2014 Mushroom Finds

SD51555

5 year old buck +
I don't have any yet, but i've got my fingers crossed. We just got half an inch of rain, and it looks like we could get a little more. It's warm enough now, I'm making my first trek out on Saturday morning to do some hunting.

Good luck all. If you start finding mushrooms, please share your pics here!
 
Well I do not get many the Deer know where they are and get there before I do.
 
I find them by luck when I turkey hunt. For you expert morel hunters, what conditions do you look for? Temp, rain, locations?
 
There is no settled science. You can ask any mushroom hunter those questions and you'll get completely different answers. I'm from the school of consider everything, try as much as you can.

I've read books by expert morel hunters that say once your daytime temps stay in the low 60's for 5 days straight, it's time to start looking. What I would add, is that soil temp has to be there as well. Make sure it hasn't froze for at least a week before you go.

Where? Any place you find trees that are in some phase of dying or have died recently. The morels feast on the decaying roots of almost any silver barked deciduous tree. There is a pecking order among the favorites.

1. Elms (look for bark peeling off in vertical sheets, exposing then a smooth surfaced wood core)
2. Apples
3. Cherries
4. Everything else

A good rain is a huge help. Most of the midwest is going to get good rain this week. Once that happens, a few days of heat and I say it's gonna be on. I'm on the MN/IA border, and if we can get some heat, It'll start within two days of that.

I focus on checking lots of places. Give each spot a minute or two. If there is any sort of quantity there, you'll at least see one of them. If not, keep moving and keep looking. Once you see one, STOP! Do not move. Look at every step you take from there because you'll start stepping on them if you just run up to it. Get low and quiet and start harvesting.

And take pictures!
 
We checked one spot this weekend and didn't find any...getting good rains should help! Now we cant go until next weekend...o_O
 
Since the rain I have heard of a few people finding some greys and a few yellows. Someone posted on FB the ohter day selling some and said they had 20 pounds. Guessing they were out finding on the river islands.
 
Since the rain I have heard of a few people finding some greys and a few yellows. Someone posted on FB the ohter day selling some and said they had 20 pounds. Guessing they were out finding on the river islands.

How far north is that? We're getting our first sun in about five days along the MN/IA border. I'm hoping to get out tomorrow to check the spots again. With the cool weather we've had, I'm tempering my expectations for right now.
 
Is this last years chicken?
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I found some morels today in Spring Green WI. 100_1789.JPG
 
Nice find!
 
My wife and I, and another couple found 2 five gallon buckets of yellows today on my farm in Lewis County, MO. Good year, so far. Been a little dry, but we are getting a good rain as I type!
 
I just got back home after a week on the road. I'm hoping to get out after work tomorrow to start looking again. I was helping a buddy up by Fosston on Friday, and we found some ramps as well. Still a little small, but I did take a couple to eat on the spot.
 
Here's a few more pictures from this week in Wisconsin.
 

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Holy buckets what density!

Those all look like blondes already.
 
Found a few Morels today near the shores of Lake Minnetonka.
 
I haven't been looking for mushrooms yet, but one thing I am doing is making GPS points where I am finding last years Chicken of the Woods.
Super easy to find right now. I have been meaning to start tracking them the past few weeks because I have been seeing so many of them, and finally today started to do so.
 
On the way to the mailbox, found these along the driveway this afternoon in a 20ft area. All that rain we got must have turned them on.

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Not bad for going to get the mail. Nice!
 
Dang sag! Right off the driveway! Lucky dog!
 
Probably the last day I'll go. All were at their end. But this was a new area with my cousin and our first time out there.

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We found about 20 total, but a great spot to start next year.
 
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