Outdoors A.D.D.

These decoys were strategically placed in a well-known bird
travel corridor... unfortunately for me, those birds are geese
 and the travel corridor is the grassy fairway between Home
Depot and ABC5. My coworkers are  saying I need to make
more time for turkey hunting! 

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a very dedicated turkey hunter. I am really trying to be, but Spring always brings out my outdoors ADD. On a daily basis my hunter heart yearns to go outside and track down a big Tom.  Lately, I have even been dreaming about gobblers strutting into my decoy spread and making that challenging shot with my old Hoyt. But then the reality sets in... and on a daily basis, my schedule gets full of all the little things that happen called life. And I know I'm not alone.

Poor Gus Gus. My gas guzzler needs a tune--up!

My truck is acting up. It's been running rough every time it rains (which has been a lot lately), so I have to work on the truck instead of hunting. If it's not the truck, it's the house. I've always got a project on the back burner. If it's not the house it's the new boat. My "new" boat is actually an old '69 Larson tri-hull project in progress and a giant pile of painting, carpeting, bolting and cleaning just waiting in the garage for the day I make time to do it. And the list goes on.

Developing wall cloud 3/4 mile south of my positon near
Admire, KS on Friday April 27th.

I am a meteorologist so severe weather also steals my time. If there isn't any in my neighborhood, I'll often go and track down storms elsewhere. April 27th I went southwest of Topeka, KS to follow and report severe weather to the National Weather Service. I saw several funnel clouds, wall clouds, hail and even one brief tornado. I firmly believe, trained storm spotters, amateur radio operators and emergency management folks who keep watch on the sky do an invaluable service to the public and profession of meteorology. Our radar is good, but often don't provide the reliable information that a qualified ground spotter does.  In order to track a tornado, I forfeit my opportunity at a turkey and severe weather days trump turkey hunting 9 times out of 10.

And then there's the days I do get out. Usually the weather is crummy, like it was this past Sunday. I find that a tad ironic considering my profession, but sometimes you just have to get out and hunt or fish on those fowl weather days. If you didn't, you might not be able to go at all.

I love Iowa in the Spring!

Whether it's Morels or gobblers, Walleye or shed hunting- if you find yourself suffering from a severe case of Spring outdoors ADD, I feel your pain. Sometimes I wonder if it would be better for me to just focus on getting an old Tom before worrying about catfish or chasing Cumulonimbus. But then again, it's kinda fun not knowing what tomorrow will bring.

My Opening Day of Turkey Season

Ah, out turkey hunting at last!

Saturday was a great day in the spring woods! Although I didn't get a gobbler, the action was exciting and I had the pleasure of introducing someone to the sport of turkey hunting. This hunt was another great example of how our time outdoors provides opportunity even if we don't tag that trophy.

Jason's first turkey hunt.

My friend Jason has been hunting before. He hunts deer and he does it the hard way -with a stick and string on the ground! But never before had he been turkey hunting. So a few weeks ago, we made plans to get out in the woods and see if we could trick an old tom into range.

"Painting waiting to happen"

In the pre-dawn darkness, we talked some turkey strategy. I showed Jason how to use a slate call and he practiced as we rumbled down an old county highway in my truck. Once we got there, Jason made the comment as we geared up outside the truck, "this morning sky was a painting waiting to happen." Between the valley fog, frosty grass, dawn color and broken sky it was truly a beautiful sight. And believe it or not made it worth it to wake up at 4am.

Gobbles echoed almost continuously until sunrise. We located a couple toms and snuck within 200 yards, but they were on the bordering property and getting any closer would undoubtedly spook the deer in the fields towards the gobblers. So we set up, and called for a bit. I was getting a response about every 5th try, but they never closed the distance. After an hour or so we tried a new spot.

Too bad those are just my decoys...

The frosty pastures that morning seemed to keep the turkeys in the woods, because it wasn't until mid-morning that we were seeing them work the ridges. We walked around a bit, calling from time to time and at one point, we were ambushed by three jakes. I made the mistake of hitting the yelp when we weren't set up-just to see what was around- and less than 100 yards away the hillside erupted in gobbles! Jason and I had just enough time to kneel down before three red periscope heads poked up from the pasture. They literally ran at us to about 75 yards before they began to act nervous about the two weird looking bushes holding the turkey decoys. The only other turkey encounter we had was close to noon when a big tom with an 8"-10" beard came out into the pasture working the ridge-line and feeding. At first, he'd stop every time I called, but eventually he ignored my calls and kept feeding until he was out of sight. He must not have liked what I was saying...

Old Morels. These guys are 2 weeks
old and I'm losing faith in my forecast
of a second morel season. My spots
shut down once the cool April showers
came in.

So we didn't get a turkey, but it was a great morning in the woods! We found a deer antler shed, a few old morels and made some new memories along the way. With the weather pattern swinging wildly the next few weeks, I hope you can squeeze in a few chances to enjoy good weather in the outdoors. Good luck!

-Chris

Wild Warmth Yields Wild Weather

We knew all this record warmth was going to lead to some severe weather eventually, and April 14th marked the beginning of Iowa's 2012 tornado season.

At least four tornadoes struck Iowa on Saturday including the Thurman EF2 and Creston EF2 and which had winds approaching 130mph. Here's a link to the NWS storm damage survey. This was part of a larger storm system that produced at least 75 confirmed tornadoes in the Great Plains!

Fortunately there were no deaths from these tornadoes and our early spring heat isn't all bad. In fact, the early warmth has boosted fishing license sales in Iowa, helping ease the pains of a shrinking DNR budget. Here's the story from http://www.myabc5.com/ :

Warm Weather Lures Iowa Anglers

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - Fishing license sales in Iowa have reached an all-time high for the past decade as anglers take advantage of the warm weather to hit prime fishing spots.

Sales by the Department of Natural Resources in the first quarter topped over 100,000, surging past early season sales by 16% or more. Some anglers have been out since February. The boom has boosted revenue for the department's Fish and Wildlife Fund.

Fisheries chief Joe Larscheid says the trust fund has been shrinking in recent year and higher expenses have Iowa due for a fishing license increase - something that hasn't happened since 2004. He says this year's sales will ease some of the pressure until the Legislature can act.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Talkin' Turkey and Our Extreme Weather Pattern

Well, this rainy day has me inside and finally back to bloggin'. I have been pretty busy lately and it always seems like there is no shortage of projects this time of year, both at work and in the woods!

I'm helping take down the old set...
well, sort of helping.

One of the latest projects was a major renovation at our station ABC5. We dismantled our old news set and constructed a new set, something I'm very proud to have been a part of. You can see more online at myabc5.com and on our Facebook page.



Our new studio set! It's very sharp
 and a great addition to ABC5!



Now we're switching gears to talk some turkey. One of my good friends at trailcamtrophies.com sent me an awesome turkey video of their family hunting adventures the last few years and now I'm all fired up to hunt some turkeys. One of the biggest challenges we'll see this season stems from our amazingly warm weather pattern which has launched the woods way ahead of schedule. Here's the rundown on Spring Turkey season 2012.

Apr 7 - 15 (Youth Season - Resident)
Apr 16 - 19 (Season 1)
Apr 20 - 24 (Season 2)
Apr 25 - May 1 (Season 3)
May 2 - 20 (Season 4)

The woods look a lot more like they
do in May, rather than April.

Once you step afield one of the first things to notice is how thick and dense the cover is. The forest undergrowth and canopy is nearly one month ahead of last year making it look more like 4th season, rather than the beginning of turkey season. The turkey breeding has followed suit and I'd estimate over half of hens have already been bred. Toms have been strutting for over a month now and I've kicked hens off of nests for the past three weeks during scouting and mushroom hunting. Two weeks ago, I had several reports from farmers of hens being bred. I think sucess is going to depend on how well sportsmen can adapt to the extreme changes in this season vs. seasons past. I plan to be mobile and I'm going with a bow to spread out the season and hopefully increase my odds of success. With the foliage further along, camoflauge will be key to hiding both hunters and prey much better than in years past. This is sure to make the game more challenging but could work in your favor if your patient.

Cover is getting thick! Slow down when
you find one, more are likely nearby.

Thick brush is helping camoflauge the Morels that are still out from a few weeks ago. I suspect our widespread freezing conditions will hurt the crop of mushrooms that were up, but I don't expect it to be a detriment to any new ones on the way in the next few weeks. Once temps warm back up, more should pop up after this weekend's warmth and thunderstorms. Next week I expect another round of wide-spread fresh morels in their more typical spots.

Morel mushrooms I
found on Easter. Left to right, morels
that fired after our week in the 80s,
mushrooms from April 1st and 2nd
and finally on the right,mushrooms
less than a week old.

If you plan to be outdoors this weekend either hunting, fishing or just taking a hike, be sure to keep an eye on the weather. I am expecting an outbreak of severe storms and tornadoes to our south, but some severe storms with hail, high winds and even a tornado or two could sneek into Iowa. It's always a good idea to tell your friends or family where your going and have them give you a call if the weather looks bad. Follow the latest forecast on myabc5.com, and tune in to ABC5 for any info on severe weather.

Good luck and have a safe, fun weekend in Iowa's outdoors!

Jackpot!

Beautiful, mysterious, Morel.

Well, I finally hit the jackpot! I walked a little over 2 miles in 6 hours and found 682 Morels on Friday making for one of the best days I’ve ever had mushroom hunting. Here’s my nuts and bolts approach to filling a sack with fresh and tasty Morels.

Much to my girlfriend's dismay,
I processed 6.5 gallons of Morels
Friday night.

Find land. I asked permission and in exchange I gave half of my findings to the landowners that enjoy eating Morels as much as I do. Let me take a sentence or two right now to say thank you to them. Without that permission, I’d be hunting more popular areas like public land. But that’s not a bad thing. Morel’s grow on public land too! In addition to road ditches, there are thousands of acres to look in state, county and city parks open to you and me.

From Left to Right: Black Morel, Bigfoot Morel, Common Yellow
Morel and White Morel. 4 different species, all very tasty!

It’s early, but not too early. Morels can’t read a calendar and the soil temps have been favorable for at least 2 weeks. The mushrooms we’re finding support that. I actually left around 50 Morels that were covered in white mold as they succumb to old age. Around 80% of my Morels have been on southwest facing slopes/valleys. There I found a mix of “Little Greys” and “Yellows.” Gentle hillsides with little understory seemed to catch the right amount of sunlight. I found the bigger species of Bigfoot and Common Morels "Yellows" under pockets of Multi-flora Rose and Gooseberry immediately adjacent to dead Elms.

Chris found twins!

It’s dry, but not too dry. The lack of snowmelt and/or spring rains has left us in or near drought. But hillsides still seep and creeks/ponds still raise the water table and moisture levels in a very localized area. This will make it difficult for you to find them very wide-spread, but it can really help to narrow your search. Break out the topo-maps and find spots with SW facing slopes next to water. In a lot of places, side-hill seepage creates a wet pocket around the middle of a hillside. With dead trees nearby, you’ve got good potential to find these little guys.

SW facing slopes have been favorable. Limited canopy
and understory maximize the heat from sunlight.

Look up before looking down. I look for standing dead trees first so I don’t waste time looking in random areas. One of my best finds was a giant dying Cottonwood and several dead Elms in a southwest facing valley. I spotted the tree from 200 yards away and decided to give it a try. This 1,000 square foot spot had 150 to 200 that had fired off 7 to 10 days ago. That roughed to around 3-4lbs in an area the size of my house. Looking up and sticking to my game-plan of favorable SW facing topography scored big here.

Most of the southwest exposures have Morels I’d guestimate around 10-14 days old. Only a handful were freshly grown and most were in very dry soil. I suspect those grew after the week in the 80s, during that weeklong rain. But newer, bigger morels are beginning to fire on north slopes, so I'm shifting my search a bit. If you can locate some recently dead trees like elm, oak or cottonwood on North facing slopes in steep valleys immediately next to warm pockets and moisture gives the Morels all they’ll need. I know that’s a very specific set of conditions, but it works!

About 1/4 of our day's catch!

Soil temps have cooled into the upper 40s and 50s in central Iowa. Johnston’s reporting a 4” soil temperature of 50 on Saturday, April 7^th. I don’t expect too many new Morels to be firing with  this cool weather we’ve seen lately, but this morning’s rain sure helped. Solid chances for frost are approaching in the 7-Day forecast, I’m going to try and get out again ASAP.

Blooming Lilacs, Violets and Dandelions are all positive
signs the environment is favorable for mushrooms!

Patience, persistence, and good friends made my trip successful. Without someone to chat with and bounce ideas off of, I might not have lasted as long out there, so thanks Seth, Heather and C.G.

Hopefully this info makes your next trip successful! Good luck and Happy Easter!            -Chris

Finally! I'm on the Board!

Most of my Morels came from grassy south and west slopes.

Morels are out! Many of you know this and have been enjoying for weeks, meanwhile a lot of seasoned hunters are being burned by this season so far. Well, I'm finally on the board with around 200 Little Greys and Yellows totalling 4 to 5lbs. Paying attention to the signs helped me snag a good haul in just a few hours and I've got some insight into what might make your next trip a success! Here's the story.



After giving over half away, it's still a pretty
good haul for a few hours of hiking!



Tuesday, April 3rd after we finished doing some contract labor on a cedar deck, a friend and I decided to go stomping the woods for Morels. We got done with the job early and he had never gone Morel hunting before so we decided to head out to the Madison County timber.

Areas with Violets, Creeping Charlie's and Dandelion's are
good signs the soil temp is getting close to the conditions
Morels need.

This was my 4th trip out, and I had already racked up 6 miles or so with zero Morel sightings. The last trip was Sunday when it was so hot and walking back to the truck that day I remember thinking that was the first time I had seen such positive signs in the woods with no success. It was very frustrating. My disappointment was only compounded more by a run-in with a disgruntled landowner who tried to kick me off a public ditch right-of-way followed a few minutes later by my 4-wheel drive breaking at a different property. Sunday was rough, but Tuesday was much better!

The first morel I spotted was tucked under a mat of last year's grass. I did a double take and then smiled as big as my face would allow. Looking left and then right, I located 5 more White Morels (Little Greys). I knew this spot looked good from across the pond. Just a few minutes earlier, I was on a south facing slope and hadn't seen anything. When I saw the standing dead elm tree right next to a feeder creek I thought those steep cut banks might create just the pocket of favorable conditions that Morels need. Forecast verified.

The Morel line-up is from newest to oldest left to right. Notice the mix of new Little Greys and older Yellows.
This tells me we're in the beginning stages of the season.

Over the next two hrs we focused on areas that receive the maximum sun and might have the warmest soil temps. I walked right past areas where I annually have some success and went for new spots. We had good luck with south and west facing slopes. Most of our spots were sunny, with limited canopy and limited undergrowth. All of these factors would allow these locations to have the highest soil temps around. Standing dead Elm is what I key in on for starting points and when there is some multi-flora rose, mossy/grassy soil and dandelions or violets nearby -all the better. Most of the morels were in dry soil and some looked like they had been up for at least a week to 10 days. That time-frame makes sense since it is coincident with the first rainfall we had after the week in the 80s back in March.

One of the best signs was the 30-40 Morels that were in perfect condition. We found them on a gentle west facing slope with some Shag Bark Hickory trees overhead. They were deeper in the woods than we had found any other Morels on this trip and they were as fresh as they come. I only found one or two Morels on north facing slopes. Both areas were buried under thick groves of Multi-flora rose and they were just Little Greys. This tells me the season is very young. If conditions stay right, we could see Morels the entire month of April!

If you're not having much luck consider looking at new places. Only 2 of my 7 hot-spots had any Morels. But that's what makes this challenge so fun. Coming up, I'm blogging about my Morel season forecast, turkey hunting and how this weather pattern could hurt our season, and some Morel recipes you might enjoy.

Good luck hunting out there and I hope this helps your search!        -Chris