A prehistoric discovery in northwest Missouri is drawing attention because it may be one of the rarest finds in the Midwest, and FOX4 News Kansas City reporter Dillon Seckington captured the moment with the kind of excitement that makes you wish you were standing there in the dirt too.
In Seckington’s report, local paleontologist Jason Howery described spotting the bone almost immediately after arriving at the site.
“When I first got there, it was the very first thing that I saw,” Howery said in the FOX4 segment, adding that he looked down and reacted with a stunned, “No way.”
That reaction feels honest in the best possible way.
People use “historic discovery” all the time in headlines, but in this case, Seckington’s reporting makes it feel earned because the object in question is not just an old bone — it is the femur of a Columbian mammoth, a giant animal that roamed the region during the Ice Age.
The story, as told by FOX4 anchor Kirsten Stokes and Seckington, also gives this find a larger frame: this was not simply a lucky weekend treasure hunt.
It was the result of more than two decades of searching by someone who has spent years looking for Ice Age remains in northwest Missouri.
That kind of patience is part of what makes the discovery fascinating.
A lot of people imagine paleontology as museum halls and university labs, but Seckington’s report shows the quieter reality too – long stretches of searching, a trained eye, and a strange mix of science, fieldwork, and instinct.
Jason Howery’s Long Search Finally Delivers a Major Mammoth Find
In the FOX4 report, Seckington said Jason Howery has spent over twenty years searching for Ice Age remains in northwest Missouri.
That detail alone adds weight to the find, because it tells you this was not beginner’s luck.
According to Seckington, Howery’s previous finds have included giant deer, an Ice Age horse, and ancient bison. Those would already be remarkable discoveries for most people.
Now, Howery has added a Columbian mammoth femur to that list.
In the video, the excitement is easy to hear when footage shows the bone and someone reacts, “Oh, look at this. Size of that thing. Oh my goodness.”
That kind of raw reaction helps convey the scale better than measurements sometimes do.
The user’s title notes an estimated weight of around 80 pounds, and even without a formal weigh-in in the FOX4 transcript, Seckington’s report makes clear this was a large, substantial bone – not a fragment, not a small tooth, but a major piece of a giant prehistoric animal.
And that matters because bigger, more identifiable pieces often give researchers more to work with later.
It also matters for the public.
A mammoth femur is the kind of object that instantly connects people to deep time in a way that abstract dates and textbook terms often do not. You can see it and immediately understand: something enormous once lived here.
That is part of the magic in Seckington’s reporting. He does not overcomplicate the science, but he gives enough context for viewers to understand why this is a serious find.
Why This Missouri Site Is So Unusual
Seckington’s report goes beyond the bone itself and explains why the location may be just as important as the discovery.
He said that more than 10,000 years ago, glaciers covered northern Missouri and Kansas, creating ideal conditions for humans to hunt these now-extinct animals.
That point turns the story from “cool fossil find” into something much bigger.
According to Seckington, Nodaway County is home to a rare prehistoric butcher site, a place where evidence of human processing of animals still exists.
That is a huge detail, and it is also the kind of thing that can get lost if a report only focuses on the size of the bone.
Howery, speaking to FOX4, emphasized just how rare these places are.
“There have been somewhere around 50 confirmed butcher sites in North America,” he said, calling it “rare” and then doubling down with “extremely rare.”
That quote is one of the most important in the whole report. It suggests this is not just a random bone in a field, but a find in a location that may connect to a much smaller and more significant category of prehistoric sites tied to human activity.
That is what makes this story especially interesting in a Midwest context.
A lot of people do not think of Missouri first when they picture mammoths, Ice Age hunting, or major prehistoric field discoveries. Seckington’s piece quietly challenges that assumption and reminds viewers that the region still holds major pieces of ancient history.
It is also a good reminder that some of the most important discoveries are not made in famous dig sites everyone already knows about.
Sometimes they come from local experts who keep going back, year after year, to places most people would drive past without a second glance.
The Feel of Ice Age Bone and the Instinct of Experience
One of the strongest moments in Dillon Seckington’s report is when Jason Howery explains how he knew, almost instantly, what he was touching.
Howery told FOX4 there is a specific texture to Ice Age bone that does not feel like anything else.
He described it as having a distinctive feel, and in Seckington’s report he said that as soon as his hands touched it, he recognized it right away.
That may sound small, but it actually says a lot about field experience.
To an outsider, dirt, rock, and old bone can all look similar in rough conditions. To someone who has spent years doing this, the senses become part of the science.
That is one reason this story works so well as a local news feature.
Seckington is not just reporting on a fossil. He is showing viewers what expertise looks like in real life – not always a lab coat and a microscope, but touch, memory, and pattern recognition built over years.
Howery also told FOX4 that this discovery may be his most important yet.
Given his earlier finds, that is saying something.
It also hints at what may come next, because important finds tend to raise new questions. Was this bone isolated? Are there more remains nearby? Can the site tell us more about the mammoth itself, or even about the people who may have hunted it?
The report does not overpromise answers, and that is a strength. It leaves room for the science to catch up with the excitement.
More Than a Fossil Hunt: Outreach, Kids, and Curiosity
Seckington also spent time on a part of the story that deserves attention: what Howery does with these discoveries after he finds them.
According to the FOX4 report, Howery shares his discoveries through community programs and school outreach, with a goal of sparking curiosity in younger people.
Howery put it plainly in the segment when he said he wants to inspire kids to put their phones down and get out into nature and explore, because so much history is still out there “right below their feet.”
That line is memorable because it is true in two ways.
It is literally true in this case, where ancient remains were buried in the ground, and it is also true as a broader point about curiosity. Many kids (and adults) are surrounded by history, science, and nature all the time, but never really taught to look for it.
This is where the story becomes more than a neat local discovery piece.
It becomes a story about how one person can connect science, place, and public imagination without waiting for a big institution to do it first.
There is something refreshing about that.
At a time when a lot of people feel disconnected from both nature and local history, Howery’s approach – as described by Seckington – feels practical and hopeful. He is not just collecting artifacts. He is trying to pass on a way of seeing.
And honestly, that may end up mattering almost as much as the bone itself.
What Happens Next: Testing, Funding, and the Search for Answers
Seckington reported that Howery is a self-funded paleontologist, and that detail helps explain the next challenge.
Finding a major bone is one thing. Properly studying it is another.
According to FOX4, Howery is now raising money to continue his work, including scientific testing on the mammoth femur. He told Seckington he wants to have the bone CT scanned and radiocarbon dated.
Those steps could help determine the bone’s age more precisely and clarify its scientific and financial value.
That is an important distinction too, because value in stories like this can mean different things.
There is the scientific value – what the find can teach us about mammoths, the site, and the region’s Ice Age past. Then there is the practical reality that testing costs money, preservation takes resources, and independent researchers often need support to move a discovery beyond the “look what I found” stage.
Seckington’s report captures that balance well.
The story keeps the wonder, but it does not skip the hard part: science takes time, tools, and funding.
Howery also ended the segment on a note that probably explains why he has kept doing this for more than twenty years.
In the FOX4 report, he said there are “so many possibilities,” and while you do not always find things, you “find peace.”
That may be the most powerful quote in the whole piece. It captures something bigger than paleontology – the idea that searching itself can be meaningful, even before the breakthrough happens.
And in this case, the breakthrough did happen.
A giant mammoth femur surfaced in northwest Missouri, in a region already tied to rare prehistoric activity, and thanks to Seckington’s reporting, viewers got to see not just the find, but the person, patience, and curiosity behind it.
A former park ranger and wildlife conservationist, Lisa’s passion for survival started with her deep connection to nature. Raised on a small farm in northern Wisconsin, she learned how to grow her own food, raise livestock, and live off the land. Lisa is our dedicated Second Amendment news writer and also focuses on homesteading, natural remedies, and survival strategies. Lisa aims to help others live more sustainably and prepare for the unexpected.
