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