Anyone hunt morel mushrooms?

[1965]

I love them and it can be quite a competition to get them. They are on here around mid May and about 3 or 4 days after a good rain. They seem to favour sandy soil and poplar trees here as well. I have been told false morals will make you sick, they do look quite different from the regular when you compare them and they grow all summer where as the regular morals only have about a week and a half season here anyway.

 

[Industrial Toys]

We get those, the shaggy manes and puffballs. Shame, they all don't last very long before going black and you had better cook them almost immediately when cooked.

 

[Walt 2002]

A few of little black morels have been found in our area already. Other varieties of Morels will come on later with large white and yellows coming on towards the end of April. The ones I really like are the ones I find in the refrigerator thanks to grandson.

Walt Conner
Eastern mid Illinois

 

[Goose69]

We love morels. My whole family has always hunted them. Have hunted them all my life. My 90yo grandmother still hunts them.!!
we found a few black morels up in southern Illinois this past Saturday.
Last year on April 7th, we found well over 100 yellows around the same area, and they were not up yet this year.
So ground temps are definitely behind last years, as we usually find the blacks first, then whites/yellows. I have been finding morels is the same "patches" every year for 20+ years
We have searched our entire property here in Tennessee, and not found anything. So I guess I go "visit" family a little more often the next couple of weeks. LOL.

 

[crowbar032]

A facebook friend who lives up the road from me posted that she has found a few. And The Indiana Department of Natural Resources posted pics on facebook of a bunch they found. They would only say it was in "southern" Indiana.

 

[polo1665]

Morel season is my favorite time of the year in the woods. We go every year and usually find 100-150 over the course of the season. Not a lot, but enough, and my main enjoyment comes from time in my woods. We usually start looking when the May Apples come up.

I haven't read every post, but here are a couple of tips. Look for dead trees with the bark just starting to fall off (elms mostly around here). Look on hillsides facing east toward the rising sun. Old orchards are also a potential hot spot. Also as someone has mentioned, I hear that they like recently burned ground. Don't know this for a fact, but have heard it more than once.

I don't even eat them anymore (seem to have acquired an allergy to them in the last couple of years), but still love looking. Here's a site with a sighting map, so you can keep an eye on sightings in your area of the country.

The Great Morel Morel Mushroom Hunting

 

[Paddy]

Crowbar32,

I'm also in Southern IN. Years past, early May. Now more like end of April. If you are new to it, you are truly "hunting". And like hunting, you can end up empty handed. The folks that come back with heaping bags of 'shrooms', are not hunting but picking from their favorite spots. Don't expect anyone to take you to their spot.
I've had friends ask me to take them mushroom hunting, I do but never taken to my spots.

Do you have any elderly relatives that may have had to give up hunting and would share their spots?

 

[crowbar032]

Crowbar32,

I'm also in Southern IN. Years past, early May. Now more like end of April. If you are new to it, you are truly "hunting". And like hunting, you can end up empty handed. The folks that come back with heaping bags of 'shrooms', are not hunting but picking from their favorite spots. Don't expect anyone to take you to their spot.
I've had friends ask me to take them mushroom hunting, I do but never taken to my spots.

Do you have any elderly relatives that may have had to give up hunting and would share their spots?

I have my own property, 80 acres. Girlfriends family has 35 acres. So we'll be on our own property. My Dad doesn't like them and my Mom doesn't trust them. Years ago an uncle found a bunch back in the woods. He will tell me where he found them. I somehow always miss the season or don't know what I'm looking for. I don't expect to find many, I just didn't want to miss the season this year. I mainly wanted to see what they looked like growing out of the ground.

 

[dragoneggs]

1 Morel Mushroom Hunting Tips to Hone Your Searching Skills

 

[MossRoad]

I have an older friend that has been hunting them for decades.... until he had some friends and family over for morels at a meal. All was going well. Towards the end of the meal, one of the friends said his lips were tingling. Then another, and another.... didn't take long for all of them to realize something was wrong. 6 people to the hospital. False morel poisoning. They all recovered quickly after the hospital visit.

So best to take someone with you that has knowledge.... and even then, you gotta watch it. Educate yourself before you eat. :licking: