Traveling to Florida to hunt for Shark Teeth/bone, insight on Peace River?

[Kroy]

Hello

 

I am setting a 4 day trip to Florida with my son to find Shark Teeth and bone mid March. He is a teenager and experienced; we did a Summer trip to Summerville, SC.

 

We hear rains have Florida rivers and streams fairly high right now?

 

We have never hunted for fossils in Florida; but are looking to areas along the Peace River and researched Arcadia may be a good central location? We are thinking of doing:

     * Day 1 - Excursion with a guide (allows us to familiarize us with the area; dos and don'ts)

     * Day 2 - Hit Peace River (I have some general ideas of locations, but could use help)

     * Day 3 - Try some adjacent Rivers (I have some general ideas of locations, but could use help)

     * Day 4 - Either repeat above if we have success, or try Casperson beach in Venice

 

Any insights/guidance would be fantastic.

Thank you!
Ken

[Praefectus]

Hi. If you are looking for a guide, I can recommend Mark Renz at Megalodon Expeditions. I hunted the Peace with him and had a great time.

[Kroy]

Thank you, I actually have been trading emails with him today coincidentally. But I hear from him the rivers are quite full right now. My options are tight but we want to give it a try. I still need to figure out other days if we go; which will be dependent upon the rivers.

[Shellseeker]

1 hour ago, Kroy said:

We hear rains have Florida rivers and streams fairly high right now?

Kroy,

Welcome to TFF. Glad to have you... Nice Meg.  lover the color.  I assume it comes from South Carolina.. I wish I were hunting there. The Peace River season is October thru June. For the last 11 years, I have hunted the Peace River 2-4 times a week , every week during season. I have not had a successful day on the Peace River this season since late October.

With rains Tuesday, Peace River still 2 feet too high. My view is that Water Management is opening flood gates to fill the Peace River from upstream lakes and will continue until they get the lakes down to their desired levels.  With the Peace River too high, basic physics pushes water back up into streams, creeks, and tributaries. The fossil season has been wiped out in SW Florida.   Here is the last 110 days for Arcadia water levels.

You can hunt Arcadia at 3 feet and below. 4.55 feet means 15 inches above your waist. That means impossible. You can not get down into the gravel. Arcadia has been heavily dug over the years, so you must dig down 1-2 feet into the gravel to get to the fossils that remain.  The current is fast and you can not keep your feet on river bed in chest deep water.

You have a decent plan

1) Mark Renz, Fred Mazza, and any other guide -- talk to ALL of them. Get their impressions.. Are they hunting the Peace River ? My guess is no, but they might have secret low spots in the adjoining creeks... If they will take you out --- GO!!!!

2) Your backup plan should be to go BACK to where they took you --- maybe a little distance farther....

3) Make sure that you check the USGS gauges (last 110 days) for whatever location you choose to try...

 

I forced myself out to Locations in the Peace River last Sunday and Tuesday. I know the Peace River for 50 miles, I have the best equipment, I dug in chest deep water 6 hours each day in fast currents... It was strenuous and difficult. My reward was a handful of broken small shark teeth along with a few good ones.

Unless you know something I do not, you do not want to be on the Peace River in these conditions.  I saw no one either day.

Stick with Mark or Fred

 

[Kroy]

Ok, thank you for the breakdown of water data and the information you provided. I have been in contact with Mark Renz, who I am inquiring about other private rivers about. I can adjust to not going to Peace River; we just want to find rivers and creeks with good results. I gather finding teeth on the ground is quite rare; although saw a video of someone in Florida finding some amazing Megs on dirt road (of course they didn't indicate where exactly).

 

Yes, the Meg was found in South Carolina. We are from California and planned a trip with researched information and help from a TFF member. Rains hit us hard in the Summer in SC which had rivers high but we did find some small creeks and also a construction site.

 

Thanks!
Ken

[ynot]

Don't forget to purchase Your fossil permit before You go.

[minnbuckeye]

On 3/2/2019 at 6:21 PM, ynot said:

Don't forget to purchase Your fossil permit before You go.

 

My slight knowledge leads me to believe if hunting with Mark Renz, a permit is NOT necessary. But check with your guide to be on the safe side. Have fun!!!! I get to dip my toes in the water a little later in March. So leave me a few things to find.

 

 Mike

[Nimravis]

2 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

 

My slight knowledge leads me to believe if hunting with Mark Rentz, a permit is NOT necessary. But check with your guide to be on the safe side. Have fun!!!! I get to dip my toes in the water a little later in March. So leave me a few things to find.

 

 Mike

That is true, but he wants to go out the following days without a guide, so he should have one. I just sent in for my 2019 permit and I received it today, it took less than 1 week.

[Kroy]

Great notes, we have submitted for a permit. Thank you

[digit]

On 3/2/2019 at 5:18 PM, Kroy said:

although saw a video of someone in Florida finding some amazing Megs on dirt road (of course they didn't indicate where exactly).

The videos you mentioned are likely the work of Kyle and Cris from this forum. They've been taking folks out on fossil hunts further north in Florida and Kyle @addicted2fossils has been posting videos where he is usually quiet, low-key and very somber--NOT!

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1zi7pQArSNOP_utk5GYD5g

 

If you are flexible in your plans to visit Florida, you might consider hitting north-central Florida instead of southwestern Florida. I'm hoping to take a group of kids (and their adult minders) out at the end of this month to the Peace River but the level simply won't drop to where it needs to be. If it doesn't head at least 2 feet lower, the trip will be a canoe trip rather than a fossil hunt. The rains have stopped but the river level has not and simply leveled out at a depth that is a couple feet too high (I suspect it is matching the higher than normal groundwater level). Unless something changes and the water table is finally allowed to get near its normal level, this season will be a bust for fossil hunting.

 

Cris and Kyle have some alternative activities and access to different waterways that are north of Lake Okeechobee and the saturated southern part of the state. I'd suggest dropping Kyle a PM (use the link to his username above). He will end up getting notified as I tagged him on this message so he may contact you first.

 

If your plans are set for a South Florida visit, then go with one of the professional guides like Mark Renz who may have access to some spots down here. If you have the flexibility to head further north instead, I'd visit the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH) in Gainesville and consider setting up something with Cris and Kyle in the northern part of the state. If you are in the Gainesville area you might even consider adding a volunteer dig with the FLMNH to the Montbrook site. I'm headed up there for a couple days of volunteer digging next week. You don't get to keep any of the fossils but you can take lots of photos and get to dig in a highly fossiliferous (and scientifically important) site. The season continues through just about the end of March.

 

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/montbrook/

 

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/montbrook/dig-schedule/

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Kroy]

Hello.

 

Water levels aren't great on the Peace River; and rain is coming...but this trip was already set to fly out to Florida Monday (March 18th) so my son (teenager) and I could hunt for fossils for 4 days (Tues-Fri).

 

We will have a guide for one day; but will figure the rest. If we fail along the Peace River (where we want to spend most of our trip), we will go to Venice Beach area. We will have our permit.

 

Anyone have any good insights near the Peace River, let me know. Still wondering about any land locations nearby too. Rain or shine, we are going to find some fossils.

Thank you
Ken

[Bone Daddy]

The next 24 hours will make or break the Peace for weeks to come. We are currently getting widespread light rain. So far, it isn't amounting to much, but the water table is high and it won't take much to make the river jump to unsearchable levels (which it is arguably at already, before the rain). Keep an eye on the gauges. The Zolfo gauge (which should be at 6 or below) is currently rising towards 7 - if it doesn't go any higher than 7, then not all hope is lost. But, you can probably forget about this week - unless you or your guide knows a high water spot. I used to have one, but it seems to be tapped out and has not been productive the last couple of times we went.

 

I squeezed in a hunt last friday when the Peace was at 6.1 feet on the Zolfo gauge - and it was still a little high and fast for my tastes. I had a moderately-productive, but overall disappointing day in terms of quantity and quality found.

 

 

 

[Shellseeker]

On 3/17/2019 at 6:28 PM, Kroy said:

Hello.

 

Water levels aren't great on the Peace River; and rain is coming...but this trip was already set to fly out to Florida Monday (March 18th) so my son (teenager) and I could hunt for fossils for 4 days (Tues-Fri).

 

We will have a guide for one day; but will figure the rest. If we fail along the Peace River (where we want to spend most of our trip), we will go to Venice Beach area. We will have our permit.

 

Anyone have any good insights near the Peace River, let me know. Still wondering about any land locations nearby too. Rain or shine, we are going to find some fossils.

Thank you
Ken

As @Bone Daddy indicates, the Peace River is challenging this week. I was there yesterday.

1st, I had a 3 mm wet suit on and I was shivering.. Think about it-- overcast, temps in low 70s, drizzling so you are wet, slight breezes coming down the river..

2nd , the River is open for business.  I found a small meg, 3 beat_up horse teeth, one I think a Llama premolar, a nice Armadillo scute, a large snake vert and a bunch of small shark teeth Plus a 1.5 inch upper hemi.

Current is fast and the center of the river was too deep to maintain traction on the riverbed. I sort of clung and danced around the edge because the current was picking me up and taking me for a quick swims downriver waving my shovel and probe.

3rd,  Be careful out there -- a hunting companion noted a 10 foot gator slipping into the river close to our hunting spot. Here is why we are fortunate in one sense.  Even though April is mating season, they are freezing also and this are too lethargic to be overly interested in tasty human flesh.

 

I would suggest any of the Bridges between Zolfo and Paynes Creek park.. Like everyone else, I am prospecting now... You got to find low spots with gravel...   Jack

[Bone Daddy]

1 hour ago, Shellseeker said:

As @Bone Daddy indicates, the Peace River is challenging this week. I was there yesterday.

1st, I had a 3 mm wet suit on and I was shivering.. Think about it-- overcast, temps in low 70s, drizzling so you are wet, slight breezes coming down the river..

2nd , the River is open for business.  I found a small meg, 3 beat_up horse teeth, one I think a Llama premolar, a nice Armadillo scute, a large snake vert and a bunch of small shark teeth Plus a 1.5 inch upper hemi.

Current is fast and the center of the river was too deep to maintain traction on the riverbed. I sort of clung and danced around the edge because the current was picking me up and taking me for a quick swims downriver waving my shovel and probe.

3rd,  Be careful out there -- a hunting companion noted a 10 foot gator slipping into the river close to our hunting spot. Here is why we are fortunate in one sense.  Even though April is mating season, they are freezing also and this are too lethargic to be overly interested in tasty human flesh.

 

I would suggest any of the Bridges between Zolfo and Paynes Creek park.. Like everyone else, I am prospecting now... You got to find low spots with gravel...   Jack

 

Like Jack said, you *can* find stuff right now, but it's not easy and it borders on being a bit dangerous if you are not confident in the water. I've found nice fossils when the gauge was nearly 8-feet, but a decent amount of luck was involved. On the plus side, when the water is higher you can legally access some areas of the bank that are usually off-limits because they are far above the water line. So, for example, there is a spot of nice micro-matrix material (Miocene) very close to the Gardner ramp that's fairly high up on the bank and off limits. But, when the water gets high enough, it's fair game.

 

 

[Bone Daddy]

3 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

I found a small meg, 3 beat_up horse teeth, one I think a Llama premolar, a nice Armadillo scute, a large snake vert and a bunch of small shark teeth Plus a 1.5 inch upper hemi.

 

Not too shabby. That is better than I did last friday.

After cleaning and drying my stuff, I ended up with : about a dozen tiny but good teeth, about a dozen broken small teeth, 3 gator scutes, 1 small gator tooth, a broken mammoth dental plate, a few broken shards of ivory, a couple of Miocene gastropod shells, a gator leg bone, and a few broken antler bits. None of the gator stuff is fossil.

I'd trade it all to find one decent small or medium meg - I am in the midst of a dry spell with megs. I have struck out on my last few trips. The last meg I found was at that dry land site last year where Josh and I ran into you guys.