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PODIGGER

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I have been watching water levels and flow gauges for the last two weeks hoping for a continued drop as the dry season seems to have arrived in Florida.  I headed east for the 1 hour drive to Wachula this morning when I saw the drop in flow rate and water level last night to a manageable level.  It was a beautiful morning and a peaceful drive through cow pastures and orange orchards.  That is unil I got about half way there.  Suddenly there was a tremendous Bam! on the left rear passenger side of my jeep. Thought I had been hit by an anti tank round! A quick look in the side view  mirror revealed a six point buck flopping around in the middle of the road.  He had sprung out of an orange orchard at full speed and slammed into the left rear door of the jeep.  By the time I hit the brake he was back on his feet and running back into the orchard.  A quick check of the jeep showed a small dent (about the size of a quarter) in the left rear door and minor damage to the rear wheel cover, hair was all over the side.  Once I realized there was no serious damage I figured there was only one thing to do.  Get to the river and find something good!

 

Upon arrival I found the river to be flowing at a very reasonable pace and I wasted no time in getting my kyack loaded and launched.  It was interesting to see all the new obstacles left by the summer rains.  Several new trees down that had to be skirted and quite a few limbs poking up from out of the water to be avoided.  I arrived at my chosen spot that had been producing nice finds in the spring and found a very large palm tree down blocking easy access.  I beached the kyack and walked around the tree scanning the shoreline as I went.  I immediately saw some horse teeth in about an inch of water for my first find of the day.  Scanning the area I saw another interesting object poking out of the sand that looked like some kind of enamel on rock.  When I pulled it out I was greeted with a small but nice partial mastodon tooth.  This was before I even got the shovel and sifter out of the kyack!  Spent the rest of the day digging and sifting with some additional nice finds.  All in all a good day.  Photos below.

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Nice finds , glad you could get out :fistbump:

Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there!

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Wow, I bet that deer impact was scary. I would have thought I ran over something. I'm glad there was no major damage. You should get a deer sticker (like the one hunters have on their trucks) and slap it over that dent.  ;)

 

I am heading out to the river tomorrow. I was going to hit it today, but I've been sick and needed an extra day to recoup. I'd be happy with the haul you brought home. Finding a mastodon tooth is on my bucket list. 

 

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Thanks guys.  

Bone Daddy - Good Luck and let us know what you find!  I am excited for the season based on the first day results.  The area I was digging in back in April seems to have been nicely replenished over the summer.  The Mastodon tooth was a thrill to find on the first trip this season after ending last season with the Mammoth tooth pictured.IMG_1014.jpg.5f57391470618b6b5b3ecb04d3e55451.jpgIMG_1016.jpg.0e067dd8925e68494a45d31fd37dd516.jpg

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I notice that the southern gauges (Zolfo, Arcadia, etc) have stopped dropping and are now inching upwards...

 

Did that part of the Peace Basin get some significant rain last night? I don't recall seeing or hearing about any rain during the weather broadcasts yesterday or this morning.

 

 

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I didn't hear of any significant rain either.  There was only a mention of "possible passing" showers.  

 

There is an area of rapids near where I was yesterday that had a 4' drop off/falls in May & June.  Yesterday, there was no drop - water was level through that area with rapids just breaking the surface.  This area is north of Wachula and Bowling Green.  Maybe that volume is causing the rise you are seeing further south.

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5 minutes ago, PODIGGER said:

I didn't hear of any significant rain either.  There was only a mention of "possible passing" showers.  

 

There is an area of rapids near where I was yesterday that had a 4' drop off/falls in May & June.  Yesterday, there was no drop - water was level through that area with rapids just breaking the surface.  This area is north of Wachula and Bowling Green.  Maybe that volume is causing the rise you are seeing further south.

 

We had a ton of rain over the early summer. June, July, and August were very wet. The Peace exceeded flood stage by several feet. Even though we had a dry September, the ground is still saturated and the local water table is quite high in places (presumably). I bet we are just seeing intermittent seepage, runoff, and the impact of scattered very light rain.

 

I'm going to keep an eyeball on that gauge today and tonight. I hope it stops climbing.

 

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Congrats on some awesome finds! I'm gonna try my best to get down to Florida for some fossil hunting this february, hoping to find some cool stuff.

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I was hoping to get back on the river today but rain yesterday and today has the river level up along with the flow rate.  Will have to wait  few days.  It has given me time to take some better photos.  Here is what I believe is the partial mastodon tooth.

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