I went back to Post Oak Creek yesterday, and hunted yet another part of the creek I hadn’t seen before. The water is still really low, so there is less wading than usual although, with the temperature in the low ’80’s that afternoon, wading wouldn’t have been a problem. I torqued my bad left knee first thing as I climbed down into the creek, and was hobbled the rest of the day. I found everything on the gravel bars yesterday, though I did look at some interesting outcrops too. Post Oak Creek is as fossiliferous as any place I’ve ever seen.

I called it after around three and a half hours of hunting. I always manage to get dirty and muddy, crawling the gravel bars and climbing in and out of the creek, and I must have really looked like a homeless person, as I hobbled back toward where I parked, backpack on and walking stick in hand, because a woman in a white SUV stopped, got out of the vehicle, and asked me if I needed a coat. I said no, and she asked me if I was sure. I assured her I didn’t need a coat. She looked unconvinced, and did not move her vehicle until after she watched me cross the road and climb into my brand new truck.

Some in situ photos. Click the photos to be able to zoom in and get a closer look.

Here is what I brought home. There were 99 teeth, counting the bison tooth. Guess I should have hunted long enough to find one more.

The largest shark tooth of the day. A beauty. It’s a shame that half the root is missing.

There are always modern mammal teeth to be found on these gravel bars. I found a bison tooth yesterday. But this one is different. Besides being much smaller than a bison or cow tooth, it appears to be at least partly fossilized. I have no idea what it is. I’ve asked in The Fossil Forum.

This tooth is still embedded in a piece of matrix.

The only Ptychodus tooth of the day. Either the parts of the creek I have hunted don’t have a lot of Ptychodus teeth, or they have already been hunted by someone with a better eye for Ptychodus teeth than me.

This looks to be some kind of tooth, including part of the root. But it doesn’t have the shiny enamel of a shark tooth, so I’m not sure what it is.

I thought these four were the prettiest of the smaller teeth.

I’m surprised that I was able to find some of these really tiny teeth on those rough and tumble POC gravel bars. I must be getting better at spotting them. And how did the point of teeth as tiny and sharp as these two keep from getting broken on those gravel bars?

I thought this one was interesting. Lots of root, with a tiny, curving tooth.

This broken small round tooth looked like a mosasaur tooth to me. It was identified as a sawfish rostral tooth on The Fossil Forum.

The size of the bison tooth reminds just how big those creatures are.

This bone looked interesting enough that I picked it up, but I have no idea what it is.