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Peace River hunting


Shellseeker

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Went to a location in the Peace River yesterday where I had previously found some silicified fossils and was hopeful of finding more. This particular spot has the fewest shark teeth of any of my Peace River locations.

The hunting did not start with much success.  Either I could not locate my previous spots or someone else had cleaned them out. A normal hunt is about 6 hours digging, and I was 2.5 hours in with 6 small shark teeth and one slightly damaged horse tooth for my efforts. The damage to the occlusal surface is unusual and there seems to be some silification. The water is shallow, not deeper than 3-4 feet to cross the river and I am gradually moving upstream checking on the inside banks after curves.

IMG_2237ce.jpg.1a610deb1a67a97fb785b73c1d99692d.jpg

 

I found what seemed to be a beat up piece of coral and then soon after an upper jaw Llama tooth with 2 of it 4 roots.  It almost seemed like a "honey hole" compared the morning.I was something NICE about every 3rd sieve,  but also every 3rd sieve had zero fossils. I was digging in a thin layer of gravel on top of clay and mud, under 18 inches of sand which has been exposed by summer floods and it seemed that some of these had been encased in that wrapping for most of their existence as fossils.

IMG_2207Coral_ce.thumb.jpg.5ff6371d7410215b8f61644ba16e7645.jpgPaleolama_mirificaUpperMolar.jpg.52b5946a5d928306d8979671b0c55574.jpg

 

So basically something nice every 20 minutes for the next couple of hours until I have exhausted this gravel layer and forced to move upstream.

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Some examples:  A giant Armadillo edge scute.... Look at the quality of the tiny lines,  zero water erosion. This is as good as any I have found in 10 years.

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A small piece of dolphin jaw and a very nice River Dolphin petrosal:

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This was followed later by a very nice but small Dolphin tooth with some feeding damage on the tip

TinyDolphinTooth.jpg.43f7b25c974f26d72e85637f850e423a.jpgery good day , not my best

 

and then a silicified gator tooth about 42 mm in length,, glittering in the sunshine.  There was a turtle spur and an Astragalus, maybe from a juvenile Llama. Very good day,

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I would have to note the Mosquitos... 20-30 around both of us for most of the day.  I take many precautions... Standing in water,  2mm wet-suits for pants and long sleeve jacket, I also wear one of those Covid ,neck_head tubes to cover my ears. Everything heavy duty spray and they were still attacking nose, cheeks , eyebrows. I killed a bunch but a few got thru. 

 

At the end , I found another tooth that might be identifiable. or maybe not.. Heading out tomorrow, Wife flies out for 10 days on Saturday and I'll be on dog_sitting duty.  It is a good time to sort, catalogue fossils. 

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

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NICE finds , Jack. With the wife gone for 10 days, slip the dog into the kennels and have FUN!!!!!!

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Nice finds!! Possible schedule during wife’s absence = feed dog, go to river, clean up dog accidents, repeat

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Glad you made it out Jack. Early bird gets the fossilized worm.

 

How hard was the current running?

 

You know, in recent years past, I would have been out there the minute it got down close to 6.25 on the Zolfo gauge height. But, I just don't have the stamina I used to have, so now I am waiting until it gets down to about 5.0 or a little under that.

 

Did you see any other hunters?

 

 

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33 minutes ago, Bone Daddy said:

Glad you made it out Jack. Early bird gets the fossilized worm.

 

How hard was the current running?

 

You know, in recent years past, I would have been out there the minute it got down close to 6.25 on the Zolfo gauge height. But, I just don't have the stamina I used to have, so now I am waiting until it gets down to about 5.0 or a little under that.

 

Did you see any other hunters?

 

 

I just looked at Zolfo .  It is at 200 cfps and 5.5 feet deep. Here is the chart for Paynes creek. It is at 100 cfps, which is quite a bit higher that the traditional 46 year average. On the 15th, I went to Heard Bridge and headed north on the 15th.. It was hard because I had not paddled my kayak upstream for any distance in 4 months...

 

The water is definitely low enough to dig, but I notice increased current also. and not many hunters (or anyone else) on the rivers yet.  Usually I can find protected bend on the river.  That was true of thi set of finds on October 13th.  @PODIGGER

USGS.02295420.31635.00060..20211003.20211023_log.0_p50_pres.png.d4a7864e52a397f818721e08b22fecb3.png

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

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19 minutes ago, Shellseeker said:

I just looked at Zolfo .  It is at 200 cfps and 5.5 feet deep. Here is the chart for Paynes creek. It is at 100 cfps, which is quite a bit higher that the traditional 46 year average. On the 15th, I went to Heard Bridge and headed north on the 15th.. It was hard because I had not paddled my kayak upstream for any distance in 4 months...

 

The water is definitely low enough to dig, but I notice increased current also. and not many hunters (or anyone else) on the rivers yet.  Usually I can find protected bend on the river.  That was true of thi set of finds on October 13th.  @PODIGGER

 

 

I'm waiting for the Zolfo Gage to drop to 5 feet or so Jack. The level is good where I want to go, but the current, as you say, is almost too stiff to stand up. I'm hitting the Santa Fe while I wait, but that water level is also dropping very slowly, so I'm hiding behind shoals to get out of the current.

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I’m waiting on clearing up a minor medical problem before I get back in the river.  Looks like I’ll be on the sidelines for another two weeks watching you all make some nice finds.

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17 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

I just looked at Zolfo .  It is at 200 cfps and 5.5 feet deep. Here is the chart for Paynes creek. It is at 100 cfps, which is quite a bit higher that the traditional 46 year average. On the 15th, I went to Heard Bridge and headed north on the 15th.. It was hard because I had not paddled my kayak upstream for any distance in 4 months...

 

The water is definitely low enough to dig, but I notice increased current also. and not many hunters (or anyone else) on the rivers yet.  Usually I can find protected bend on the river.  That was true of thi set of finds on October 13th.  @PODIGGER

USGS.02295420.31635.00060..20211003.20211023_log.0_p50_pres.png.d4a7864e52a397f818721e08b22fecb3.png

 

This time last year, the Zolfo gauge was at 10.57 feet, so we are well ahead of that schedule. Of course, last season was a short one. The river didn't drop and remain at huntable levels for a few months after this point last year. I really need to custom build a motor mount for my kayak. I have a brand-spanking-new trolling motor and battery sitting in the garage, with no way to mount it. If I had that motor mounted up, I'd probably be out there right now. LOL.

 

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