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Florida trip, Venice and Peace River in Arcadia


FossilHunterNYC

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Heading down to Florida in a couple of weeks and I’ll be visiting the Sarasota area. From research online, Venice and Peace River are havens for sharks teeth like Meg teeth and mammoth molars. Online says large teeth are found offshore and I might have to go scuba diving is this true ? How’s peace River ? Where exactly on the River should I start ? Do I really need a kayak ?  Is it rare to find mammoth remains in the river or other ancient mammals ? 

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22 minutes ago, FossilHunterNYC said:

Venice and Peace River are havens for sharks teeth like Meg teeth and mammoth molars

 

This is setting the bar toooooooooooo high. As for the Peace River, do not be surprised if you find a smallish meg, but don't expect it or you will be disappointed. As for Venice beach, do you play the lottery? Have you won the $1,000,000 jackpot? That is your odds. Venice Beach does have small ray and sharks teeth. Expect to find one or two dozen on good days. As for diving, there is a ledge off of Venice that they dive at. Talking with a few people that dove, results were marginal but size of teeth was large.The peace provides better opportunities for nice finds. I have hunted it about  8 times now and each time I go home with something nice. Get your vertebrate pass. Again, don't expect mammoth molars and megs to show up with every sift. But the chance of a nice find keeps me digging!!!! Absolutely consider a pay to play trip on the Peace as a way to learn the river and I am sure it will be worth the investment to you!!!! 

 

Mike

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3 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

 

This is setting the bar toooooooooooo high. As for the Peace River, do not be surprised if you find a smallish meg, but don't expect it or you will be disappointed. As for Venice beach, do you play the lottery? Have you won the $1,000,000 jackpot? That is your odds. Venice Beach does have small ray and sharks teeth. Expect to find one or two dozen on good days. As for diving, there is a ledge off of Venice that they dive at. Talking with a few people that dove, results were marginal but size of teeth was large.The peace provides better opportunities for nice finds. I have hunted it about  8 times now and each time I go home with something nice. Get your vertebrate pass. Again, don't expect mammoth molars and megs to show up with every sift. But the chance of a nice find keeps me digging!!!! Absolutely consider a pay to play trip on the Peace as a way to learn the river and I am sure it will be worth the investment to you!!!! 

 

Mike


Oh well, for the Peace River guide, any company recommended in particular? Is there a specific location on the river I can start at ? 

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9 hours ago, FossilHunterNYC said:

Heading down to Florida in a couple of weeks and I’ll be visiting the Sarasota area. From research online, Venice and Peace River are havens for sharks teeth like Meg teeth and mammoth molars. Online says large teeth are found offshore and I might have to go scuba diving is this true ? How’s peace River ? Where exactly on the River should I start ? Do I really need a kayak ?  Is it rare to find mammoth remains in the river or other ancient mammals ? 

I'll try to answer your questions,

The question is where can a novice fossil hunter go that provides the best opportunity to find a large Megalodon.  The Peace River in Florida and the "Boneyard" off Venice would be high on that list , likely in the top 10. That would be for publicly available locations. That does not say you would find one, just that you would have a better opportunity there.

This is a 4 inch Meg found in the Peace River. I took the photo. There are bigger and more numerous large Megs off the Boneyard.

DSCN0918.thumb.jpg.1f8a8c159c94039950adc2c0ca3eb762.jpgDSCN0926Bourlette.thumb.jpg.f37da05f1851f829c4cec23f3e23d439.jpg

 

I hunt the Peace River about 3 times a week, 10 months a year. I find about 150 Megs a year. Most are small and beat up... 10 % are 3 inches or higher, and 10 of those are high quality.  So, 1 a month when I am hunting 12 times a month.

Do I really need a kayak ? YES, you need to get to the places that are HARD to get to.....

 Is it rare to find mammoth remains in the river or other ancient mammals ?  No, I finds pieces of mammoth, mastodon, and gomph almost every time I go out. Tusks, teeth, and bones. But you intertwine that question with finding whole mammoth teeth. Including Mastodon and Gomph, I find about ONE a year, ONE for the investment of 250 hours of digging rock.

 

Where exactly on the River should I start ?

You really should go where no one else has explored. That is very difficult,  but do what I do. Look at the Peace River between Arcadia and Fort Meade (about the range of Bone Valley) using Google Earth. Note the places that are isolated ( Fewest human habitations and few. most remote access points).  Go to one of those.

OR

Pay a guide.. for about $125, the guide will take you to a Place on the Peace River , he has been hunting with other groups over the last month. You will find fossils, maybe broken , maybe small, but likely of Mammoth, Mastodon, Makos,  Snaggletooth, and even Megs.

The one I see at the locations I launch from on Heard Bridge, Wauchula is Fred Mazza of Floridahuntingtours.

Here are a couple of Megs, a horse tooth, a couple of Whale Verts I found this week... the bigger one is 3.2inches, with a little tip and root damage.

IMG_7673.thumb.JPEG.dcc0190e7c895806a86bcd216b131806.JPEG

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The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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8 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

I'll try to answer your questions,

The question is where can a novice fossil hunter go that provides the best opportunity to find a large Megalodon.  The Peace River in Florida and the "Boneyard" off Venice would be high on that list , likely in the top 10. That would be for publicly available locations. That does not say you would find one, just that you would have a better opportunity there.

This is a 4 inch Meg found in the Peace River. I took the photo. There are bigger and more numerous large Megs off the Boneyard.

DSCN0918.thumb.jpg.1f8a8c159c94039950adc2c0ca3eb762.jpgDSCN0926Bourlette.thumb.jpg.f37da05f1851f829c4cec23f3e23d439.jpg

 

I hunt the Peace River about 3 times a week, 10 months a year. I find about 150 Megs a year. Most are small and beat up... 10 % are 3 inches or higher, and 10 of those are high quality.  So, 1 a month when I am hunting 12 times a month.

Do I really need a kayak ? YES, you need to get to the places that are HARD to get to.....

 Is it rare to find mammoth remains in the river or other ancient mammals ?  No, I finds pieces of mammoth, mastodon, and gomph almost every time I go out. Tusks, teeth, and bones. But you intertwine that question with finding whole mammoth teeth. Including Mastodon and Gomph, I find about ONE a year, ONE for the investment of 250 hours of digging rock.

 

Where exactly on the River should I start ?

You really should go where no one else has explored. That is very difficult,  but do what I do. Look at the Peace River between Arcadia and Fort Meade (about the range of Bone Valley) using Google Earth. Note the places that are isolated ( Fewest human habitations and few. most remote access points).  Go to one of those.

OR

Pay a guide.. for about $125, the guide will take you to a Place on the Peace River , he has been hunting with other groups over the last month. You will find fossils, maybe broken , maybe small, but likely of Mammoth, Mastodon, Makos,  Snaggletooth, and even Megs.

The one I see at the locations I launch from on Heard Bridge, Wauchula is Fred Mazza of Floridahuntingtours.

Here are a couple of Megs, a horse tooth, a couple of Whale Verts I found this week... the bigger one is 3.2inches, with a little tip and root damage.

IMG_7673.thumb.JPEG.dcc0190e7c895806a86bcd216b131806.JPEG

Thank you, is the “boneyard” you were talking about that drop the previous person was talking about where you have to scuba dive ? 

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2 hours ago, FossilHunterNYC said:

Thank you, is the “boneyard” you were talking about that drop the previous person was talking about where you have to scuba dive ? 

Yes, A description of the Boneyard by a Scuba Charter boat Captain. http://aristakatcharters.yolasite.com/the-boneyard.php

A friend found this 3 inch tooth scuba diving in the Boneyard.

GulfMeg1.jpg.04e2550c1e057016e0a6dbc032770956.jpgGulfMeg2.jpg.a424cf1420d0bc27eaeb3ba49dd2681d.jpg

The White Queen  ".... in her youth she could believe "six impossible things before breakfast"

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If you are interested in the guided tour route I highly recommend Fred Mazza.  His company is Paleo Discoveries and the website is fossilhuntingtours.com.  If you book a tour with him all you have to do is show up at the a designated spot with your lunch, some sun screen and a few small plastic bags to stash your finds..  He provides everything you need for hunting - canoe, sifter, shovel, etc.  I went on two trios with Fred about three years ago and got hooked on hunting the river.  The first trip out with Fred produced over 250 various shark teeth, dugong bones, a nice vert, ray teeth and more.  This included several partial megs and two nice whole ones 1.5" and 2" in size.

 

Since then I try to hunt the river at least twice a week Nov - June when water levels permit.  I have found plenty of mammoth/mastodon bones and numerous other mammal fossils. It is the thrill of the hunt and the surprising variety of finds that keeps me going back to the river.  Good Luck and Good Hunting. Attached is a voted of one of my favorite finds a mammoth calcaneum - heel bone.

 

 

 

 

 

20200428_101822_resized.png.jpeg.560c4b7cdf839e0897d3f4d7611183f4.jpeg20200428_102250_resized.png.jpeg.414904ea88c159d35b177255ab503e86.jpeg

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