their search patterns were random, though, and they left teeth in their footprints, so we weren't really worried. We pretty much walked the whole area without much luck. tha duDe and I both found a nice mako but that's about it. Its about what I expected, though, because the luck I've had lately couldn't have continued indefinitely! Monday is the first dive trip of the year, though, an... |
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My Brother the Oracle
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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We had high hopes today out at Top Secret. After our good luck last week, why wouldn't we? Unlike last week, though, the gate was locked and we had to walk. It didn't matter, though, because we would have walked much further for the quality of teeth that this place is churning out lately. t$, tha duDe, tha boy, and I excitedly crossed the barren hills en route to the productive hunting sites. The area was just like we left it last week. No new footprints, no new dig marks, and sadly, no rain eit... |
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The Magic Chalupa
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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It just so happens that there is a Taco Bell between Superpit and Top Secret (our next destination), so we stopped for dinner. This was the second time I had Bell food today. In retrospect, I think that was the key. It was only a few miles later, and we were at Top Secret. We stopped at the end of the paving and examined the road ahead. It looked wet, but solid. The inner redneck in me said I could plow through it with my non- 4 wheel drive truck. Tha duDe warned against it, but I went ahead.... |
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A Last Minute Fossil Hunting Trip
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today was my wife's day. I had originally planned on staying home all day to watch kids, but it was such a nice day that she mentioned that I should go out after she got home. That thought stewed all day in my fossil soaked brain, and when she got home, I was READY to go! I'm still hunting spots that are productive after rain, and I've been itchin to get back out to Top Secret for weeks. We've had serious rain lately, and the spot would surely produce if no one had been there yet. I would have t... |
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Surprise Guests and a Trip to Remember
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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After our hearty meal at the ultimate restaurant, we headed off to the porno ditches. Roy took the smaller ditch, and Ed and I shared the big one. We picked up a few teeth here and there, but nothing great. We had a few moments where excitement piqued as we dug megs out of the layer, but none were whole and it quickly faded. Ed commented that he had always heard stored about people digging teeth right out of the layer when they saw the root sticking out, but had never experienced it first-hand. ... |
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Pride and Pestilence
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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With all the rain this week, today was sure to be a banner day. I woke up early and went to the big ditch to find any obvious stuff. Someone had already beat me there, though, so it was an hour wasted. The water level had overflowed the banks of the ditch and had washed many trees into the stream, as well as filling the bottom with sand. Unfortunate as it was, I found out later that loads of good teeth were found later in the day. No matter, I had other plans. thA duDe showed up at 7 and we head... |
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A quick run to the flood zone
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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After yesterday's huge rainstorm, pretty much everyplace with a fossil layer is going to be producing. I had a few minutes to kill, and since I was in the area, I stopped by the porno network. The water was still high, but I found a few teeth sticking out of the edges.... |
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Huge Potential!
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Tha duDe met me early this afternoon and for a change, we hit the Bell first. I love that place. Its fossil fuel! So we drove out to the new top secret spot as far as we could, and then we did the rest by bike. The roads were so muddy that we could barely pedal, but we were determined. We met a guy last week who said he found several megs out here, one over 6 inches. We wanted 6 inch megs, so we were willing to work, and work we did. It was about 50 degrees, rainy, windy, and basically misera... |
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Another good fossil day thanks to the rains
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Our plans for the day were originally to go to Superpit, but we decided that it was too muddy and we went to the porno complex instead. We got out of the truck and saw how high the water had gotten and we just knew we were gonna rack. That is, until we got into the ditch and saw someone else's footprints there! Our secret spot is secret no longer. It was only a matter of time until someone else found it, but somehow I hoped it would be a little longer. No matter, the person who beat us there... |
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Lunch stealth
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today's weather was awful - rainy, windy, and cold. The perfect day for toothin! Lunch rolled around, and I had my choice of places to go. With all the rain today, almost all the spots will be nice. I decided to go to a spot I haven't hunted in a while. A couple weeks ago, a couple friends went with me out there to go muddin'. I think that's a southern thing, so here's what's involved for those of you who have never had the pleasure. You find a spot that's nice and muddy. You take your 4-whee... |
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Another good lunch haul
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Man, the porno network is really producing nicely lately. We had a nice rain last Sunday, and today was the first chance I had to get out there. Almost everything is beat up, but its still fun picking up so many teeth in so little time. I didn't have time for Taco Bell because my employer likes it when I put in a whole day's work, but I trucked in the Chef Boyardee and it was all good. ... |
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A productive hour
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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The stuff I found today at lunch. Not too shabby! I may have to hunt the other porno ditch tomorrow. ... |
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A break in the drought
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Today, almost the whole gang got together for a trip to Candyland. There had been a lot of work done since we last came out, but still, 2/3 of the area was huntable. Of course, we hunted the edges first since that's where the new stuff is eroding out. Then after that, though, its off to the middle of the pond where there are deposits spread out all over the place. In most places there are islands of Wando Formation resting atop a sea of dark grey Chandler Bridge. The rain pummeled the whole a... |
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A break in the drought
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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DW kept the fossil brethern in suspense all week as to our chance of
getting in. It looked bleak, but at the last minute, he secured a trip to
Candyland. We collected on spread out material and new spoil piles.
Everyone left with a prize. My best finds include a P. Benedini and a C.
Carcharias. Another good collecting day at Candyland. ... |
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A decent hour's worth of teeth
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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We had a little rain this week, and I went to the porno ditch complex to look around and see if anything washed out. I found out they dug the ditches a little deeper, and the rainfall we had wasn't enough to raise the water level where it would erode the layer. I did find a few teeth, but it'll take more rain to create the kind of haul I KNOW this place can produce. ... |
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I want rain!!!
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Yesterday, I noticed that, in addition to the new ditch, the county had cleaned out the porno ditch, too. Today, I decided to walk it and see if there were any teeth hanging out of the edge. On the way, I stopped at Taco Bell, so even if I didn't find anything, at least I had a good lunch. For the first time, I walked to the end of the ditch so now I know where it goes. The ditch has layer all over the bottom, and with the cleaning, now has layer hanging out of the edge. I didn't find much in... |
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A nice lunch hunt
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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OK, so today I was driving around looking for new places at lunchtime and I was scoping the area around the porno ditch. From the road, I spied another ditch and I immediately pulled over, donned the boots, and jumped down into the ditch. As I walked along its banks, I became disappointed because there was no layer exposed. I almost gave up when I spotted a little outcrop of rocks starting to show from the bottom of the ditch. The layer started to rise and get thick and I started salivating. ... |
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A good way to start the year
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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On a hot tip from one of thA duDe's friends, I went to check out this creek in Charleston at lunch last week. There was gravel all over the bottom, but the water was so filthy that I couldn't see. That place will have to be sifted. On a hunch, I decided to walk the creek back into the woods. I came across a new housing development :-) They dug a pond right next to the creek and its banks were literally covered with gravel. I walked it as well as the piles and the field where much of other pil... |
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The illness and the payoff
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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This is the big Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The first day was Thanksgiving, and of course, there was to be no fossil hunting that day. The second day was for me to finish my privacy fence that I started 3 months ago. Today was set aside for hunting teeth. In a perfect world, that would have been great. But, since this is not a perfect world, I caught the Flu last Monday. Its been getting progressively worse all week, and I've plodded along like everything is normal. I did the family thing o... |
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The illness and the payoff
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Most of the teeth were found by surface collecting. Quite a few broken halves and drooling over the other great finds of the day. Ditch scored the King of Candyland Angys, and I began to collect with new vigor. I thought I was being punished for the 5 minute fossil collecting delay. Early in the day I toppled a large coffee and was subsequently verbally berated by my fossil collecting brethren for loss of collecting time. In my fossil fury, I spotted a corner of root and a cusplet. After us... |
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A new, unbelievably rich spot
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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thA duDe and I had some difficulty deciding where to go today. You see, for the first time in our toothin history, we had more than one new spot to check out. One I found out about, and one thA duDe found. We decided on duDe's place because he said it had Chandler Bridge, and the presence of that layer is a huge bonus because of the pristine angustidens teeth that can be found. We arrived, and even though the weather called for rain, it hadn't started yet. We excitedly made our way down into ... |
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A new spot
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Going on the high from last week's finds, we headed back to the Blackberry ditch first thing today. Not to beat the crowds that would undoubtedly be there (crowds of mosquitoes!), but because I had other stuff to do this afternoon. We dug and dug, but didn't really find anything worthwhile. I found an ok little meg, but it was really worn. The picture shows you the summation of my finds for two and a half hours of digging. It was hot and bug infested, so we decided that we wanted to hit Taco Be... |
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A day of almosts
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Let me just start out by stating that I am not complaining. That said, I set out early afternoon on my own for the first time in a while. Not that I don't like hunting with other people - don't get me wrong. My first stop was the big ditch. I've known for a while that some work they did a while back exposed some layer, but I really don't like digging there. The teeth are few and far between, and usually very worn. I was right - there was some nice layer, but nothing very nice in it. I did meet s... |
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Just what HAVE I been up to lately??
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Its been a while since I've made a post, so, even though I didn't really do that well today, I'm making a post. thA duDe and I went to this new spot that I call the Blackberry ditch. We only dug for 2 hours, though, because we spent most of the day looking for new spots to hunt. We knew that we couldn't go home empty handed, though, so we came here to try our luck. I've known about this spot for a while, but because of the great hunting we've been accustomed to, we haven't been back since we fir... |
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I'm living on bread and water
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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I have known about the place we went today for a while. In fact, I drive by it every time I go to church. I can even see down into the ditch, and that's why I haven't checked it out before now. You just can't see anything from the road apparently. T money and I went down there for a few hours and did ok. He found a few angys and I found the little meg you see in the picture. But from the half there, its easy to assume that there were large teeth in the area. I should have stopped earlier!... |
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The proverbial dangling carrot keeps me going
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Its nearing the end of the year at work, now, so I had to take some time off or lose it. Listen to me! Talking like taking a day off is a chore. It was great! Any day toothin is better than it would have been at work. I went all over the place today. I hit the creek near my house for grins, and while it still appears that there is little to no natural erosion going on, the dirt they packed in on the edges seems to have contained teeth. The nice orange angy must have come from there, as the teeth... |
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Midnight run to nowhere
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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Yesterday, I went digging with my friend, and when we got back to his house, he showed me some stuff he found at the new spot. Total droolers! 5 13/16" orange perfect meg. Need I say more? Well, there was a nice rain this evening, and I went out there. Since it was dark, I was hunting by flashlight. (yes, I am a hardcore addict!) While visions of megs were dancing in my head, I found these. The best one is the hemi. My trip was cut short, though, because security came out there with big spotligh... |
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Killer Spear Head
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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A couple weeks back a friend of mine told me about a new ditch they were digging, so I decided to go looking for it. Well, I never did find that one, but I did come across another in North Charleston that had been there for a while that I had never seen before. I didn't really find anything the first time, but it had potential because the fossil layer was right at the water level - i.e. naturally eroding. We had a serious drenching on the 3rd so I thought this would be a good place to go back. N... |
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Best day so far this year
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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We had some serious rain on Thursday, and it was not so good for the cesspool, which the first place I went. It is now almost entirely under water. Only a few spots remained accessable. Once it is completely under, that spot is done for good. Too bad. It really produces. You can see the 3 15/16" Angustidens I found today in the picture. It is so beautifully colored, and basically complete. For this spot, it is in amazing condition. Most everything is worn or broken there. Until now, this is the... |
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Heartbreaker at the cesspool
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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I went back to the cesspool today and I had my best day there so far. Based on what I found, I know there is some really nice stuff to be found there - I just have to keep digging to find it. From left to right, I found: a sperm whale tooth, half a giant sloth tooth, a 3" Mako, a 5" meg, and a 2" Angustidens. That mako is coincidentally the largest Mako I have ever found. Too bad I wrecked it with the shovel. The thing was perfect until I came along. That's the risk you take, though, when you di... |
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Pretty teeth from a new pond
Charleston County, South Carolina, USA |
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I've had a bit of a dry streak lately that finally ended today. I found a new pond that was dug right down to the fossil layer. This is what I came back with after about 4 hours of digging. Nice colors on some of these! It was kind of wierd though - there were no large megs to be found. There were the normal signs that one looks for when searching for megs - whale bones, big rocks, etc. No megs. Oh well, I'm not compaining. The toothing deities are fickle enough as it is! It isn't very often tha... |
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