Meteorite hunting

[arrow719]

Have any of y'all ever tried meteorite hunting? It's seems like something that would be a nice change of pace when the arrowheads aren't biting. I have ordered some rare earth magnets to drag around the desert. Maybe a valuable meteorite will jump onto the magnet which will lead to a unknown strewn field with 1000's of very expensive meteorites which would enable me to retire.

[Gibby]

I was watching Meteorite Men over the weekend. I would like to try it as well. They get a pretty penny out of some of those. Good luck to you.

[jeremywilliams]

Watch out! I heard that meth heads are out there looking for them, once they heard there made of metal it was all over. I am just kidding of course but many people think that is what us rock hunters are doing it for. I would like to give it a try also I wounder what the laws are here in Oregon for that?

[Cannonman17]

Just had a brain hiccup. What if you bought a decent sized magnet, tied it to a sturdy piece of nylon rope and every time you go look for arrowheads let it drag on the ground behind you. I bet eventually you would get some sticky rocks and eventually some of dem sticky rocks would turn out to be from out of this world.... nuts? Maybe. Would really make observers scratch their heads I bet.. "Honey, look at that man out in the field! What on earth is he doing?" "I don't know hon, just keep walking, pretend like you don't see him."

[arrow719]

Originally Posted by Cannonman17

Just had a brain hiccup. What if you bought a decent sized magnet, tied it to a sturdy piece of nylon rope and every time you go look for arrowheads let it drag on the ground behind you. I bet eventually you would get some sticky rocks and eventually some of dem sticky rocks would turn out to be from out of this world.... nuts? Maybe. Would really make observers scratch their heads I bet.. "Honey, look at that man out in the field! What on earth is he doing?" "I don't know hon, just keep walking, pretend like you don't see him."

That's exactly what my plan is. Also, by doing some Googlin' I found a couple known places I could try out if I wanted to. I bet I've walked right by meteorites before but just didn't recognize them.

[DesertWalker]

Hey Floyd. I have a couple of those magnets, one I installed in the end of my walking stick. I found out last year there are a lot of magnetic rocks that are not necessarily from outer space...I keep hoping though.

[arrow719]

Originally Posted by DesertWalker

Hey Floyd. I have a couple of those magnets, one I installed in the end of my walking stick. I found out last year there are a lot of magnetic rocks that are not necessarily from outer space...I keep hoping though.

I've been getting on youtube trying to learn how to identify them. What you were finding was probably hematite or magnetite. Three things to look for besides if it's magnetic are stress cracks, a black crust caused from the rock melting as it was burning up and nickle flakes on the interior. Dry lake beds are a good place to look for them too.

[JDSouth]

Originally Posted by Gibby

I was watching Meteorite Men over the weekend. I would like to try it as well. They get a pretty penny out of some of those. Good luck to you.

I watch that show all of the time. I always wonder how many artifacts they find. I can only assume all of the miles they put in they have to be stumbling across some nice points. They never televise them finding anything but have been wondering if they collect.

I have been curious about this as well but it seems they are always out west in the dried up lake beds so not sure how to aproach it down this way. Interesting topic.

[DesertWalker]

The meteorite chasers find them all over the place, They use doppler radar to trace the the falls.

[bulletproof002000]

I have hunted meteorits in the past, and was some what successful at it. The magnet idea works somewhat, but not great. Being so heavy you need a really strong magnet. I designed a big loop metal detector, and walked lots of miles in hte desert. I was in it for the cash, since they paid a military man so little at the time. I would guess that I made a little over $5000 selling meteorites. The good ones contain platinum, or if you are real lucky you could find luner meteorites which is sold by the carat!