Hogtown creek hunting sites.

[SawTooth]

I'm trying to find new fossil hunting sites. I know that hogtown creek in Gainesville has some areas where you can find small megs and horse teeth, but I am not sure what parts of the creek they are in. The only area in hogtown I have been too has only centimeter or less long teeth, though there are hundreds. Does anybody mind sharing any sites in hogtown or just in Gainesville in general. Feel free to PM me or tell me what forum I should have put this in (I know it's probably not this one) thanks!

[Meganeura]

I believe that hogstown/Gainesville in general are actually closed to fossil hunting currently - I'd reccommend confirming you can first. 

[digit]

Yup. As mentioned above these creeks are now generally off limits. From what I've learned there has always been a law on the books prohibiting fossil hunting in the creeks. Access to the creeks and activities in the creeks are controlled by the Alachua County Environmental Protection Department. For many years the laws were laxly enforced and various school groups and other like the cub scouts were tacitly allowed to pull some fossils from the creeks. In recent years at least one of the fossil guides who had been taking paying customers to the area's creeks got a bit over zealous trying to help his clients find teeth for their money and started excavating the banks and making a real mess of the creeks. Neighbors complained (they were digging in areas that were the creeks ran through private property) and the authorities had to start cracking down and stopping folks from digging. Once again a fossil site has been closed down due to the actions of one careless individual who acted out of greed and spoiled it for the rest of us.

 

Access to the creeks is now only available to landowners who have creeks running through their property. Even then they are limited to what they can do in that creek by the Alachua County EPD. See attached PDF for more information. Most spots I've seen have only had tiny pea gravel and have not given up large teeth. I have seen photos years back of some not-tiny teeth coming from the area's creeks but I have no idea where there was more coarse gravel where these could have come from.

 

Hope this is helpful.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

Creek Pamphlet - final.pdf

[Oxytropidoceras]

There is a 2019 news article about the concerns regrading  

the Gainsville creeks that provides background information.

 

It is:

Fossil hunters damaging creek health

Officials say residents digging large holes in the banks of

local creeks could lead to increased flooding

Sarah Nelson, Gainesville Sun, August 16, 2019

 

Yours,

 

Paul H. 

 

 

[digit]

Yup. And the photos in that article demonstrate why the authorities are stepping up enforcement.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken