Fossil Hunters- A Clash Of Personalities And Abilities

[Haizahnjager]

Walker, sometimes Sifter here. I would like to offer up a quasi-fossiling category - the "Shadower."

This individual stalks other collectors at a location to see who is doing what and what is being found through which technique. Whether with the intent to determine the most productive method or the intent to avoid physical effort, the Shadower has agreed to put all of his/her eggs in one basket; and will typically leave the site rather dissappointed.

But fret not, the Shadower is content with making the "find of the day" every 10th trip, if for no other reason than to bask in the fleeting glory that is the gloat of minimal effort producing the maximum find.

If you are "the Shadower," know that your method is surely the least admired by all other fossilers, but it is understood that your true intention of presence is comradery, which in this day and age, is admirable in and of itself.

That being said, take notice Shadowers, fossils found in other's footsteps and one shovel-full beyond the last guy's digging efforts, while exciting for you, are painful for the rest of us.

(By the way, great topic threadstarter!)

-HZJ

[Scylla]

Mostly a walker here. Even in quarries I walk and surface collect. I have been all of the above for short periods, am often a shadower my first time or two at a site, until I figure out what works. How about the talker? This is the guy who can talk about fossils all day long, but long ago has collected every species in the area by the hundreds so no longer actually bends over to pic up anything. Great for getting advice from and can entertain the kids for hours, and as a bonus, never competes for fossils. Downside is he can prevent you from actually hunting.

[ashcraft]

Fossil hunters have been classified using binomial nomenclature based on collection habits, I personally am from the genus Lardassius maximus, characterized by minimal walking, minimal equipment carrying, and insertion of daily finds into unsuspecting backpacks for removal from the field. I tend to work well with another type Noobius worshipius, at least for while, as this type tends to morph into Carryus urselfius as they mature.

fkaa

[xonenine]

strong meander seems to be what I do looking for "float", according to the ichnofossil patterns

[Ray Eklund]

I must add one aspect of a fossil collector's personality that the majority never give much credit.

Those who become bored from one aspect of fossils and push the envelope into other aspects of fossils and collecting. These individuals are very unusual in several ways. They rarely travel in groups larger than two individuals... each having the same "symptoms"... restlessness. When exploring the "unknown" they are usually very private and information on "where are you finding all of these?" is also held closely. You cannot blame them. Wouldn't the other 98 out of a 100 want to be led to the location as well!

I have been very fortunate to have been associated with several of these individuals. I cannot even give them a name to fit with this discussion. Many collectors find these people... stingy with information. Not available to cooperate and sharing. Avoiding crowd participation. Just, plain different from "regular folk". They are at ease in the most desolate areas, confident in their quests and always have specimens many would be envious just to have watched it being extracted from the outcrop.

These few, I will call them Explorers of the SIXTH Kind... have a 6th Sense and can imagine finding small changes within an outcrop/exposure... where to hunt in earnest for the fossils hunted. It is not a learned ability. It is a natural ability. You may know of one or more of these people. You might have gone "fossicking" with one who possess this ability, which to many is remarkable... but to them... common sense. It can be turned from one hunt to another totally different hunt. If anyone could explain it... the technique could be named and described in detail within a book. It cannot.

This ability also applies to those who hunt Indian Artifacts or Scuba along river and creek bottoms. These are the individuals who present the fabulous finds that make many envious. Think it is easy? Try it.

Many times there is physical risk involved. Nothing worth finding is where it can be easily discovered! If it were easily discovered, it would have been found. Seek the difficulty of location. The steepness of exposure. Glean information from the books and short papers that interest you. Try to examine the thoughts of the writer, the finder, the seeker. Some might be able to adapt, most will not. The convenience of location and company is over powering. There IS a cost for convenience and safety of numbers.

This 6th Sense is a Passion of the Hunt. Most do not have the passion that can endure the times of nothing to claim as a find. But each lack of discovery does add more information into the hunt. Special conditions explain special finds. These are the exceptions to most rules of finding. Test yourself some day and study a geological map. Read some true exploration books written in the 19th century for fossil hunters of the US West. Many of these individuals had this special Sixth Sense. Maybe, you have not exercised your Sixth Sense to where you become confident enough to be on your own. This sense you might have avoided to explore and is hibernating. You will understand what I am saying, or trying to say as I try to develop an explanation, when you go against the grain of current thought. This is how important discoveries are made.

Develop these unused skills for your entertainment and benefit. It might seem imperfect at the moment, but nature preserved fossils in conditions that were so variable, that thinking outside of the current thought is a benefit. Not a disadvantage.

Find the strength to discover... not just benefit from those who discovered before you.

(Updated to recognize that Smell is the 5th Sense to an honorable SIXTH SENSE!)

Common Sense.

Edited February 23, 2014 by Ray Eklund

[Uncle Siphuncle]

the cool thing is that approach can be customized to individual tastes, and there is no right or wrong, so long as you are legal, having fun, not upsetting landowners or hosts, and not injuring yourself.

another aspect of highly motivated collecting in a responsible fashion is to provide maximum productivity at tolerable effort level for family, then go out and really push the envelope when not collecting with them.

fossil hunting is like fishing. you don't even have to know what you are doing to enjoy yourself. but watch to see who consistently catches the most and biggest fish. chances are, that guy shares many attributes with the guy ray just described.

Edited February 23, 2014 by danwoehr

[Ray Eklund]

I had to add several quotations by Thomas A. Edison that could be very roughly applied to fossil and any other kind of hunting endeavor...

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like hard work."

"If we did all of the things we were capable of, we would literally astound ourselves."

I have to agree with danwoehr and his sentence. "There is no right or wrong, so long as you are legal, having fun, not upsetting landowners or hosts, and not injuring yourself."

The majority of these individuals, should I say, personality types that are successful, are so because they can be trusted and are reliable to do as they say. They may not be the best conversationalist in a group and that is expected, unless it of an interest that you and they have in common. You have heard of the "man of few words" unless the commonality of subject is approached.

A successful collector creates a lasting bond with the landowner.

A successful collector is responsible for himself and their own safety, no matter the risk of injury.

A successful collector does what he has a passion and the rewards are incidental.

A successful collector strives to have the best...not the most.

A successful collector need not even keep his finds as his own, as the satisfaction is in the finding and preparation.

A successful collector.... "you fill in the blank".

[Scylla]

A fifth sense? Sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch. Yup, I must have this fifth sense too since I have five.

[Auspex]

Add the senses of Humor, Irony, and Deja Vu to the list.

[Ray Eklund]

You are right... most collectors today use their sense of smell to determine if it is a fossil raccoon... or not.

So, I had better make a SIXTH SENSE and avoid Irony and Humor to the mix. I will have to give it a name, of course... Common Sense. The rarest of human senses.

[FossilDAWG]

You are right... most collectors today use their sense of smell to determine if it is a fossil raccoon... or not.

Well, that's probably better than licking it (with apologies to Skippy).

I'm not sure if this is what you mean by "common sense", but the most successful collectors, I think, learn to "read the rocks" just like a book. At a glance, they can pick out the right texture, the right color, all the subtle features that indicate exactly the right depositional environment for the fossils they are interested in. It's all learned, knowledge gained by experience and observation, and perhaps not even a conscious process; given a vast tableau of outcrop, they instinctively focus on the right layer. Peter Ward, in his book Gorgon (about collecting in the Karroo Desert in South Africa) talks about his associate Roger in these terms; after Peter and the rest of the crew examined an outcrop and pronounced it barren, Roger could give it the once over, climb up to a specific spot on the cliff, and pick out a perfect skull everybody else had missed. Of course, such knowledge is gained only through long experience in the field.

Don

[Uncle Siphuncle]

on site detective work is a big part of the fun, imo. i enjoy seeing how fast i can ascertain not just formation, but strat position within the formation, based on lithology, fauna, etc. not always possible at my current acumen level, but there is always something to be learned, even from an absence of fossils, in some cases.

i've learned that even after tromping all over a given area for years, within minutes, comparison of satellite imagery and geo maps can reveal areas of potential that i've not yet explored. also, revisiting areas dismissed years ago, with a little more experience now, has paid dividends with humbling frequency...humbling to realize what i missed, that is.

there is more to geo maps than meets the eye...inliers, outliers, downcutting, dip, faulting. i enjoy taking all of the above into account during my ongoing quest for virgin sites.

i especially get a kick out of "dividing the undivided". this is where knowledge of surface expression of adjacent formations comes into play. recessive formations conform and express as a thin ribbon snuggled up close to the outcrop shape of a more resistant formation, and they are often mapped together at normal mapped scales. this past weekend, this general technique-chasing a formation not shown or mentioned on the geo map-revealed several small ammonite and echinoid bearing exposures.

good fun! i only wish someone had told me this 10 years ago. then again, working through the hurdles on my own has been rather satisfying.

[Auspex]

I got pretty good at spotting micro outcrops of the particular Devonian 'blocky mudstone' in N.W. VA that yielded copious Phacops rana (then so known) trilobites and masses of Mucrospirifer mucronatus brachiopods. I couldn't describe to anyone else what to look for, I just knew it when I saw it.

[Ray Eklund]

Fossil Hunting Byproducts.... Abilities that are added to your Personality.

Metal Detecting: You can pick up any and all surface finds and dig up anything metallic while walking from point A to B.

Parking Lot Loose Change: Fossil hunters are always in the "looking for something mode". Gas money...

Never LOSE anything in the Home: Nope. That is not a byproduct of fossil hunting. Just tossed that one into the mix.

Exercise: Plenty if you find anything or not. Fresh air, good friends and that sack lunch tastes better over time.

Improves your Latin: Fossils have Latin names. Your new born son is named Flexicalymene meeki... or nickname Bug.

Finding your Car in a Parking Lot: Your sense of direction is improved... well for some... not all... but improved.

Making OLD Friends: Fossils are much older and are very mature for their age. You can learn from them.

Making NEW Friends: Members of the Forum are eager to help and appreciate what is really, a plain old rock.

[Missourian]

Fossil Hunting Byproducts.... Abilities that are added to your Personality.

Parking Lot Loose Change: Fossil hunters are always in the "looking for something mode". Gas money...

Especially when there are 1) meters in the lot, and 2) snow cover is present and has melted down a bit. People fumble for change to put into the meters, and a quarter or nickel will be dropped here and there. The snow dampens any sound when the coin hits the ground (snow). As the snow melts, coins that have accumulated will (sort of) become visible. I figured this out while passing the time between classes at college. When I'm bored, fossil-collecting instincts will kick in at some point. One time, I made $8.00 or so, which paid for my parking for several days.

[Ray Eklund]

Missourian. We need you out west... to pick up the coins littering the mountains!

The Colorado Ski Resort parking lots are rich hunting grounds after the snow pack in the lot melt down to just muck and grit. Plenty of quarter dollars! They need to be washed up and cleaned... but the car wash take them all!

Of course the draw backs to the Ski Resorts. It cuts into ski time and it is four hours round trip without traffic.

We both have to agree that the Parking Lots are much better. At Lowes and Home Depot you can find nice new bolts and drill hardware in packaging pushed into the corners of the parking lot. Much like hunting Badlands Fossils... and 100% legal. Found a nice gold ring in Missouri while walking along a sidewalk and spotted something in the gutter that was out of place. Some car had driven over it, but for the price... who is complaining.

[Scylla]

Since I was a child my rockhounding skills have paid cash dividends in terms of loose change on the ground, dollar bills, even the occasional $20. Not to mention the lost earrings, bracelets, necklaces, etc. The other thing you learn is that just like when you find one fossil, others are near, so when you find a $1 on the ground, look upwind and downwind for the rest of them. I have found a 1905 nickel (in a overturned tree's root ball in San Francisco) , several mercury dimes, international coins from at least 6 different countries, and a 1753 half penny (on a Long Island, NY beach). The most was just over $200 in a pile, on a busy sidewalk. Funny thing is, I always would rather be finding fossils. Go Figure.

[fernandog]

Great topic! I read it with much interest; found it funny informative and entertaining lol. I see that I can be a combination of walker and photographer. Recently bought a nikon d3100 and hopefully will take more "site" shots.

Thanks for the topic.

-fernando

[Wrangellian]

Great topic! I read it with much interest; found it funny informative and entertaining lol. I see that I can be a combination of walker and photographer. Recently bought a nikon d3100 and hopefully will take more "site" shots.

Thanks for the topic.

-fernando

I try to be more of a photographer too but I find that collecting takes all my time and effort and by the time I'm done it's dark out and I have to go, so few pics end up getting taken!

[NZ_Fossil_Collecta]

shopper here, although if i had more ready access to good fossil sites then i would probably become a sitter.

[Ray Eklund]

We welcome all Sitters from New Zealand!

Eventually with Continental Drift... your fossils are slowly on their way to you. Good luck and be patient.

[fossilized6s]

Im a whatever the conditions call for hunter. Sitter, walker, swimmer, sifter, prep...er, etc. So maybe a Darwin....er would best to describe my techniques. Lol

Having a good trained eye and always looking down has yielded me money, skulls (i also collect), minerals, fossils, backaches and puzzled looks from strangers.

Edited March 3, 2014 by fossilized6s

[Ray Eklund]

fossilized6s's list of using a trained eye for "other finds", I have to add on a new addition to our hunting rocks and fossils.

Antler Sheds.

In New Mexico when we usually make our Spring opening season trip, we are in the 7500 foot elevation where Elk and some Deer are heavy in the area. One year we were minding our business looking for Agate... and kept running into Elk and Deer antlers, which of course, we picked up and fitted them into the back of the pickup (with a shell). A major feat, considering some 5 and 6 point Elk antler shed are BIG. I was figuring on making something out of them if an idea came up...

When leaving New Mexico's high country you would see a pickup with a large sign buying Elk and Deer antlers during the big rush into the high country by the locals. Now, when hunting for rocks or fossils, we add antler sheds. You never have enough junk to store, anyways.

I add the photo of that year's finds.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Ray Eklund

[fossilized6s]

Yup, forgot about those too! And agates! My first deer antler i ever found was a 20" double point deformed whitetail.

[cowsharks]

Through necessity I've become a hard-core sifter and digger. Back in 1996 when I first started collecting the shorelines of the Chesapeake Bay I was a walker/crawler. Within a couple of years however, due to diminishing supply of fossils, I resorted to sifting beach gravels and piles of fossiliferous dirt. It is not uncommon for me to fill a couple 5-gallon buckets and then carry them over uneven terrain to the water's edge for sifting. It is not uncommon for me to sift for 6, 8 or more hours on a given outing. I take Ibuprofen before I even arrive at the beach, and usually take a couple more as I'm leaving. When and where legal I also employ my digging abilities that might entail removing overburden for 2 to 3 hours before the fossil bearing layer is exposed. Once exposed, picks and shovels are used to get at the fossil material, fill numerous 5-gallon buckets, and then carry over to the water source for sifting. My digging and sifting goes on year round, even when the water has frozen. Last month I cut through 5-inches of ice to clear a 10ft x 10ft area for sifting beach gravels. I fossil collect almost entirely by myself since not too many folks are willing to get up at the crack of dawn, regardless of temperature, and hunt for so many hours without breaks, food, etc. Lightning is my only nemesis. Amazingly, when I am doing something I enjoy so much, I tend to ignore how cold the icey water is on my bare hands, or how much my back aches, etc. Being a sifter I have learned so much about how the tide moves fossils around in the surf, how it deposits them and sorts them. I know where to look and how to look, which saves me time and usually gets me on the fossils a bit quicker. Although I have amassed a large collection, I still appreciate even the smallest and common shark teeth, and I never go home empty handed. Never.

Daryl.