I’ve been itching to get out hunting, but it’s been over 100 degrees every day, and everything is really dried out. I noticed though that, unlike my part of Texas, Grayson County actually got some rain the last couple of weeks. I wasn’t sure if it was enough to expose much new stuff, but I decided to take a day and go look in one of my favorite spots there. I got up very early yesterday and was in the creek by 7:30 am. I started hiking out of the creek before 11:30. It was getting pretty hot by then, plus I’d had my quota of crawling on my knees for the day. I got the impression that the rain didn’t get over the gravel bars enough to expose much new stuff, but I still managed to find some good teeth. You don’t find big teeth when the gravel bars are this picked over, but if you’re looking close enough to see them, there are still some beautiful smaller teeth to be found, and so it was on this day.

Some in situ photos. The tooth in that last photo is half under a rock, but if you look closely, it’s there. Click the photos to zoom in for a closer look.

Here is what I brought home. Sure enough, only one large tooth, but some very nice smaller ones. There was only one very small Ptychodus tooth today.

Here is that big tooth, my favorite find of the day. It’s the tooth in that first in situ photo. It was so weathered I almost didn’t spot it, and even after washing, was still pretty faded. A soak in some paraloid solution has brought back quite a bit of the color though. I’m thinking I’m going to put this one in one of my coin display holders.

This looks like a small mosasaur tooth.

Here are individual photos of some of the other teeth from the trip.

And, as so often happens on these Grayson County trips, I found a piece I can’t identify. Here are photos of both sides of it, plus a side view of it in my hand. The Fossil Forum experts think it’s a small piece of a fish fin or tail.