Finding Shark Teeth with Mudslinger Tours in Gainesville, Florida

Believe it or not, we have found more shark teeth in central Florida than we found on sandy beaches! Despite being about an hour and a half from the nearest beach, Gainesville, Florida is a hot spot for finding shark teeth. We recently went shark teeth and fossil hunting with Mudslinger Tours and we were absolutely blown away with our experience!

I’ve had several of my friends’ book tours with Mudslinger Tours over the last few years and they have all ranted and raved about their experience. I’ve been wanting to go for years now but wanted to wait until the twins were old enough to really enjoy it. Let me tell you, it was well worth the wait! We walked away from our four-hour tour with about 100 shark teeth!

In all honesty, I didn’t have much hope of finding shark teeth. I’ve never been very good at spotting them on the beach. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I actually found a shark tooth on the beach…and that was only because it was a megalodon tooth so it stuck out like a sore thumb. Aside from that treasure, I have only managed to find a dozen or so teeth on our beaches. I guess, I either don’t have the eye or the patience for it. The fact that we found over 100 in less than four hours was pretty damn cool.

It turns out, in order to find shark teeth…I had to leave the beach!

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How Are There Shark Teeth in Central Florida?

For millions of years, Florida was underwater meaning you can find shark teeth pretty much all over the state. Most fossil shark teeth are found in sedimentary rock- which was once the bottom of the ocean! The best places to find shark teeth are at the beach during low tide and at the edges and bottoms of creeks and rivers. Water erodes the harder sedimentary layers and helps to expose the fossil shark teeth.

Our Experience with Mudslinger Tours

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We booked a half-day morning tour with Mudslinger Tours. The morning tour lasted from 9 AM until 1 PM, which is more than enough time to get soaking wet in the creek and to find a plethora of shark teeth and fossils.

We left our house in JAX early in the morning and headed inland to Gainesville. When we arrived at the home where the tours depart, we were immediately greeted by two of the guides and shown a collection of shark teeth and fossils that have been found in the nearby creek beds. After a quick introduction and rundown of some rules, we walked about 150 yards down the road and down a narrow path in the woods until we reached the creek. From here, our guide, Rob, split us off into groups. We were all stationed far apart from each other in the creek, which was great because it gave us plenty of space to work and play.

Rob quickly showed us how to use the scoops and gave us some pointers to help us find the shark teeth. The key is to dig at least elbow deep, so we found a hole and got to scooping. We found teeth with pretty much every scoop of gravel we dug out of the creek. It was absolutely incredible! The whole creek bed was filled with teeth and fossils.

We worked out a system where one of us would scoop the gravel into the sifting pans, the boys would sift out all of the sand, and Smiley and whomever wasn’t scooping would go through the pan looking for teeth.

Pro-Tip: Be sure to establish a discard pile so that you don’t scoop through gravel you’ve already searched through.

Once we got into the groove, it was really easy to spot the shark teeth. They ranged in size from being small enough to slip through the mesh on our sifters to being the size of a dime.

The four-hour tour was a tad long for our little guys. They’d scoop and sift for a while and then randomly abandon their equipment to splash around in the creek. They had an absolute blast and all of that playing in the cool waters wore them out by the end of the day! On the other hand, our eight-year-old was perfectly content scooping and searching through our pans.

Pro-Tip: Be sure to pack a snack or a light lunch along with plenty of liquids.

Booking a Tour with Mudslinger Tours

To book your own tour with Mudslinger Tours, visit their Facebook Page. Tours must be booked at least a week in advance. A deposit is due at the time of booking and the remaining balance must be paid upon arrival.

The company operates out of a residence located at:

1414 NW 43rd Ave, Gainesville, FL 32605

Our Tips for Shark Teeth Hunting

The banks of the creek are filled with sharks teeth! Unfortunately, shark tooth and fossil hunters are unable to dig in the banks. In fact, you can’t use shovels to hunt in the creeks at all! Instead, you have to wait for mother nature to erode the banks naturally.

Here are some tips we learned from our pals at Mudslinger Tours:

The best spots to find the teeth are along the waterline at the creek. This is because the rainwater erodes the banks and washes the shark teeth and fossils into the creek.
Find a hole and start scooping! The deeper down you can get, the more successful you’ll be. We found that by moving a rock, or by finding a pre-existing hole, it cut down on some of the scooping. The goal is to get in an area that is between elbow and shoulder deep. If you reach clay, you’ve gone too far.
Establish a discard pile. Dump all of your excess gravel in the same pile. This way, you don’t keep searching through the same bits of gravel.
Try scooping with your hands. The folx at Mudslinger Tours will provide you with a super sturdy metal scoop. It had holes in it that allowed for the sand and water to exit the scoop. Super handy! Speaking of hands…you can also use your bare hands to begin establishing your digging hole. You’ll be surprised by how much sand you can scoop with just your hands!
Make sure you’re not scooping in someone else’s discard pile. Your guide will suggest that you find a natural pile of gravel and start your hunt there. If after a few scoops, you notice you’re not coming up with very many shark teeth or fossils, chances are you’re going through someone else’s discard pile. Move on.

Our Shark Tooth Hunting Essentials

Our kids wore their galoshes into the creek and they had to keep pouring out boot fulls of water and gravel. In retrospect, we should have packed their water shoes. Mudslinger Tours provides scoops, sifters, and baggies to collect your treasures.

It is forbidden to use shovels to extract shark teeth and fossils from the sediment.