Sometimes the bear gets you

[Shellseeker]

Rain is in the forecast for SW Florida for the next week.  One of my favorite locations has been too deep to hunt for weeks but had come down a little. 

I decided to push the limits with luck and go hunting today, in anticipation of deeper water for months to come. 

The deep water took away many locations that had treated me kindly in the past.  As a result I was not finding very much and was trying to get as close to that deep water and fast currents without actually falling in. 

Well, I did fall in, donating another baseball cap and a shovel to this location. The shovel is about 7 feet down in fast water and it would not have been wise for me to try for it today.  I will retrieve it when the waters recede , likely in September. I did get the sieve back... it floats.

Not very much for my favorite location, but I paid the price for hunting in deep water.

 

There are a couple of interesting finds here.

The Tigers tend to be significantly larger than those I find in Peace River proper. This one is a good example...

 

I have found some Tridactyl horse fossils here. The most common find is Nannippus peninsulatus. This VERY beat up upper horse tooth may be a tridactyl.  I am thinking that @fossillarry has identified to species on a lot less than this.  Maybe he can pull some magic here. 

 

I do not think this is Nannippus.  For one thing, the size. Am I imagining an isolated protocone there ?

 

Here is another Oddity...

 

This is kind of unique in terms of wear pattern that I have not seen previously.  But my question is about the interior bone.   Less than a week ago, I found a Whale Pelvic bone where the interior looked almost exactly as this bone looks. 

So I am developing a Hypothesis that ONLY marine mammals can have porous bone that looks like this, not land mammals. Numerous TFF members are familiar with both marine and land mammal bones. This Hypothesis should be easy to prove/disprove.  I am taking a poll. 

 

All Comments and Suggestions appreciated ,  Jack

[Jaybot]

Thanks for sharing Jack.  Tripmakers or not, nice to see that you got a little adventure in

[automech]

Jack, your post triggered a memory. The "bear" of the Peace bit me in 2016. It was actually around this date. My family were visiting friends in Oviedo and I took my buddy and his 3 girls with 5 of my kids to the Bowling Green area. Just as you said. The river was high! We ended up parking under a bridge (can't remember what road) and gave it a go. At 6 foot 3inches, the deepest part came up to my neck. We were having a tough time with the current. My oldest and my friend's oldest decide to stay out of the water. After a couple of hours we decided to quit with scare fossils to show. Here's the harrowing, embarrassing, part. I went to reach for my key in my swim trunk pocket, that had a velcro, and it was GONE. Panic ensued. Extra water and food were in the van. Some of the girls needed to use a bathroom. And it was hot as blazes. We were able to get hold of a locksmith and the local police came by with a case of water for us and waited until the locksmith was done. 4 hours later. When we got back to Oviedo, 2 hours later, my oldest daughter said "I could've held the key for you dad". Lessons learned.

[Brevicollis]

Short question : what does "bear" mean in this context ?

 

I came here, thinking I would see an extremly rare bear fossil, and now I've read throug two horror storys  from peace river and I'm confused

[austinh]

26 minutes ago, Brevicollis said:

Short question : what does "bear" mean in this context ?

 

I came here, thinking I would see an extremly rare bear fossil, and now I've read throug two horror storys  from peace river and I'm confused

My guess is it is from the saying: "Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you" in this context "the bear" would be the elements, or river. 

[Jaybot]

Yep @austinhis right.  I think it's used more in the U.S

[Bobby Rico]

Nice finds here. One of my fears is of bears  even maybe a phobia.  I watched

"grizzly man" film and that just made it worse.  I am really relieved that no bears was featured in this thread. 

 

Cheers Bobby 

[Shellseeker]

8 hours ago, Brevicollis said:

Short question : what does "bear" mean in this context ?

Sorry for delay. I sometimes use quotes from old movies that I enjoyed !

 

When a man goes hunting bear,  sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you.  It a way of thinking about life. When you attempt something dangerous, things do not always turn out the way you planned. 

[Meganeura]

8 hours ago, automech said:

Jack, your post triggered a memory. The "bear" of the Peace bit me in 2016. It was actually around this date. My family were visiting friends in Oviedo and I took my buddy and his 3 girls with 5 of my kids to the Bowling Green area. Just as you said. The river was high! We ended up parking under a bridge (can't remember what road) and gave it a go. At 6 foot 3inches, the deepest part came up to my neck. We were having a tough time with the current. My oldest and my friend's oldest decide to stay out of the water. After a couple of hours we decided to quit with scare fossils to show. Here's the harrowing, embarrassing, part. I went to reach for my key in my swim trunk pocket, that had a velcro, and it was GONE. Panic ensued. Extra water and food were in the van. Some of the girls needed to use a bathroom. And it was hot as blazes. We were able to get hold of a locksmith and the local police came by with a case of water for us and waited until the locksmith was done. 4 hours later. When we got back to Oviedo, 2 hours later, my oldest daughter said "I could've held the key for you dad". Lessons learned.

That’s gotta be the heard rd bridge! Right by the Walmart. Also I very quickly learned to always have a dry bag, and always closed, for very similar reasons… I flipped my kayak once with my dry bag open. I was somehow lucky enough to lose nothing at all and not have any water damage, but I learned my lesson!

 

Ive lost many water shoes to the Peace though. 

[automech]

@Meganeura I checked on the map and that wasn't it. There were houses nearby. After looking around Bowling Green I recognized the house and bridge. It was Rt. 664, West County Line Rd. What fun would it be without a little bit of danger? 

[Meganeura]

2 hours ago, automech said:

@Meganeura I checked on the map and that wasn't it. There were houses nearby. After looking around Bowling Green I recognized the house and bridge. It was Rt. 664, West County Line Rd. What fun would it be without a little bit of danger? 

Oh! That was going to be my second guess. That's a good spot, found some good things around there!