We're going on a fossil hunt...dang...there's shooting going on here!

My friend MM wanted to go on a fossil hunt. So we met her in town and she followed us to the park. It was odd to walk without the puppies, but a cold mist had started. We figure cold wet dogs might interfere with our hunt. We also were also concerned about hunters as it is dove season again (we have a split season) and we had noticed more than a few echoing shots in our afternoon/evening walks.

We showed MM a few of the sights of the wildlife area and made it to the creek in short order. The light rain here must have been a little heavier in the watershed as the creek was up an inch or two leaving few clear and dry spots to hunt fossils. [Even as we walked the creek we could hear shots in the distance.]

We did find plenty of "devil's toenails" and then the cockle/scallop ridged types started to show up. MM did not go home empty handed and actually retrieved one really nice specimen.

We then took her over to the other side of the park and down towards the creek. We noticed TDW's car when we parked, but we didn't see him or the pack. There was another car we did not know and another car parked as we did.

It was getting crowded on that other side, but it never hurts to have some options for a nice walk on a winter's day.*

Here are a few things we saw:

We scoured the creek bed for fossils and found a few. I noticed the large rock in the center of the photo.  It looked like one of those "conglomerates" of fossils so I picked it up and turned it over. I quickly set it down again as there was a friend on the bottom.

Here he is close-up. I think it is a, well, I don't know. I thought it would be easy to identify, but had no luck. This guy looks like a couple of different varieties.

And as I leaned closer to take the photo of the spider I spied this fossil just below the edge of the large rock.

It was the nicest and most complete one we found. Thanks Mr. Spider.

We always notice varieties of scat on the walks. It is a wildlife area after all. Some of the scat is pink and so we know those creatures (hoggs?) are eating the fruit of the prickly pear. Here was our proof - there's still fruit to be had.

Just at the gate are these bright blue Texas Mountain Cedar berries. Beautiful.

There are still plenty of wildflower seeds to be gathered, if one is so inclined.

Still not happy with this view of a fence post, but I will keep trying.

On the other side the berry vines are taking over abandoned  chunks of concrete.

This might be a good place for berry picking.

*A hunter and son (we could tell by the pump shotgun they carried) arrived as we did. We called TDW to let him know since his dogs were likely loose in the area and we didn't want them to be surprised. We generally avoid these parks when other cars are there. We know we share them with the hunters. But discretion is our middle name.