Since about 2004 a group of us have been exploring our environment looking for interesting rocks and fossils. Our generation of hounds took over from a former group of folks in the Grande Ronde Valley that hunted in the 50's and 60's and 70's. One example of this was a couple of old farmers we knew that had a habit of driving their Dodge Power Wagon to the desert and loading it up with tons of rocks from SE Oregon. One of the farmers that passed away some years back left his son the farm and the rocks. The son sold the place and the thousands of pounds of rocks that were planted all over the property. The way they collected rocks back then was betrayed by the empty boxes of dynamite we found in the shed!
Our generation wishes we had the same opportunity to dig with a stick of dynamite! Instead, we are relegated to shovel and pick! See our group of Hounds at the link.