Photos from a recent trip to Western KS

[Captain of the Titanic]

I recently went to Western Kansas on yet another fossil hunting trip. We did very well, including a pair of 6 foot pectoral fins from a Cretaceous swordfish. The fish would have been 18 feet in life. I'd love to catch one like that today!!

Here's a picture of the Beast getting ready to back it up the mesa to remove a fossil from the base of the mesa.

[Captain of the Titanic]

Here it is backed up to the mesa

[Captain of the Titanic]

Here I am with my Buddy's son. He killed us by finding a ton of fossils.

[Captain of the Titanic]

Time to get the hell out of Dodge... Or Gove County at least

[blockrockin]

nice pics.. looks like alote of fun !

[Desert Dan]

Let's see some pictures of the fossils

[ChiHummer3]

Great pics!

[Captain of the Titanic]

Fossil Pics Coming... Gotta get them off the Home PC....

[Agriv8r]

cool..

[Captain of the Titanic]

Here are the fins. Note that they are nearly 6 feet each. This is before we plastered them for removal.

[Captain of the Titanic]

Here they are plastered with the two shmucks that spent the day playing in the dirt. The guy on the left is the "real" paleontologist of the group. He is currently finishing his Master's thesis on a bizarre shark from the late cretaceous.

[Captain of the Titanic]

Here's a picture of what they will look like when prepped

(From www.oceansofkansas.com)

[Mr. I - Man]

Awesome pics.

[jmsspratlin]

Very interesting work man...thanks for the pics.

[Captain of the Titanic]

Originally Posted by jmsspratlin

Very interesting work man...thanks for the pics.

I wish it was my work... I stay locked like a prisoner in a corporate penitentary. Monday through Friday I am a Large Systems IT Consultant. On the weekends I do the fossil thing. I am a little more rabid than the average hobbiest, and hunt about 40 days a year, luckily I live in Dallas which is virtually covered in fossils.

I have donated specimens to the Sternberg Museum in Hays, KS; the Sam Noble museum at OU, and SMU here in Dallas. So far I have 3 new species named after me, which are part of a collection of material I donated to the Sam Noble museum. I will soon have a wierd fish skull on display at the Sternberg museum. It's a swordfish, but the bill protrudes from the LOWER jaw. Very rare and very strange.

I don't try to make money off the fossils. I would hate for it to become work, although I do take a pretty hefty tax deduction off the stuff I donate to museums and to the kids programs at the museums.

Who knows, maybe it makes up for being a Worthless Piece of Crap Hummer Driver!!!

[jmsspratlin]

Originally Posted by Captain of the Titanic

Who knows, maybe it makes up for being a Worthless Piece of Crap Hummer Driver!!!

Naw...its people like you who do it for no other than pure enjoyment that set a great example for others to follow. Thanks to your contributions, others have seen parts of history that they otherwise would have missed out on. Thanks....

[Desert Dan]

Thanks for the great pictures!

Have you found any Trilobites out there?
They may be too old (Cambrian) to be found in KS

[timgco]

I want a T Rex tooth!

I'll trade you for a set of U STeps and a spare tire/ rim. Deal?

Nice pics btw!

[KenP]

COTT,
That's awesome! How do you find those out in the middle of nowhere?

It looks very interesting.

[frenzy1]

Wow ! That's a cool hobby bro !!! Thanks for the pics, they're awesome !! Keep up the good work !! And, whenever you feel like comin' to Belgium to hunt fossils, just let me know !!

Frenzy
Belgium