[meteorite-list] Buzzard Hunt

[Matthias Bärmann]

Thanks for the great reports, Mike and tett, congratulations to you and all
the other folks successfully recovering the precious heavenly stones.
Met-made karma-chains, why not ... ;-)

Matthias

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Bandli" <fuzzfoot at comcast.net>
To: "tett" <tett at rogers.com>
Cc: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 5:14 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Buzzard Hunt



>A big congrats to Tett on his first ever find! We were all honored to be a

>part of it and his reaction was both priceless and infectious. You couldn't

>have asked for a better stone, really. Beautiful piece ad the Buzzard

>definitely got him buzzed to find many more.

>

> Congrats to Patrick Herrmann for finding some exceptional stones as well.

> That day our little gridding group was like a meteorite conveyor belt

> cranking one out every 5 minutes or so. It is sad to see the machinery

> getting prepped to mutilate the field, but it is planting time and

> farmer's have to farm.

>

> Rob and I noted a few strange firsts (for us) during this trip. They are:

>

> Finding meteorite within 2 minutes of arrival at strewnfield.

> Finding meteorite while tying shoe-lace.

> Finding meteorite under water.

> Finding meteorite embedded in cow dung.

> Park car, open door to find meteorite.

> Park car, get out, find one meteorite at the back of car and one at the

> front.

>

> We noticed four (very) elderly folks walking the roads dragging magnet

> canes across the gravel and stopped to talk. It became quickly obvious

> that they had no idea what they were looking for when they asked if the

> gravel dust on the bottom of their magnets was the meteorite. We didn't

> have any stones with us at the moment so Rob and I decided to hop into the

> field and see if we could find a stone to show them what they look like.

> We looked at our watch to time how quickly we could find a meteorite and

> within about 4 steps and under 30 seconds we found a stone. We quickly ran

> back to the elderly group and presented them with their first rock from

> space. The reactions were unforgettable. 4 more meteorite hunters born in

> their 70's and warm, fuzzy feelings for everyone. We dubbed this the

> 'Karma Stone' as it led to a chain of events taking us to a very fruitful

> area that we wouldn't have hunted had that not happened.

>

> Some notes on this magnificent fall:

>

> Many of the stones are exceptionally fresh. Some with no visible

> oxidation. The snow has had little effect on the material and this is, in

> part, due to the constant very dry air moving across them. Even the stone

> found under water looked good. Meteorites found on top of vegetation

> looked like they fell that same day. Meteorite in contact with the soil,

> especially with broken surfaces, showed the most oxidation. The stone I

> found in the dung was broken in half with the exposed interior facing up,

> but had no visible oxidation. Apparently, cow poo has some anti-oxidizing

> properties :) Lots of flow lines on pieces, which is not so typical for

> H-type crust.

>

> Another magical life experience on the books.

>

> Mike Bandli

>

> ----- Original Message ----- 

> From: "tett" <tett at rogers.com>

> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com

> Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 4:21:20 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific

> Subject: [meteorite-list] Buzzard

>

> Hello List,

>

> I have just returned from Buzzard Coulee after 4 exhausting days of

> travel and meteorite hunting. It was wonderful to experience the

> Prairies and to hunt with other meteorite enthusiasts. Hunted with

> friends from the Royal Ontario Museum, Patrick Herrmann, Rob Wessel and

> Mike Bandli.

>

> All of us were successful. Mike and Rob took me under there wings the

> first day out and shortly after starting with them I found a 90 gram

> individual with over 90% crust. I was on cloud 9! This stone turned

> out to be the largest our small group was going to find. After giving

> half of my haul back to the land owner, as payment for rights to hunt, I

> came home with just under 1/4 kilo (12 individuals). Will post some

> pictures soon.

>

> The plows are now working and it looks like the farmer's fields will be

> tilled any day now. However, there is much woodland to be searched and

> I am sure many fine specimens are waiting to be found. The woodlands

> will be extremely tough to search and it will take much more work to

> find anything compared to our field hunting. They may even prove

> impossible to search.

>

> Having walked over 50 km in 2 full days and 2 half days I now have a

> greater appreciation for how difficult it is to hunt for these

> treasures. Buzzard Coulee was easy compared to many and it still took

> about 3 km of walking (on average) before finding a stone. I don't

> think I would have been able to stand West where many hunters were lucky

> to find one stone in a day.

>

> Cheers!

>

> Mike (tett) Tettenborn

> Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada

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