Just What the Doctor Ordered!

Well, if you had a strong case of cabin fever, the past week's weather sure felt like the cure!

 In just a few short days central Iowa has exploded into spring and even summer-like weather with central Iowa's first 80s and some strong storms.

This heat has brought about a lot of blossoms as we've raised the ground temps into the 50s and 60s. It's even warm enough now for my mom's asparagus to emerge.

Several flowers are blooming in the Iowa woods. I'll often find these alongside morels, but I went out this past Sunday 4/28, but I didn't find anything.

We're still "early" in the spring season as far as the woods are concerned. With the recent 80s, I'd suspect pockets of Morchella Deliciosa (little greys) are awaiting in central and southern Iowa. South facing hills would be my target area to find them. Look for Violets, Dandelions and grass at least 10" high for areas with soil temps warm enough. In some cases, there can be a 10-15 degree difference in the soil temps from one side of the hill to another. This warm up may have been just enough heat for some spotty morels in southern Iowa, so I'll still be looking this week.

The recent warmth was great for fishing too! Water temps are up into the 50s now, with the Des Moines river right around 55F as of 4/30. Bryan got a nice 13" pre-spawn Crappie out of Big Creek with this weekend's nice weather!

Congrats Crawford Hubbell!

The turkeys in my area have gone from just a few gobbles here and there to a more persistent chattering. Just last weekend Heather and I sat and listened to around 100 gobbles inside of 5 hours. We saw several hens, but only 3 timid young toms who seemed a bit decoy shy. We didn't have any luck, but congrats to one of the readers who tagged out on his first ever turkey hunt with an 18lb jake! I am still waiting for my first turkey, so hats off to him.

Like all good things, this nice weather will come to an end. And just as the trees are beginning to exchange their winter brown for an emerald green, more wintry air is moving in. Highs will plunge into the 30s and lows will dip into the 20s. Parts of the state will have a chance for snow showers later in the week and this chill will put a lid on our outdoors adventures for a bit.

I'm going to attempt to turkey hunt in the rain, wind and snow just to make the best of this crummy pattern. I'll let you know how it goes. Good luck with the cool, showery stretch!

Breaking the Cycle!

Finally, we're breaking the cycle and there is an end to winter in the forecast!

We'll start with winter and nearly jump to summer all in one week!

Lately the average temperatures have been quite cold as Arctic air from northern Canada bullied into the Lower 48. Every time a storm system would dive into the Pacific Northwest, it would try to warm Iowa up for a day or two. But ultimately these storms would drag down more cold as they passed plunging us back into winter mode on a weekly basis. Snowfall to our north and west compounded issues by refrigerating the ground and inhibiting a decent warm-up.

Stuck in a winter rut! The 4" soil temps mirror the average
air temp.

Our break in the pattern comes by the end of this week. Instead of a storm every 3-5 days, we'll take a break in the action possibly going 5 to 7 days without a storm. At the same time a ridge of high pressure will build in the upper levels allowing us to get quality sunshine -the key to our warmth!

Soil temps look good for Morels after the 28th central  and southern
Iowa.

Sunshine this time of year is as strong as late August sunshine. We'll see this by the end of the week and our temps will jump up quickly. With average temps up in the 50s and 60s soil temperatures will also respond. Once the 4" soil temp jumps into the low 50s, the environment becomes favorable for Morels!

The grass says spring, but the trees still say winter. Once we get a week in the 60s and 70s, I expect to see an explosion of spring blooms. It will also be nice to dry out after such heavy recent rains, although we still have a sub-soil deficit from the long term drought.

Flooding rains have broken the drought for eastern Iowa and placed
central Iowa in the top 4 wettest Aprils.

With all the moisture lately and some warmer temps, Morels are likely to really start popping this weekend south of I-80. If we can keep temps up in the 70s and 80s (seems plausible), we will see conditions develop for widespread Morels after April 28th.

We had some spring warmth at the beginning of the month,
but it wasn't enough to loosen Old Man Winter's Grip

I expect that the bigger species of bigfoot morels and common yellows to become widespread in central and southern Iowa May 4th through the 11th. Friends in northern and eastern Iowa may have to wait until mid to late May for a good showing.

The lineup (left to right); 3 Black Morels, 1 Bigfoot Morel,
3 Common Morels, 3 Delicious Morels... well actually, they were
all delicious and we will be tasting them again very soon ;-)

Good luck and send me some Morel pictures!

Morels in the Forecast

It's that time of year again!!! Morel Season is near!

Common yellow morels from last year.

We have seen some soaking rains transforming central Iowa from this…  

   into this, 

in just a few days.

Last year we had the heat, but not the moisture! That led to my biggest morel season ever, but I lucked out. I found all my mushrooms in micro climates -the compact, specialized locations where the weather was perfect to grow morels.

Last year's morels.

This year is much different. In fact, nearly polar opposite with winter lasting through march. Central Iowa claimed a top 20 coldest March standing. Compare that to last year's warmest March on record and you can see why this spring feels like winter won’t ever leave.

Air temp in blue, ground temp in yellow.

With that said, our recent warmth has now nudged central Iowa into spring. It's been warm enough that soil temps pushed briefly into the mid 50s for central and southwestern Iowa. I’d suspect with this amount of moisture and the residual warmth left in the ground, we may have some morels popping up. Now this isn’t the main show. It’s not even the opening act. Call this, the morel prelude… but if you're crazy about morels I don't think you're crazy for looking now.

White and Yellow morels may be springing up in small numbers in the the southern and eastern facing pockets of terrain in south central and southwest Iowa. South of I-80 and west of I-35 has had the best conditions, but it's still pretty borderline. 

We'll need quiet a bit more warmth and some more nights with lows in the 50s before the main show springs up in the woods. I'll keep you posted if I see this pattern in the forecast... unfortunately the two week extended looks more like winterzuma's revenge than a spring bloom.We could be dealing with a weekly visit from Canadian cold keeping morels dormant for another week or two.

The woods are still slowly waking up and close to 6 weeks behind last year's pace.

As long as we keep getting moisture, when we do get the warmth it should be a good crop of morels this year... it just might not happen until mid may!

This is how the woods looked when I found my first Morels last year.

Good luck with the turkeys, this year should be a good one if you can find that elusive sunny day. And while you're at it, keep me posted on the morels in your area :)

First Season Forecast

The spring 60s are pushing in and we’re finally warming away from winter! Spring turkeys are gobbling and strutting. Before long we’ll be talking about Morels! We’ve still got a ways to go, and maybe a few cold –dare I say snowy – hurdles to jump. But this cool weather may not be all bad!

Last week I went to Omaha for Easter and some turkey scouting. I found a flock of turkeys over 50 strong with a pretty good mix of hens, jakes and strutting toms. Western Iowa and eastern Nebraska are about a week ahead of central Iowa but it still seemed like the flock was in their winter survival mode. The large numbers of turkeys were all together and it reminded me of the summertime bachelor packs of bucks. Everyone is still friends because it isn’t time to fight yet.

 You may recall last year was tough to hunt with May-like weather during 1^st season. Birds were tough to call and came in quiet. Most hens had been bred in my hunting areas and the toms seemed very disinterested in my decoys. This year is much different!

Winter's cold temps and above average snowfall has set spring back this year. With that said, I think the first half of turkey season should be great! Vegetation is sparse, so decoy visibility will be good. Hens may not be ready to breed and nest, which could make toms gullible and excited to investigate your spread. And cool rainy weather or even snow will ruin a few days at a time, but on that sunny “mild” day with a frosty start those birds will be talkin’! Now we just need them to be walkin’ into range!

Soil temps are warming up and if you’re thinking about morels, I’ll put out the 2013 morel mushroom forecast in my next blog.