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GRodSanchez1

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Since last year I’ve been to a commercial Bone Valley fossil operation in Wauchula for the best fossil hunting in Florida.

 

They bring rich dirt from Bone Valley to Wauchula for people to find amazing fossils. The experience is unlike no other, it’s a dry dig, which means you do not get wet,  you sift through the material exposing the most beautiful teeth and other fossils that have been preserved more than 2 million years.

First 5 photos are some of my personal finds.

 

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14 hours ago, digit said:

Glad you had a great time there. You certainly seemed to have scored some beautiful specimens!

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

Thank you!

 

It's certainly a unique place. My son, daughter and wife have hunted SWFL since 2017 and love finding them. 

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Reminder that discussions of commercial ventures should be kept to the PM system.  ;)

Thank you.

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    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

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10 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Reminder that discussions of commercial ventures should be kept to the PM system.  ;)

Thank you.

 

Thank you. 

 

I appreciate you reaching out and will keep the discussion of commercial ventures from now on privately.  

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4 hours ago, Advantage said:

Stunning specimens you have collected. 

Thank you!

 

It's a limited collection, but very proud of what we have. See, the collection belongs to my 12 year old son and my 5 year old daughter. 

 

Hope that when they get older they appreciate what mother nature allowed us to have and enjoy every bit of hunting fossils in Florida. 

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  • JohnJ changed the title to Bone Valley Fossils

I didn't know stingray barbs get fossilized (assuming that's what I think it is). Also a very nice diversity of shark teeth. I think the barb plus the giant denticle are my two favorites of the bunch :meg:!

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@EPIKLULSXDDDDD, yes, you can find fossilized ray barbs, but I've always just found pieces.  

 

@GRodSanchez1, beautiful green looking color on those megs!  Don't think I've seen that color before.

Edited by Fin Lover
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Fin Lover

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My favorite things about fossil hunting: getting out of my own head, getting into nature and, if I’m lucky, finding some cool souvenirs.

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Beautiful collection you have come up with!

 

How many trips did you take over the last year to collect all of these?

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On 2/2/2023 at 2:35 PM, EPIKLULSXDDDDD said:

I didn't know stingray barbs get fossilized (assuming that's what I think it is). Also a very nice diversity of shark teeth. I think the barb plus the giant denticle are my two favorites of the bunch :meg:!

Yes, that’s a ray barb at the bottom of the pic. I have some specimens where the serrations are very pronounced, much like the ones you find on a gdub or meg. 

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Just curious, with a nice handful of teeth like these, how many hours of work does this represent? Are we talking an hour or two, or several hours? Is this the product of sifting dozens of buckets of material, or just a few buckets? 

 

I'm mulling over giving this a try, but I'm trying to get a gauge on what I might expect to find for the fee. I can fund a few trips to the river on the same money, so I'm curious about what I could find in a single day of searching at this "fossil farm".

 

 

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Beautiful !

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"On ne voit bien que par le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

"We only well see with the heart, the essential is invisible for the eyes."

 

In memory of Doren

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On 2/2/2023 at 10:46 AM, GRodSanchez1 said:

Thank you!

It's certainly a unique place. My son, daughter and wife have hunted SWFL since 2017 and love finding them. 

 

I went for my 1st time 3 weeks ago.. I think how you view the fees depends on motivations.. A friend of mine who had hunted the Peace River for years between October and March,  had been stymied by weather , hurricanes and water depth/speed for 3 months and desperately wanted to get a hunting experience.  He asked me what I knew about dry land hunting near the Peace River.

My son's family comes down to Florida in the winter and over the years,  I have looked for activities that are fun and family oriented.  Have you checked the fees for taking a couple of kids to Disney?  I have chartered fishing boats for 6 hours... not cheap.

 

So, I was looking for the opportunity to take my son and a couple of Grand kids out for a fossil hunting experience with the possibility of finding some of those valuable Megs...  Kids under 17 are free with an adult.

I realized not everyone who goes finds Megs....

 

I was willing to evaluate it as a good family experience with youngsters about 14-15 years. 

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I almost did not get a Meg.... you really have to zoom it to see it... probably not very valuable...

I did get a Ray Barb tip that I liked... Look how those barbs point back  to the tip!!!  Has any one Identified the owner of a tip that looks like this? 

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There were 2 young women  digging and sifting next to me.  Friend from Tennessee was visiting a friend in Fort Lauderdale, and were looking for a vacation experience that they could enjoy together. The one from Tennessee must have picked the right spot because she found Megs,  2 broke but two in the 2-2.5 inch range that were really nice.  Also found a large lower Snaggle tooth.  They had a good time for 6 hours,  talking about coming back...

But I found this !!!! I really like dolphin teeth and I had never found one of these previously... I like dolphin teeth MUCH better than I like Megs.

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When my son's family is back in Florida, I'll probably go again.... a lot cheaper than Disney or chartering fishing boats and we might find more Cetacean teeth...

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

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/2/2023 at 2:49 PM, Fin Lover said:

@EPIKLULSXDDDDD, yes, you can find fossilized ray barbs, but I've always just found pieces.  

 

@GRodSanchez1, beautiful green looking color on those megs!  Don't think I've seen that color before.

The green is as elusive as the tuxedo black or the sky blue. 

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Thank you!
 

I do my best to look at the pictures because holding them gets me nervous.

Thankfully the kids have their play fossils and their “see but do not touch” collection…lol

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4 hours ago, GRodSanchez1 said:

Thankfully the kids have their play fossils and their “see but do not touch” collection

Wise. ;)

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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