Prime_Focus
Full Member
My Very First Iowa Shark's Tooth!
When I left this morning, I told Kathy that I wasn't coming home without a shark's tooth. I was going for broke with a place already in mind and a long drive ahead of me. After studying Google Earth last night, I even had it down to the gravel bar I was going to walk to. This river has a lot of straight sections without any gravel bars but some pretty large bars on the sharp curves. It was a mile walk to get to the one I wanted to hunt and a mile back uphill to get back to the truck.
When I walked out on to the gravel bar, I was a little disappointed to see that it was mostly sand but it did have several large areas of gravel on it so I started looking. I was bent over at the waist for about ten minutes when I decided to sit down give my back a break. While I was sitting there, I looked to my left and there was a shark's tooth. I don't think I would have seen it if I hadn't been sitting down. So the rest of the gravel bar was searched on my hands and knees. I didn't find any more teeth but picked up several nice polishing stones, some petrified wood, coral fossils, crinoid stems, and shell fossils. I even found an old quarter that is in such bad shape, I can't read the date. I also picked up a couple of really nice pieces of agate.
I put the shark's tooth in a Ryker's case with the smallest point I've ever found.
I think that the next time I go out there, I'll figure on taking a canoe since gravel bars are few and far between. I'm also going to have a pair of knee pads. Those things are so tiny that searching on my feet is not an option. Now for a buffalo skull and a trilobite and I can die happy.
When I left this morning, I told Kathy that I wasn't coming home without a shark's tooth. I was going for broke with a place already in mind and a long drive ahead of me. After studying Google Earth last night, I even had it down to the gravel bar I was going to walk to. This river has a lot of straight sections without any gravel bars but some pretty large bars on the sharp curves. It was a mile walk to get to the one I wanted to hunt and a mile back uphill to get back to the truck.
When I walked out on to the gravel bar, I was a little disappointed to see that it was mostly sand but it did have several large areas of gravel on it so I started looking. I was bent over at the waist for about ten minutes when I decided to sit down give my back a break. While I was sitting there, I looked to my left and there was a shark's tooth. I don't think I would have seen it if I hadn't been sitting down. So the rest of the gravel bar was searched on my hands and knees. I didn't find any more teeth but picked up several nice polishing stones, some petrified wood, coral fossils, crinoid stems, and shell fossils. I even found an old quarter that is in such bad shape, I can't read the date. I also picked up a couple of really nice pieces of agate.
I put the shark's tooth in a Ryker's case with the smallest point I've ever found.
I think that the next time I go out there, I'll figure on taking a canoe since gravel bars are few and far between. I'm also going to have a pair of knee pads. Those things are so tiny that searching on my feet is not an option. Now for a buffalo skull and a trilobite and I can die happy.
