DMC Field Trip
GMS is the founding member of the
DMC field trip program of the SFMS

DMC Field Trip
Rome Georgia Gem and Mineral Society
Saturday, December 5, 2015

Bill Waggener and I attended the December DMC field trip hosted by the Rome Georgia Gem and Mineral Society to collect plant fossils for Bill to use during classroom visits. We were a little late and by the time we arrived, cars were parked in a different location than we expected. As we prepared our gear for collecting, another rockhound told us what transpired earlier. He said they were told the area where they were originally collecting is a hunting lease, so they had to move to another part of the property.

Based on other reports, we were able to piece together the following story:

Field trip participants began collecting beautiful Pennsylvanian fossils including Lepidodendron, Calamites, and various leaf fossils. Everyone was happy until some hunters who were not happy appeared. At first, everyone was worried about Rome field trip chair Jeff Deere. They feared the hunters wouldn't know he spells his name with an extra "e". Fortunately, the hunters weren't actually hunting.

One hunter, identifying himself only as "Elmer", claimed there were some "wabbits" there. He insisted that those "wascally wockhounds" leave. Before they could get their tools and fossils packed, the rockhounds saw another hunter. They described him as a small man sporting a bright orange handlebar mustache. He was wearing an over-sized cowboy hat and he was firing a pistol in each hand into the air. Some people heard him growling something about Yosemite National Park. Jose Santamaria quickly called the State Patrol, the National Guard, the FBI, the CIA, and Pizza Hut. (Seems he forgot to pack a lunch and, well, why not order a pizza...)

The details get a little murky at this point. Accounts vary from a polite exit to some wrestling to fleeing under a hailstorm of bullets. Whatever the case, the rockhounds were able to retrieve their buckets and retreat to another collecting area where several nice fossils were found.

Later, we heard additional reports of snakes, alligators, dragons, and possibly a tornado. We were unable to confirm any of these, although I did see a garden snake used for prying out rocks that someone probably lost during the previous incident.

Thank you to the Rome Georgia Mineral Society for organizing another fantastic DMC field trip!

Lori Carter
On behalf of Charles Carter, GMS Field Trip Chair
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