Ready for spring and Morel hunting

elkslayer, I do! Man, I ran out about three months ago. I've been countin' down the days myself until I can get out and start lookin'.

We normally concentrate on the morels but also keep corel and elephant ear mushrooms. I'll agree 100% with ya also....a good venison steak with morel mushrooms is awesome!

As for when we start...well I'm sure you already know that it depends mostly on the thaw. I'll probably start lookin' here in the next few weeks and then hit it hard once they start sproutin.

I was curious, we have to fight with folks that go out in mass and collect buckets full to sell later. Do you all run into the same thing? I can't blame em really with the price of morels on the market. However, I'm only interested in gathering enough to last me through to hunting season so that I can enjoy them with the game I bring home. That's why I try to get out there before the commercial pickers hit it.

These things pretty hard to find or not to dificult, I'd love to try this out for a season and press my luck for some. How many can you usually find in a season?

Also, They grow in utah at all or would i have to travel out of state? What kinda enviroments they in? This would be something pretty different to get into :)

hound_hunter, I can only speak for my neck of the woods but we don't have much of a problem findin' them once they start sprouting. On most days we'll go out and gather a couple 5 gallon buckets full at a time. However, there are other days where we don't find much at all (Just like huntin', my friend).

I'm not sure if they grown in Utah or not but I would assume that they do (Help me out here guys). As for the type of environment/areas inwhich we find them: Once the thaw begins in earnest they start sproutin' in moist areas with a good canopy to keep the sunlight to a minimum. Direct sunlight for prolonged periods tends to dry them out and renders them not worth pickin'.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Yeah do we have many of these in Colorado? Id be interested what am I looking for? how about a tutorial with pics =D>

morels is the actual name of the mushroom?

Never seen then in my neck of the woods, maybe it's because I'm in the desert. :) Sounds interesting though.

That's what they call 'em Brett.

I went out this morning to check the thaw. Looks like about two-three more weeks out here before I start huntin' in earnest.

Below are a few pics of what they look like (The biggest one is an EXCEPTION mushroom. Most are about the size of a salt shaker)

As for a tutorial: Like I stated earlier, ya need a good, moist deck with a decent canopy over the top. Heavy forested areas with a good amount of snow melt is perfect. The hot open areas are too dry and even if the 'shrooms sprout they dry out before they get to pickin' size. I am not sure about most states but we get a very good crop of em here in the Blue Mountains of SE WA and Northern ID.

i dont know why but that looks sorta scary.lol

umm are you sure those are edible???

How to Find Morels


(What Morel Enthusiasts Need to Know)

Morels grow primarily in sandy soil, never clay, unless there is a lot of organic matter near the surface. Therefore, they are usually found near rivers. They are also found scattered widely in mountain humus. They never grow in bog, because water seals out oxygen.
The habitat is usually tall trees in undisturbed environments, though morels are sometimes found in brush. In clean sand, they tend to wander some distance from trees. They sometimes come up in tall grass.

Timing is critical in finding morels. They come up about six weeks after the ground thaws. It might be eight weeks, if dry weather slows down their growth.

This means early April in Missouri, late April in Iowa and middle of May in northern Michigan. Experienced morel stalkers check an environment several times starting early and after every rain.

Morels usually come up after a rain. The day after a rain is the best time to look for them. They will still be in good shape for 3-5 days, if someone else doesn't get to them. In about a week, they start to break down, and bacteria grow on them, which will make a person sick. So don't eat morels which are old and starting to break down.

Sometimes, morels will come up in flushes each time a rain occurs. Sometimes, they will come up without a rain, but they will then be delayed a couple of weeks.

Morels are not found in the same place for more than one to three years, because they use up the type of nutrients that they require, which is a particular type of bacteria.

The best way to spread morel spores is to put the old ones on tree branches. Only the old ones have mature spores. The young ones will dry before spores are formed.

Be careful of false morels, sometimes called brain mushrooms.


They produce a toxin. It is usually not lethal in this country but should be avoided. False morels are rounder and lower to the ground, and the ridges are more rounded, like brains.

Be careful about storing morels a long time before eating, unless they are dried or precooked and frozen. Otherwise, bacteria grow on them, which can make a person sick, but not seriously ill. The bacteria are probably Psuedomonads. Store in paper bags, which absorb moisture, but avoid plastic, which causes moisture to accumulate.

[quote="

I was curious, we have to fight with folks that go out in mass and collect buckets full to sell later. Do you all run into the same thing? I can't blame em really with the price of morels on the market. However, I'm only interested in gathering enough to last me through to hunting season so that I can enjoy them with the game I bring home. That's why I try to get out there before the commercial pickers hit it.[/quote]


People have been shot over morels in michigan, they sell for big bucks, but like you I just eatem... this will be a fun thread make sure to post your harvest this year.

Thanks a ton everyone for the info. Several 5 gal. buckets full in a single day!!! That's awesome!

You guys sure seem to know your stuff, good luck this season - keep us posted, im excited to hear all the success and see the pictures!

Morel Mushrooms are apparently common in MN North country, I've heard a lot about them, and I think I've seen many. I don't know much about them but I would like to learn.

Well It's a start and looks like they are just stating to pop up found some blacks and a blond. and some wee shrooms just popping up ground temp is a 60 so they should be bustin up now. The kicker is I got back home that morning and to appease the Wife God for letting me go morel hunting in the first place I made her the first morel omelet. At least she gave me a bite. LOL :)) Anybody find any yet?

Hope you all are doing great and enjoying the spring

elkslayer338, I'm heading out this Saturday to do a little "huntin" here in WA. I'll let ya know how I do (Last year was great...should be pretty good again this year).

well i've only personnaly hunted 'shrums once and found a few morels but a buddy i work with is a 'shroomer and just friday on the way to work we were just driving along and he spotted a bunch of shaggy mains ???? not sure on the spelling-- or the word itself for that matter???? any way he got 10 total just on the side of the gravel road we were on.

Cool let me know how it goes I hear you have great picking out their. oh watch out for the morel Yeti. LOL
Hope you fill bags full
Stew

Elkslayer, I hit the hills this morning with my Brother, my youngest son and my niece and found about 2 pounds worth. I think we're still a good week to two weeks from the peak pickin' days though. Most of the morels we found were rather small and a lot of the ground was still frozen (In fact we had a few snowflakes fallin' while we were out. But...THEY ALL TASTE THE SAME! I think I'll grill some up this evening with a nice venison steak and enjoy myself.
I got some pics too. I'll post them to this thread when I get them downloaded.

Here's a couple pics from this morning. One is my youngest son with his finds (After about 1/2 of hunting he decided it was more fun chasing squirrels and stopped lookin'). The second pic is just a few of the larger ones we found (Like I said, we found a lot...just not a lot of big ones).

awsome hawk--- way to include your kid!!! he'll never forget it!

never seen those things before! can you eat them??? (???)

da duh. some people like to mount them on the wall though :) :))

The Morels look a little different in my neck of the woods (???)

"AGCHAWK" wrote:Here's a couple pics from this morning. One is my youngest son with his finds (After about 1/2 of hunting he decided it was more fun chasing squirrels and stopped lookin'). The second pic is just a few of the larger ones we found (Like I said, we found a lot...just not a lot of big ones).

Outstanding and great job on your Haul in,them look like some good blonds, I went out yesterday hiked around a bit with one of the guys from my Elk camp. found 14 still a bit early but should start popping now. I smell morels as if they were right under my nose.....

"StickFlicker" wrote:The Morels look a little different in my neck of the woods (???)

LOL..... this is one from the redwood forest

UTAHBOWHUNTER, heck yea you can eat! Some of the best eatin' wild mushrooms you can find...and NOTHING beats a nive venison steak with grilled morels!

STICKFLICKER, I don't know if I'd try stickin' those things in my mouth....

ELKSLAYER....LOL....I wouldn't stick THOSE in my mouth anymore either!

KILLER.....my youngest LOVES the mountains. He just can't concentrate on one thing at a time out there. I don't think he could be "bored" out there even if he tried~

well been finding a few each day up to hundred or so well I just did up this video and thought you all might git a kick out of it, let me know what you think
thanks
http://www.stickam.com/editMediaCom...d&mId=175304610

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that looks scary and nasty. are they that good

They are considered the best of the best in the mushroom world. Chefs will pay a hefty sum on the order of gold for these babies.

Morels and turkey hunting go hand and hand here. yum yum

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Stick Flicker, Do you have any recipes for prickly pear jam or jelly? How do you get those hair needles from getting in your fingers?

Sorry, I don't have any recipes for them, but I have eaten them. They taste a fair amount like water mellon in my opinion. It is tough to get all the little spines skinned off before you eat them, though. The first time we tried to eat them, my friend got a small thorn stuck in the very back part of his tongue. We were quite a comedic sight, I imagine, out in the middle of the desert trying to get that spine out of his tongue!

Can anyone give ideas on where to find these in Northern Colorado or should I be looking for some other types?