Adventures in Balance. A Peace River fossil journal.

[Shellseeker]

4 hours ago, Balance said:

Last time I was here my sift tailings were underwater. Today I found them on the bank. Had to hide that before I left.  Lessons for the next prospecting trip. Might just be discovering the spot for someone else if you’re leaving clues about!

In many hunting adventures of the past,  I was always was thankful that other fossil hunters almost constantly left large amounts of gravel on the bank to tell me where exactly they were digging,  so that I could go and dig deeper or wider picking up some nice fossils they had missed.  I like to dig in deep water and usually return the sieve gravel to places where it will not be noticed. 

 

You are learning fast,  Jp... soon you will be blazing new trails for others to follow.

[Balance]

Howdy, Everybody! 
 

So it’s been a bit since I’ve hit the river. That’s because Millie and I ended up with a “new” boat.  I know! What about Balance?? You are justified in your concern as it is a huge part of my experience on the River. Rest assured. Balance is in great hands. It’s currently serving the needs of a 40 year river hunting veteran and I’m actively rebuilding the 2stroke outboard that goes on balance for him to use  for a very long time. Most likely until he retires. By retire I mean this guy won’t stop hunting till he can’t get there physically so retire for him is probably just passing on to the the big hunt ever after. Then I’ll buy balance back and let my daughter build her first river rig. 😊
 

You see, Balance had gotten too small and slow  for my needs. The last trip out with my daughters was the writing on the wall. They aren’t “little” kids anymore and they need room to move around. Not to mention if I bring a passenger I can’t bring Millie. my family and friends are asking to go hunt regularly and I need to be able to take them out too. 
 

The undiscovered fossils spots are far away from ramps and bridges , y’all. Writing also on the wall. If I’m gonna find the good stuff I gotta be able to get all the way into the “nothing” and back with time to hunt. For that, you gotta scoot!
 

So about a month ago I met this river legend and after we talked awhile he and I decided we needed each others boats. His boat was too heavy for his abilities these days and mine was the perfect solo hunters rig. His boat was bigger and had a stronger (faster) motor. Only one catch. Balance was ready to trade, his boat had been sitting for 6 years. So do I take the plunge on the unknown with a chance at coming out in a better position or do I stay in the safety of Balance?? 
 

Let’s get wet!! Good thing about elbow grease is it’s free. Good thing about mechanical fixes is I have a nice shop to take my time and really do a good job. 
 

So I traded. Then restored the boat. Then rebuilt the motor and added performance mods to it while I was in there. I added a motorcycle style throttle and removed the “jerk start” governor to smooth it all out. She’s ready to push a full range of 16HP now.  Should move the new boat 18mph or so. 
 

Headed to the river this weekend to try it out. Look out for a fresh trip report unless it blows up or sinks. If that happens I’m going to take up knitting. 
 

Keep the faith and try to do good!
 

Jp

 

This isn’t a motor rebuild forum so here’s some glamor shots and a before and after video. 
 

Im an oddball for sure because while most Americans like heavy Harley Davidson style motorcycles, I have a soft spot for Cafe Racers. As such I tried to use the Cafe Racer style in the rebuild. Very pleased. That’s not very common for my personality. 😂

 

 

 

 

[Balance]

One to show off the motor a bit. After this back to fossils. 😊😉

 

 

 

[automech]

Sweet deal, man! Is that a 12 or 14 footer? I've been looking around, up here, for one for my crew. Trying to keep it under $2k.

That gas cap looked scary! Did you send out the block to get cleaned? Early in my career I rebuilt  car engines, and we had a large "washing machine" with special soap to clean blocks and engine parts.  Loved the bling accessories. Sound good, too. Should keep the gators at bay when they hear you coming.

 

 

Btw, funny fact about knitting. My dad used to tell me about an old football player by the name of Rosie Greer (I think the last team he played with was the Dolphins) who took up knitting to calm him down after a game. So, it can be a manly thing to do when the time comes. 

[Balance]

@automech

 

Thank you! 
 

Alumicraft 14-42 is the modi’s/size 
 

No. I didn’t send the block off. It’s a $320 clone motor of a Honda 390gx so I figured if I blow it up I’ll just spend the money and start from scratch with the same parts I put on this one. I’ll send you a video in the messages. It honestly looked brand new inside. Inside info told me it was only used a handful of times before it sat. Only rust inside was light powder build up on the exhaust valve. 

 

Locally., You can find 20 of these exact boats online for sale with motors like this. Duck hunters run them here. Might need to do a road trip and come home with a boat. 😉 

 

We got more room but rest assured we’re still building that pontoon barge when you come down. 😂

 

Jp

 

[automech]

You're making hard not to come down!  Can't wait to see the launch of Balance 2.0.

[Balance]

Went hunting with a Master today. We went far and found untouched rock. Enough to keep a person busy for years. 

 

Fossils are drying. Much to show! Full report soon! 
 

Jp

 

Bonus points if you can ID the mystery rider

 

 

[automech]

Boat sounds great! I'm getting a Jack- @shellseeker - vibe from the video clip.

[Shellseeker]

 

1 hour ago, automech said:

Boat sounds great! I'm getting a Jack- @shellseeker - vibe from the video clip.

You win the prize!!! I got into a fast boat with Jp.  He is moving fast and has no fear.. Mud skipping prop on a powerful engine drives that Jon Boat thru low hanging branches and over shallow logs... Returning with a flat bottom when the current can slide you left or right in the blink of an eye reminds me of a roller coaster without a seat belt. No complaints,  Jp has skills and likely has spent a misbegotten youth running small boat thru swamps.  

 

This was not a location that either of us had ever been previously,  far from the beaten path. You can usually tell. The gravel is packed tightly and it is hard to get the point of the shovel in.  Jp was somewhat more successful,  but I got my share of small teeth, a few mammal teeth and a couple of oddities..  

Shark teeth,  what you see above and then about 2x more off to the right broken teeth..

There are far fewer Dusky and Bull shark teeth here that I normally find in the Peace river. Note that there were many Hemipristis,  Lemons with an assortment of tigers,  mayumbenesis, cuvier, and a nice P . contortus.  Note the presence of light roots,  and I am immediately looking at the banks upstream and wondering if I can find the source in some future trip with Jp. It WILL be with Jp because I am not,  repeat NOT taking a kayak the 5-6 river miles to get there again. 

Bottom center ,, I am thinking Nurse Shark.  If so, I have not found one of these in years...

To the left might be a small Meg... has serrations all the way around the blade,  but I detect no bourlette... 

A beat up Equus incisor, a  couple of worn Armadillo osteoderms.  I think Jp may have an Armadillo vert.. but need closeups.. and also of that Dolphin tooth

 

 

Then an oddity.  I am used to finding Fossil and Modern  fish scales,  but this could be snake or lizard (like a monitor).  Any pointers appreciated.

 

Right off the bat,  got this nice chunk of June Mastodon... 

An Interesting abrasion 

 

A very good day... A great memory with a fossil hunter who definitely adds spice to the experience.

[automech]

A nice array of finds. Maybe make sure your life insurance is up to date before the next trip. 

[Balance]

Hunting with Jack.

 

Well, the boat was ready. No sense taking it out where I could already get my other boat. So in true “Jp” fashion I dropped the boat off a bank cut, and ran it over, under, around and through everything and then wenched it back up the bank and onto the trailer. Full Stars for performance. We jumped logs, sandbars, and probably a gator or two. I crashed into a few tree branches on the downriver trip but nothing terrible. Overall, this boat can go just about anywhere with 4-6” of water  and is quiet comfortable doing so. 

 

 

So… I met a guy. He goes by Jack and his reputation preceded him. It’s for good reason. 😊

We hunted in the old ways. With feet on the River bottom, and poles out ahead, we walked unknowingly upstream. The deep water concealed everything.  Luckily, Jack doesn’t need anything you can see to find “Rock”. 

We did not plant the pole on this trip without effort. For me, this was the greatest part of the day. We had to earn what we were looking for. Because of that, we found a spot together. Jack didn’t take me to his spots nor I to mine.  He took the time to show me “how”. It’s an understatement to say that my fossil hunting experience will no longer be the same. 
 

(That said, I need partners because walking blindly for hundreds of yards down a river I know has googlywoogly terror in it is SCARY. I fell in a hole that literally ate me!! 
Applications can be submitted anytime via PM 😂😂😉) 

 

Thanks, Jack!! 
 

 

 

The Finds!

 

 

Considering we spent over half the day poling the river.  The fossil yield in this remote and untouched region of the river was baffling. 
 

This was my first trip:

-finding untouched rock 

-finding over 300 sharks teeth in a spot 

-finding Tilly bones

-finding mastodon, mammoth, equus, dolphin, and cervid teeth in the same location on the same trip

 

Dugong ribs gonna get it’s on post. I’ll hopefully be able to show and prove why.  😉

 

Sharks teeth for days. 

 

Bellw:

P. contortus- new species find for me. Ended up finding 2! Miocene. Early early tiger shark. (Upper left)
 

The texture in the turtle carapace was stunning and I had to keep it. (Upper right)
 

Mammoth frag pileup (lower left)

 

Tilly bones, sponge, sand dollar frags and some gastropod cast.  (Lower right)

 

Found a BEAUTIFUL premolar and m3 from white tail deer -  (Odocoileus virginianus)

 

Two carpal/Tarsal bones to identify this week. Those weird shapes are gonna belong to someone with multiple digits. That’s my “just looking at them” guess. 

 

A dolphin tooth. Sadly no enamel on this one but it’s entact. Glad to add it to the growing dolphin tooth collection. I hope to find a dolphin jaw one day that I can display the teeth in. 😊

 

Lower panel is a mystery. It’s a tooth. 💯. Kinda incisor or canine. The curve/hook to it is interesting too. Good size too it for a canine. I have pictures of the ends but sadly it’s broken on both sides. Definite enamel with a dentin core….             ??? 

 

vertebrae fragment. Interesting shape but missing a lot of topography… The “wings” appear to originate in an upward position so maybe another white tail deer find? 

 

Was hoping when I got home I’d find some HSB’s in this tooth to ID it as rhino. The tiny outer edge looks just like a rhino but I need the  bands to run north to south. The bands appear to flow in the shape of the enamel not perpendicular to it…  more investigation after it finishes drying. If it’s not rhino it’s mastadon or Gomphere. So it’s a win for the location.  
 

 

This turtle carapace goes out to @citronkitten because it’s an edge piece! Shell on two sides. Check it out!! 

 

So some things to look into this week. That’s always great for my mind. Having a hunt at home is just as much fun as hunting the water. 
 

Going to post later about the theory and generalize what I learned. It’s important to me this journal maintains the education and hard lessons of hunting. Not just the findings. I need a minute to figure out how to stay true to the journals theme of learning the entire experience while also protecting a now worth protecting river from less than scrupulous folks. I’ll get there. 😊 

 

Thanks for joining us and if you didn’t see @Shellseeker’s post before this one be sure to scroll back and enjoy. 
 

Grateful. 
 

Jp

 

I love this dog. Ride or die!  😊😁

Edited March 25 by Balance

[Shellseeker]

Thanks Jp.  

Always keep in mind that other fossil hunters taught me everything I know.   I am just paying it forward.

On the Dolphin tooth ,  it is likely to beat up for Identification, but seems to be about the right size for a posterior tooth of Goniodelphis.. 

See this thread where @Harry Pristis  provides some fantastic photos and insights..

 

 

[Shellseeker]

Before I go to sleep ,  decided to add closer views of this tooth...

Side 1: Tooth 1

Side 1 Tooth view  2

 

Side 2, Tooth view 1

 

Side 2 Tooth view 2

 

Effectively no root,  Are there other possibilities beyond Meg and GW.... ?

[Harry Pristis]

2 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

Before I go to sleep ,  decided to add closer views of this tooth...

Side 1: Tooth 1

Side 1 Tooth view  2

Side 2, Tooth view 1

Side 2 Tooth view 2

Effectively no root,  Are there other possibilities beyond Meg and GW.... ?

Looks to me like half of a Galeocerdo mayumbensis.

[citronkitten]

What a great piece of shell! At the very least the location is identifiable - could that help for genus? And love the texture on the other piece as it's very well-defined. Thanks for mentioning me - glad to see it! 

[Balance]

Updates: 

What a busy week so far. Time for fossils has been slim.  Here’s some updates on some finds from the last trip with Jack. 

 

This one presented as a scaphoid of some type. Seems to match bison pretty darn well. I’ve found lots of old Bos bones but this one is fully fossilized so I think bison may be a fair guess. For now I’ll put it in the Bison /Bos ziplock and add it to the tiny bones project. 

 

 

Another tiny bone. This one is still not certain but the crescent shape and that kinda ball socket end say lunate or lunar. Tapir is currently my ID but giant sloth Meta carpal complex is a possibility. Need to find time on both these new tiny bones to get measurements off line. Another into the carpal/tarsal drawer!!

 

 

Ok. Bear with me. I think I’m actually correct so let me down gently but for sure feel free to fantasize with me. 😊 

 

The dugong rib was eaten by a shark. The bottom row of teeth would be the “x” marks. Notice the spacing. The upper and larger tooth would be the triangle ID and would have caused the rib to fracture. Hemi Serra sure seems a good suspect to call in for questioning!! 

 

 

So this suspected femoral head has dried out and it’s about 70mm in diameter. Any ideas on a  species head size that matches ?

 

 

Ok, Jack. @Shellseeker how soon you wanna go back to get the rest of this rhino?! HSB’s,  Sir!

 

 

Lessons learned and expanded: 

 

So Jack helped me better understand the way “rock” moves in the river. Online diagrams only go so far because under the surface is a 3D landscape that does more to affect the gravel deposits than many of the bends do. It’s also important to understand that gravel drops in order of size. So when you find a gravel bed you would be well served to spend some time locating the source because the larger the fossils, the closer to the source.  If a underwater rise in the riverbed slows the current, the fossils start falling. The lightest and smallest pieces ended up at the end of the field as they need less speed/flow to move. 

 

As Jack said in his post, “I was looking upstream for the source “.  Almost like it knew I’d need a way to discuss this theory without giving away location specifics. The river gave us a win on a relatively straight line. Straight lines are everywhere. So lucky for us this info can literally apply to anywhere on the river. 
 

Since my brain like triangles I came up with this view. Find the gravel, find the bottom corners, find the top(source) and the area of interest is the inside of the triangle they create. Largest “rock” concentred in the triangles inverse. Topographical channels and collection zones within that triangle would be high intensity locations. 
 

Told y’all he’s a Master. 
 

Also, the river approved because Jack and I were talking about how a buddy of his loves nurse shark teeth and Jack of course related he’d not found one in years. Bingo Bango Bongo. River provides 😊

 

Correct me if I’m wrong and please don’t hesitate to add any insight!

 

Keep the faith and try to do good. ! 
 

Jp

 

Edited March 28 by Balance

[Balance]

Camping with L.A. 

 

With the girls home for the long weekend my youngest and I decided to hit the river Friday and Saturday. Fossil hunting, camping and general exploring. I paired it with a need I had for searching a remote stretch of river for gravel beds. Despite incredibly shallow water we ran far into the wilderness. No lights, no roads , no access, no city, and nobody casually comes out here. So it’s the best place for adventure! 

My gravel search was rather fruitless. I end up paying attention to the kiddo and stopping at every island or sandbar to play. Always time to pole the river another day. We found a spot in “the way back” and made camp. LA explored and I dug a small gravel pileup in front of a log. I found bone scraps and a “Grease” CD. The river had a sense of humor at least.  At least 15 miles 1 way to where we are from the last bridge. Looks like the grease CD was ‘extra slippery’ in the current to get this far down. 🫣🫣😂

 

 

Primitive camp, baked taters, and steak is how we do it. Less is more but keep the meat coming. 

 

 

Saturday we headed back upriver to one of my original spots. It’s a common place to see weekend hunters digging so it’s light on sharks teeth but heavily loaded with everything else. As long as you plant yourself in the absolute bottom , it’s a great place for informal hunting and kids. 
 

LA was digging close to the bank and wasn’t finding anything. I told her a guy named Jack  taught me anything worth finding in busy places is as far down as you can reach. I saw her disappointment and let her be. A few minutes later I finished my snack and turned around to see she was much braver than me at 9yrs old. Not bad, LA!

 

We took our time returning the last few miles back upriver and did some trash cleaning. 2 full 4 gallon buckets of glass and plastic. She was pleased unloading it into the dumpster by the ramp. 

 

 

All dried up and photographed 

 

Bos Metacarpal , tortoise spurs and pads, a Glyptodont osteoderm, mega fauna bone, deer mix , gator teeth and a mystery articulati g bone frag.

 

I added the new spurs to the existing collection group for an updated photo. I think the top and bottom most examples (largest) are Glyptodont tail spurs. 

I would love feedback on these. We found another one this weekend. These are my “flat turtles bones”. Are these foot pads? 

 

Sticking close to Glyptodont. I found a complete rosette. Bucket list!! Now the question I have is with the two smaller. The tiny one looks like a miniature version of the big one. Very thick too. The middle is a 1/4 as thick as the Glyptodont. I saw a post where Shellseeker was comparing armadillo species and I believe the middle osteoderm is from armadillo and not Glyptodont. ??

 

A beautiful beauty of a beaut!! Look at the colors in the gator tooth! Not too shabby on size either. 

 

The mystery bone sent me on a wild egg hunt. 😉 I was convinced it was part of a calcaneus. However, it just didn’t seem to match. When compared to my other known examples it was matched to Bos but again it wasn’t correct. Then it hit me! It’s an astragalus! That’s why the topography was there but reversed! 
 

So partial Bos astragalus into the tiny bone collection!
 

Matched with a Bos calcaneous

 

A Bos metacarpal for the garage collection. This may prove very helpful with the tiny bones project as I sort through the Bos carpals. 

 

In our mixed bag we have a massive chunck of totally fossilized bone. It’s beautiful. - deer antler, and vertebra - mixed sharks teeth and the head of a cherub. My daughter pronounces it “Churb”.  I prefer pronouncing it missing the “e”. 😊

 

Next trip out it’s back into the remote reaches to hunt for new places. Grateful for the clear water and adventure. Grateful for the finds in a light location and grateful for a daughter who’s not afraid to get out there and dig a hole n the bottom of the river 😊

 

Have a great week! Keep the faith and try to do good!

 

Jp

Edited April 1 by Balance
Typos

[digit]

On 3/25/2024 at 1:19 PM, Shellseeker said:

An Interesting abrasion
 

 

If you are talking about the texture around the base of the cusp and not the wear pattern on the occlusal surface, that texture is normal on gomphothere teeth.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Shellseeker]

4 hours ago, digit said:

If you are talking about the texture around the base of the cusp and not the wear pattern on the occlusal surface, that texture is normal on gomphothere teeth

I was thinking about the wear pattern on the cusp. It seems like abrasion from an opposing cusp rather than breakage or wear caused by grinding of branches. Not a pattern I see often, but than I do not see many Gomph teeth 

 

Do you think,  texture around the base would imply Gomph over Mastodon?

[Shellseeker]

21 hours ago, Balance said:

Next trip out it’s back into the remote reaches to hunt for new places. Grateful for the clear water and adventure. Grateful for the finds in a light location and grateful for a daughter who’s not afraid to get out there and dig a hole n the bottom of the river

There are the lessons and memories that will last a lifetime.  LA is fortunate to have you.

 

You might check out this Osteoderm..  It was discovered just upstream of that park that only has a kayak launch.  

[dries85]

Great to see you out again enjoying ur new ride! Awesome gator tooth and i believe i found an arm belonging to the same species of 'churb'..

[digit]

2 hours ago, Shellseeker said:

I was thinking about the wear pattern on the cusp. It seems like abrasion from an opposing cusp rather than breakage or wear caused by grinding of branches. Not a pattern I see often, but than I do not see many Gomph teeth 

Yup. The top (occlusal) surface is very odd. Doesn't look like the smooth polished surface you usually see from teeth grinding together. To me it looks more like post-mortality damage from tumbling around in the river.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Balance]

@dries85 absolutely! Feels great to be exploring again. I do love the mechanical stuff but much prefer hunting!

 

I’ll keep an eye out for renaming churb fossils. I had no idea they ranged from Northern Europe to south Florida. 
 

Jp

[Balance]

Well I’ll be boogered! How cool is this? Thanks for the heads up, Jack. 
 

“Pachy osteos” are apparently very rare. They belong to a species related to the gylptodant and todays extant armadillos. The thickness is the key as well as the shape. 
 

Heres a great thread on the tiny osteoderm! Of course google looped me right back to TFF. 

My example below. worn but real 😊

Jp

[Balance]

                                   Camp

                             “B on the P”

 

 

 

Got out yesterday after work and hit the river with the goal of making it to “the way back” before dark. Established a riverside camp to use the there and dig a while too. 

 

Fossils are drying… report tomorrow…‘‘twas a darn good trip. 
 

Jp

 

 

Fossil Hunters custom fire pit. (It looks huge at this angle but it’s pretty small really)

A little thing I picked up today from the sieve. Need @Shellseeker’s piece from the last trip  😉