dinorocks

Out squirrel hunting with “Old Brian” this morning...he was generous enough to let me try his smooth bore. Black powder, tow wadding, and swan shot...doesn’t get much better than that!

Very sorry to read about your loss... keep strong!!

After many hours of constructing and testing different prototypes, my brother and I just finished making a couple sets of curling stones for our ice rink last night. They weigh in at an official weight of 44 pounds each. Now all we need is some cold weather to harden up the ice so we can lay out the lines and pebble the ice surface. We tested several different methods of making lines (and circles) on the ice and found that routering about ½ inch deep into the ice and using brightly colored crate paper covered with water works the best. In previous years, we put LED lights under the ice to mark our hockey lines. A couple weeks back we put up a 30 ft pole with 300 Watt LED lights…very bright! Our rink is about 40 ft by 100 ft. Our plan is to start a couples curling league with some of our friends. Below are a few pics.

#greg54 - Your fossil appears to be a type of rugose coral or bryozoa…both fairly common fossils in western NY, but very cool, none the less. And when they are naturally rounded by the wave action of the lake, they are especially neat! I’ll confirm the exact name of your fossil later after I look it up in one of my books. #ncountry - The rock you saw in Lechworth is a septarian limestone concretion…probably the most common rock ID question I get. Immediately across the street from the ZCA West Pierrepont entrance is (was) the Finlay Farm, which is a famous local for hematite crystals (called the Pierrepont iron rose locality) #grampy - There is very minor gold found in NY but it can be found…most of which is in the form of placer deposits. This gold consists of very small flakes or “flour” found in creeks and rivers…typically in bedrock fractures and plunge pools as gold is very dense and settles into these low areas (and the finer, less dense sediments wash away from the current). The placer gold was most likely deposited from the glaciers 10’s of thousands of years ago (i.e., rock transported to our area via glaciers from the Canadian Shield…those glaciers were a mile thick so they easily eroded into the bedrock). Due to the very small size of this type of gold in NY, it can be panned but special panning techniques need to be used. There are also reports of lode deposits of gold found in NY; this is gold found in rock veins like quartz (“bull quartz”)…or if the gold weathers out of the rock, it can be found in nugget form. Areas in NY where lode gold could be found would be along the eastern side of the state, north of NYC, along Mass, and VT (in the igneous and metamorphic rocks…not the sedimentary rocks in western and central NY). However, it is very interesting to note that any gold (or silver or other precious minerals) found in NY, on public or private property, is the property of New York State. You can prospect for it but cannot legally keep it. This is a law that dates back to 1776 and is probably the reason you don’t hear much about gold prospecting in NY…the prospectors want to keep it hush-hush. Note mica flakes are commonly mistaken for gold when panning.

No, not just for kids at all...let me know when you plan a trip to the quarry and you can join me as a guest under my membership (if schedules align).

Great display and good for you for getting those kids interested in STEM! Was just sent the link from my presentation...had over 50 people listen in which was awesome! https://m.facebook.com/penndixie/videos/835531413689108/?m_entstream_source=video_home&player_format=permalink&anchor_composer=false&ref=m_notif&notif_t=comment_mention

I have given many geology talks regarding the landscape we hunt to various sportsmen’s clubs. That would be of more interest to this group. Basically I explain the local geology (depending on where in NY I’m lecturing) and how, in some places, the glaciers sculpted what we now see. Many times I will bring a group on a hike along a creek (where the water removes what the glaciers left behind and exposes bedrock)...as I’m typing this, I remember giving a geology talk to a bunch of paddlers on Hemlock Lake (that’s where Genesee Brewery got/gets it water for their beer)...that talk was through Eastern Mountain Sports. So much to see/learn outdoors when you take the time to appreciate it and take it all in!!

It is tomorrow...I was told it would be available afterwards if you want to check it out.

Greg, as you probably know, Bancroft is the mineral capital of Canada. I collected incredible fluorescent minerals in Long Lake (Canada)...an old zinc mine...look it up! Blackbeltbill...it’s hard to get a good look at your rock...if it is covered in fossils, it would be a coquinite (made up of many shell fragments)... if you can get a better photo of the fossils in the rock I can ID them for you. ...and Cynthiafu, ask away!

...by the way, my avatar (which I should probably change to something hunting related) is a photo of a "first find"...I was lucky enough to be the first person to find this particular mineral combination at a particular location (phosphorescence/fluorescent willemite (green) and fluorescent calcite (red) in a marble matrix) from West Pierrepont, NY). I named it "Amzinite" after my wife (Amy M. Zack)...not an official name but just what us rock nerds do. Parts of this rock are on display in museums across the world!

Figured I would throw this out there...tomorrow I will be giving a Zoom presentation on Fluorescent Minerals of Northern New York on behalf of the Penn Dixie fossil park. This presentation was originally scheduled for March of last year but got cancelled due to Covid. This particular presentation is very cool live (in person) but I think I can still do it justice via virtual. If interested, see link below (it will also be broadcasted on Facebook (no pre-registration required)); https://penndixie.org/2021/01/04/science-talks/ https://www.facebook.com/events/418164136050482/ Thanks for looking! Dino

These are from Fred Bear... 1. Don't step on anything you can step over. 2. Don't look for deer; look for movement (and remember, it's what they're looking for, too). 3. Always approach downwind. In the cool of the day, move uphill; in the heat of the day, move downhill. 4. The best camouflage pattern is called, "Sit down and be quiet!" Your grandpa hunted deer in a red plaid coat. Think about that for a second. 5. Take only the gear to the field that allows you to hunt longer, harder, and smarter. 6. A rainstorm isn't a reason to quit the hunt. It's a reason to stay. 7. Camouflage your appearance, your sound and your scent. 8. Be sure of your shot. Nothing is more expensive than regret. 9. Hunt where the deer actually are, not where you'd imagine them to be. 10. Next year's hunt begins the minute this season's hunt ends.

Happy Birthday!

I was very happy with the quality ...lots of fish caught!!

I have purchased a couple fly boxes from him over the years...although I tie my own, I couldn’t beat the price or the cause (and at the time, I didn’t have the time to tie what I needed). I picked up an assortment box for a trip to the Snake River in Idaho a couple years ago and the last box I bought contained an assortment for the west branch of the Delaware (I listed the type, color, and size).