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Where can I hunt in bone valley Florida


Joseph Lambert

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I live in Florida and I've heard of some people going to locations in bone valley where it isn't restricted, I was wondering if anyone knows of any places where I could get in to find some fossils. Thank you anything would be helpful

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Well the mulberry phosphate museum has the phosphorus company dump a ton of matrix in its parking lot all the time, quite a few fossils can be found in that.

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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Any place on private land where you have permission or on some public lands, like stream or river bottoms, roadcuts, etc. Every creek that is navigable is an opportunity. 

Bone Valley is a huge expanse of land chock full of roads and watersheds. I see field trip reports from someone every week TFF which they show photos and talk about going into the Peace river or a connecting creek and finding hundreds of fossils in a day. Read the TFF fiel;d reports diligently. If you can not find fossils yourself, hire Mark Renz or Fred Mazza for a day.

Usually people who have access to public locations with LOTS of BV fossils do not spread the news very widely.

Having said that -- join a fossil club -- Orlando,  Tampa, Southwest, Lee County, etc -- join them all because they all go on field trips to find fossils and they all have club memberships that have been doing this for years. You just have to convince them that there is a good reason to take you along. 

I congratulated a friend who found a Megalodon in Bone Valley last weekend. There is gold in them there roads, rivers, and creeks. It will just take a lot of effort and time to dig it out.

 

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

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On 5/30/2017 at 9:09 PM, WhodamanHD said:

Well the mulberry phosphate museum has the phosphorus company dump a ton of matrix in its parking lot all the time, quite a few fossils can be found in that.

 

Pretty hit or miss in my experience, best finds have been a decent tiger and a partial sand tiger (heard of kids finding megs though). Plenty of small teeth if you work at it

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  • 4 years later...
9 hours ago, Lee Taylor said:

June 2021. So what is it like today, on a tour (given there are still tours)? We have a quarry here in Charleston where you have to move tons of earth to find a decent fossil. Is it like that?

Hi Lee, 

I guess that I am as good as anyone to comment.  I was there then ... and I am here now.

 

Tours... There are more,  probably because of Covid.. people just got the itch to get out and do something with family. Tours do not depend on quantity or quality of fossils,  they depend people who want to follow a dream. Think about it.. How many fossils are left in Florida ?  or South Carolina... More  than enough for you and I ,  and everyone else who wants to follow that dream.

Peace River Tours... there used to be 3 or 4 and at least 2 I know of were started after Covid. Other types of tours, I know of someone who joined forces with a gentleman farmer on land abutting the Peace River, across from the phosphate mines,  digs down ,  water hoses, and you know how this tale ends... a little pricey, but you get High Quality Megs. not everyone,  not all the time, but....  supply & demand, if successful there will be more of these types of places.

IMG_3882.thumb.jpg.1a44a5b1c082e1002a14c35497e14cc1.jpg

 

and,  you know you only can compare my success to other experienced fossil addicts here in Florida. I am holding my own, but its never easy.

 

So, we get to one of the real questions. Are the places that I ( and others) used to hunt 5 years ago, less fossil rich now than then? Yes.  

But I have to add that I have seen more fantastic fossils found in bone valley over the last year than other year in the last 15. May be due to the abnormal low levels of Rivers and Creeks this year, May be due to those young hot shots over on Youtube, may be due to the recent blue moons. 

 

Certainly , the Florida fossil vault has barely been scratched. Look at all those fantastic fossils @digit has been helping to uncover at Montbrook.

 

 

 

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

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Montbrook is a true Lagerstätte and one of the most important sites in the southeastern US providing a glimpse into the latest Miocene. We will probably only ever see a slim fraction of a percent of all of the fossils in Florida but even though they are plentiful you need knowledge, skill and lots of luck to find them in most places. Fossils are relatively plentiful in the Peace River region but I certainly think that locality has been hit harder this season with cooped-up fossil hunters escaping lockdown for time out on the river.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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I’m only in my third season of hunting the Peace River and I have been amazed by the quantity and variety of the fossils I have found. From Megs to Mastodon, Mammoth, Sloth, Camel, Llama, Turtle, Horse, etc. I believe the river still holds plenty of great fossils for anyone willing to make the effort to find them. My time on the river was interrupted for more than a month this season by doctor’s orders to stay out of the water, but I still feel I had a productive year.

 

I usually hunt a little farther north on the river than @Shellseeker, @Bone Daddy and @digit and during my hunts this season  I saw less people than prior seasons. Maybe the bulk of this season’s hunters stayed south where there tends to be more plentiful and larger Megs.

The spot where I found the most and largest mammoth and mastodon fossils was one where I was told by a longtime fossil hunter that he and his son had emptied it out years ago. This goes to show how the river through constant movement and varying water levels is always uncovering new fossils for us to find.

So I always encourage folks to get out there and keep digging!

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