[meteorite-list] Hunters?

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:25:39 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C86901B4E9C8_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Hi Mike,

> I have to disagree Robert, I have been hunting in Burkina Faso, Lesotho,
> Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Canada, Portugal and many other places, and I
> have found many.

I probably should have been more clear in my definition, or at
least made a distinction between "cued" hunting and blind hunting.
There is a subtle difference between hunting the strewnfields of
new falls -- Thuathe (Lesotho), Bilanga (Burkino Faso), Ourique
(Portugal), and most recently Park Forest, and older strewnfields
(Holbrook, Correo, Imilac, Allende, Gold Basin, etc.), versus
striking out into open desert (or wherever) and making a new
discovery.

I think of strewnfield-hunting as retrieval, in the sense that
no strewnfield is ever completely hunted out, and consequently
the hunter has a psychological advantage knowing that he or
she is not wasting their time in a possibly fruitless area.
Sooner or later, finds will be made. This is especially true
of a new fall.

That is not to say that hunting strewnfields, new or old, is
an easy task. Aside from the expense and travel to far-flung
corners of the world, you can't just show up and expect to
find meteorites with no difficulty. It is a skill that is
acquired, as I'm sure you will attest from your own experiences
around the world.

But making new finds (or being the first to discover a meteorite
from a new fall -- e.g. Neuschwanstein) requires another notch
of commitment and a completely new set of skills. You don't
know what your quarry looks like, and you don't know where,
when or even if you will find it. About all you DO know is
*how* you'll go about it.

I see in the latest Meteoritical Bulletin that a new meteorite
find is credited to you: Pitino (H5) from Argentina. So if I'm
reading the Table 1 correctly, then you *are* a meteorite hunter
in the purest sense of the term, and I stand corrected.

Congrats!
Rob
Received on Tue 13 May 2003 12:47:04 AM PDT