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Hello These are the adventures of myself and my dog Millie as we hunt for fossils and history along the Peace River. Our mode of travel is our 12’ Indian River Canoe, Balance. Im a 4th generation Polk county native, and Millie comes from a long line of Colorado ranch dogs. We do everything together. Including work, as I am a farrier for my day job, and the farm owners are more excited to see Millie than me! The goal of this journal is to document the learning along with the adventures. To go below our sieves, and learn why the river is presenting as it is. Other members have already posted pictures and info on every fossil I’m likely to find, but the river can still teach me/us why the hole I’m digging is delivering specific materials. Understanding what happened before what happened, happened. That’s what I want to know! Millie and I have been gifted this river and the ability to run it at a moments notice. That’s not the case for everyone. Even with access I still only get out for a morning or so a week. So this journal will also provide an avenue for those who can’t just jump in the boat with us. Jump in through this forum and help out along the way when you can/want. The more we learn the better the treasure!! Jp & Mille LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN! Season opener - Oct 2023 water depth day of - 8’ and falling. Like most things I’m impatient about, starting Fossil hunting this year was rushed. Millie and I ran head on into a river that’s a solid 3’ too high for me to handle any real working conditions. There’s places to work. We just haven’t found many at these depths! Yet!! After work arrived and we got started towards the river. Late arrival and definitely some dark water running ahead but at this water height you just gotta keep the boat in the middle. Got in late but just in time for a welcome back from the Peace! We woke up ready! Well, I did. Camp and my “Field Office” ready. Now to get wet! Because of the water depth I tied leashes to all the heavy tools and tied some extra pool noodle to them. That way I could drop them and just pull up the leader. Brought the “Velvet Touch” probe. No stopping us now! “What” I was after wasn’t an option this trip. I had only two available spots in mind that would be under 4’ deep. Both those spots are in a very recent deposit that I’ve been getting lots of Pleistocene and some Pliocene mammal material from. I ended up finding the time frame expected, and possibly an extinct sand shark nursery area. The river had sifted one spot completely away during the last flood so I was left with only one place to put in effort! At 4’ it was at my cap for height. I’m 5’6’’ and I could only dig 2 feet down before I ran out of shovel. So I had to figure something out. First I tried to fill the sieve on the River bottom and lift it up. FAIL! never got it to stay put long enough to do anything productive before I’d loose it and it would pop up down stream pulling on the leash. Next I tried to lift the gravel to the sifter on the surface. There was so much water the shovel load was gone before I broke the surface! FAIL! At a max depth of 2 feet down I wasn’t going to be learning much about the geography or layers I needed to work through. So I shifted gears and decided to focus on just the top 2’ as effectively as I could. The third try ended up succeeding. I would loosen the riverbed into a loose filled hole that had collapsed on itself and then use my scoop on a pole thing to transfer the loose material up to the surface. Not the best method but I’m grateful to have been able to stand there all day. I’d work forward 3’ and over 1’ then back again. All at 2’ or less deep or I’d go under. I suppose if I feel like moving a bunch of river bed again we could come back here and go deeper! One of my questions about this area is what is it old enough to find within it? Another trip! Here’s the gratuitous highlights shot! Not a bad day! The alligator tooth got a yell but the sand tigers and mammal teeth got me really excited. Millie and I were exhausted and COLD! I learned a few things this weekend to put in the journal. Before that. Let’s eat! Steak for me and steak for Millie. Yumm. Lessons: 1. I need appropriate clothes. Like wet suit stuff. Can’t be under water like that all day again. I got chilly and had to warm up several times. 85deg out too! What I wear is fine for knee deep wading but definitely time to upgrade the wardrobe. (I did try my new dive boots and that was the only part of me that wasn’t cold) 2. Regular shovel handles are way too short. Amend as needed to your stature. I need a 12’ handle to dig a hole in this water. So I’m out! 3. Jack, (Shellseeker) is insane!! This was my first time hunting this deep and it’s right in his sweet spot. You’re an animal! He tried to assist my tool tuning but until you run out of shovel that’s a new feeling to adjust to. 4. At two feet deep this area is where I will come for younger land aged fauna and I can expect the standard peace river sharks teeth assemblage with a higher than usual volume of sand sharks teeth. This was a great day hunting and I learned a lot. Maybe not about what my intended question was or the areas I’ve been thinking of but a ton about gear and technique! KEEP THE FAITH AND TRY TO DO GOOD!! Jp & Millie Here are the finds from this trip and some info used to figure out the unknowns. sand shark and some Hemi Serra Peace River mix fun and unique things - The mammal molar ended up being a Giant Tapir. By shape and size 3rd or 4th premolar. No root. Should have given it away. Mixed bag bottom to top of left- Gator tooth gator tooth Crappy Barbra’s incisor Canine- size 22mm broken suggest coyote or smaller domestic dog. 25mm would be the target. Tiny molar - it’s broken but by the face and measurements it’s most likely a rodent. Camel type tooth frag. Upper right - various tiger shark species to identify with Florida fossil hunters PDF middle - two deer horn buttons. One I already had but these were found 5 feet apart. Same deer?!? Bottom right- Eocene snail and crab shell fragments. Those are 37.5 Mya.?? Snail identification was general to the Ocala formation results of similar snail species.

This piece of bone was found in a pile of fill dirt at a construction site near the Peace River in Florida. Can anyone identify the mammal and what part of the body this bone is from. Thanks.

Im feeling quite industrious..have some 1" PVC , noodles and hardware cloth laying around..do i want to go big "24? or do the normal size, like this one "16..feedback appreciated.

I found this close to the St.Johns river bank in central Florida, mastodon thigh bone?

@Kane I would like to give a General response to help those who wish to try hunting the Peace River for the 1st time. I promise I will not identify any specific location for hunting. I will not continue on this thread until you OK it. Jack

Had a great day on this beautiful 4/20..not so much on the shark teeth..but some interesting finds none the less. Glyptodont osteoderm? Tapir tooth enamel Some mammalian vert, shark Vert and fish vert. Whats florida without some gator teeth. Typical Peace river criers The best find of the day, Capybara tooth.

Found in the peace. Im not sure. Part of gator tail?

This one has me stumped. It’s a friend’s find from Wauchula area of the river. ID, please and thanks! (I only have these three pics and no measurements - it was very small)

Hello, I dug this up in Englewood Beach Florida this past week. I’m thinking molar from 3 Toed Horse but would love an experts opinion.

Hi, i am new to fossil hunting, but totally addicted, and i was wondering if anyone can help me identify some fossils I found last night while I was shark tooth hunting in Brevard County, FL in the Indian River.

Had a short dig with the friends today on the peace. Found some cool stuff. Kinda looks like a Glyptodont osteoderm, but not sure.. thoughts?

Can anyone tell me what this is please

I found this on a northeastern Florida beach. Does anyone know if it’s a fossil and what kind it could be? Thank you so much!

Found this today with in my fossil shells dirt. It looks like a shell, rock, bone all in one.

This little shell is the size of a pencil eraser. It came out of a larger fossil shell I found. Best photos I could get so far.

Is this a Horn Shark heterodontus anterior tooth? The tooth has the main cusp and two lateral cusplets with circular base. Small in size – 2mm across. Found in the Upper Eocene – Ocala Limestone Formation – location in Sumter County, Florida. Thank you.

These pieces were found at an Estate Sale in Florida, Treasure Coast area. The woman said she collected these over the years. I have no idea what they could be. Any help would be appreciated. thanks!!

Found this perfectly whole shell in dried mud fossil pile. Someone told me it's not a fossil? I believe it is but couldn't ID it. Help?

Me and my good friends take a weekly sojourn on the peace, away from crowds. Last weekend I made the mistake of letting my buddy dig my hole with me, first shovel full, sitting right on top was a big fat chub tooth. Never the less, it was paid forward to me. 1) Posterior Meg's 2) Typical Peace river Fragladons 3) Lone Sand Tiger 4) Pathological Bull 5) Random Reptilian vertebrae 6) Chunky lemons and Bulls 7) Honker of a horse tooth 8) Fat tigers 9) Upper and lower Snaggletooth

So to piggy back on my ID post, I did a door knock and got permission to dig in a creek on an expansive cattle farm, this was a trip just to scope out the lay of the creek using my 👀 and it totally didn't disappoint. Deer Pedicle Tooth/Frag of unknown origin Fish Vert perhaps? Creek worn Horse tooth Holmesina scutes? Broken posterior meg Honker of a puffer plate

Hi all, here is an elephant tusk section from Polk County, Florida. What type of elephant can it be? IMG_9710.mov

Went to scope out a private creek that i permission to dig, just looking for eye finds.. Safe to say this is petrified wood..or something else?

Hi there! I am not sure, but my research so far has led me to believe this may be a coprolite, perhaps from a turtle, but I am not sure. Any help identifying would be greatly appreciated. I’m also very interested in what the blue crystals are. It was found in Florida in a parking lot, so I’m sure it was not initially from there. Whenever the Gulf coast is dredged, they haul it to a place called Fort drum in the middle of the state. A really cool, retired vet runs the place and I have mined for calcite crystals there with my girlfriend and his guidance. It is a lot of work but a lot of fun and we found a bunch. Perhaps this has come from the ocean, and somehow wound up here I am not sure. Look forward to your responses! Thanks so much.

Found both these teeth near the peace river i've never found this kind of tooth shape. Im pretty sure its a type of mako but was wondering if anyone could an ID it or give any type of information.

Found this tooth near the peace river it looks like a hastalis tooth but the root is very wide and its much more girther than any other hastalis tooth ive ever found. One of my friends told me it could be a transitional fossil but I was hoping for more opinions on it.