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Peace River Trip Photos


PODIGGER

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It's been a challenging season on the Peace River for various reasons.  Was sidelined for most of Feb and March with some minor health issues and forbidden by my doctor (and wife) from going in the water until all was healed. Add to that what appears to be a tremendous amount of sand built up in some of my favorite hunting spots by last seasons heavy rains.  Then throw in a lot of debris restricting portions of the river to narrow passages.  All together it has hindered my luck with any major finds.  Can only hope for some of the success our friend Jack - @Shellseeker has been having lately!  That said- I still feel blessed to be able to hunt on the river pretty much whenever I choose.

 

 I am attaching some photos of the river here that show the downed trees, sandbars and debris that need to be negotiated to travel to one of my old dig sites and a few shots of some of this seasons finds so far.  Last season I posted more trip reports and wanted to at least try to catch up with one for those who are interested in seeing photos of the river and some recent fossil discoveries.

 

This initial shot shows the open river with what looks like a dead end ahead

 

 

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I knew the river took a bend to the right ahead so I kept on with the hope of finding my way through.  The following shots are of the debris encountered and a sandbar that needed to be skirted to keep going -

 

 

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I was able to squeeze by to the right here and follow the curve of the river.  on the next turn I came upon a sandbar stretching almost all the way across

 

 

 

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Got by this one and then was faced with a few trees that were not present last season

 

 

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This one looked impassable but as I got closer I saw a way through

 

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It first required a weave left, then back to the right and eventually threading through several underwater obstructions

 

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A few challenges to keep things interesting!  Thankfully, the flow was slow and I didn't have to fight a current pushing me into any of the debris.  With that paddling report I will finish with some recent finds that make it all worth it.

 

My first mammoth tooth of the season was what I think is a "spit tooth"-  Picked up right off the bottom just to the left of where @Bone Daddy is standing in the picture of him in his latest posting,  I missed the horse tooth, lol.

 

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My second mammoth find of the season was another one I spotted in less than a foot of water and was able to just bend down and pick it off the bottom -  This one was found much farther south, below Payne Creek State Park.

 

 

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One of my favorites so far is this whale tooth - one of only three I have found in the last three years-

 

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A few more miscellaneous finds that included a dolphin tooth, gator teeth, dugong tooth crown, horse incisor, half a tapir tooth crown and a broken llama tooth fragment.

 

 

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These finds keep me coming back for more.  I'll be back out there next week and hope to finish off the season with some more interesting finds!  Good Hunting to all!

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Jim,

Thanks for the photos of my favorite environments.. I love the serenity. 

Like you , I was kept out of the River thru Mid_march by deep waters.  Once they decided to close the flood gates in upstream lakes, the water levels dropped drastically.  We went pretty quickly from too deep to too shallow.  Unfortunately for me I do not do well in shallow water, but water over my waist is positively therapeutic .

The heavy and constant floods dropped trees into the river and moved them, and debris, and sand downstream uncovering some places and covering up others. The deeper holes are not as deep.  At these levels, you can actually see fossils on the bottom.

 

It may be a spit tooth, let's see the other side.  I found this little gem also laying on sand in Shallow water.  Be nice to have it all but I like the half that I found. Changing conditions yield opportunities.

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Good Luck in the short time we have before the summer rains....   Jack

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

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10 hours ago, PODIGGER said:

Jack, photos of the side and other end

Be great to hear input from others , but this is exactly what I believe the basal view of a spit tooth looks like.  I have only found a few of these in 13 years...

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

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Thanks Jack.  I was basing the id on that and the size as described in my reference -Vertebrate Fossils: A Neophyte's Guide.  I am heading back out tomorrow and hope to explore some new spots.

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I have a pretty good idea of the general area where this is. All of us in this thread so far have hunted this same ballpark area. I think we (Josh and I) were a little bit further north - we had private access at the time and allowed us to easily access a stretch of river that otherwise requires a ton of paddling to reach. Like your photos, it's a very tangled and obstacle-filled stretch of river - it's not maintained by anybody (FWC, Canoe Escape, etc). Those same challenges make it a great stretch of river to hunt. I think you and Jack are hunting the southern end of the stretch Josh and I hunted.

 

As for the spit tooth, I have no idea. I haven't found enough mammoth tooth material to be familiar. 99% of the time, all I find is small broken shards. Josh seemed to have all the mammoth tooth luck.

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Such a wonderful place, even without the fossils, which are a plus.  Paddling down stream is such a joy.  

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15 hours ago, Family Fun said:

Such a wonderful place, even without the fossils, which are a plus.  Paddling down stream is such a joy.  

 

Agreed. The Peace is a beautiful paddle, fossils or not.

 

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14 minutes ago, Harry Pristis said:

For comparison:

Gorgeous Photos,  Harry Thank you.

I am tempted to go back and build the "Harry Pristis FOR COMPARISON index" to your wonderful and educational pictures/photos.  Jack

 

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

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On 5/8/2021 at 7:47 PM, PODIGGER said:

One of my favorites so far is this whale tooth - one of only three I have found in the last three years-

Jim,

I was out yesterday also... not many finds but my day was made when this showed up in my sieve.

48 mm x 8.5 mm in diameter.

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We had unnamed species of whale swimming in the Peace River.  For comparative size , see Aulophyseter morricei from STH.

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

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