Morel season is fast approaching us, post your finds here!!
šGeorgia 2025 Morel Seasonš
Jpuette
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Not sure what bottom land means? If you mean elevation wise, my property is fairly flat, no mountains by me. My spot is in pretty heavily wooded area and yes, getting through this area after the hurricane is going to be a lot harder than it was before. Itās about 50 yards from my creek also. The tree canopy has opened up quite a bit with all the trees that came down, Iām wondering if that will help me or hurt my mushroom season. I checked around yesterday while out metal detecting. Nothing to report yet.
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Did you find morels in that woods before? If so, I would be all over that place like stink on a monkey! I had a favorite apple tree that I found morels around for several years. A few years ago I go there only to find the tree had been leaned over about 45 degrees by a winter storm. The morels flushed like crazy that year! They can sense when the tree that they are in a mycorrhizal relationship with gets in trouble. But half of the tree's root ball was still in the ground, and the tree was still alive, just stressed. It was basically the same the next year. Last year the tree was completely dead, lying flat, and another small tree had fallen on top of it to boot!
I didn't have much hope but took a look anyway, peeking through the branches at the ground and suddenly saw a morel! And then another and another. I had to try three different ways until I could worm my way in there, and wound up belly crawling! I came out of there looking like I had fought a wildcat in a closet, but it was worth it. About 2 1/2 dozen morel in primo shape! And I didn't poke an eye out! I wonder what this year will bring.
A little tip. Bring a pair of good hand pruners with you. In a trashy woods they can come in handy.
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Yes Sir, the spot I found pretty much all my morels last year has probably 15 -20 or more trees down or partially down. Some leaning hard but held up by another tree.
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bottomland is the land around creeks and rivers the get flooded occasionally. I hunt mostly around Clark Hill Lake on the feeder creeks and rivers coming into the lake, "bottomland". My brother's land in Washington County has a small creek and a pond with lots of bottomland. I guess I need to get down there and hunt !
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I wish you lots of luck and hope that place flushes like crazy!
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Rain amount is DIRECTLY related to the "population density" of chanterelles in NE Ga. Without rain, they hardly come up. Last year, in Athens, there was enough rain to get the small, early species to sprout, then the rain stopped and the temperatures skyrockted, and there were almost no chanterelles. I picked barely enough to put on 2 pizzas one night, one little paperbagful. Other folks in Atlanta found lots because they had heavy thundershowers there. Athens was mostly dry. I first started hunting them in 2016 and that summer was INCREDIBLY wet, heavy showers almost every day for 6 weeks: I picked chanterelles galore in places where they have NEVER come up again in the following 8 years. I know the mycellium is down there in those areas, it just won't produce without LOTS of water.It would be interesting to check the precipitation records for the years of few Chanterelles. I have a real good Chant woods. In fact, it's the most dependable mushroom spot I have. Once the bear corn ( some call it squawroot), dies back, I know the Chants will be right along. What also came along was the beginning of the drought. I got a first flush of Chants, and precious little after! The only saving grace was that, ranging farther and wider in my search, I found chickens in several places. The downside of that was that I only found one spot in prime shape. The other were old and way past their prime. But, I do remember where they all were!
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Yeah, it was my worst year for Chants since I found the spot. It got to the point where I could afford to be a little "picky". I'd cut a Chant, and if the stalk had bug tunnels in it, it went back on the ground. I would only take really clean ones. Also, since I've never found a decent way to preserve them, I'd only take what I needed for a couple of meals. They don't seem to dehydrate well. They lose their color and flavor.
I remember a few years back. We were getting decent, regular rains and I was finding Chants, then we got a storm that dumped about 3" on us in one go. I hit the woods a couple of days later and the place had exploded! Chants were everywhere, as well as a ton of boletes and things I could not ID.
I remember a few years back. We were getting decent, regular rains and I was finding Chants, then we got a storm that dumped about 3" on us in one go. I hit the woods a couple of days later and the place had exploded! Chants were everywhere, as well as a ton of boletes and things I could not ID.
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ā„šŗšøš¦ š¤ ššāš«šø Find Morels Around Augusta GA.
Update:
Checked around again today. No activity yet. It was 19 degrees this morning and it appears that the early warm up that happened at the beginning of February did not fake out anything. Next week is supposed to be warmer but no rain in the foreseeable future. Anyone further south done any checking yet?
Checked around again today. No activity yet. It was 19 degrees this morning and it appears that the early warm up that happened at the beginning of February did not fake out anything. Next week is supposed to be warmer but no rain in the foreseeable future. Anyone further south done any checking yet?
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When I lived in Peachtree City chants grew free will along the cart paths and in my neighbors yard. Never had to hunt them š. I hope I get the time to hit my GA morel spot this year. It's always produced gargantuan sized morels but no more than 20.
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Hmmmm. I can't be sure of course, but I might guess that what you were finding were Morchella crassipes, or the late season "bigfoot" morel. They are usually a sign that the morel season is coming to an end. I got out late last season, which was totally my own fault. I went to one of my favorite apple trees where I've often found earlier, smaller morels, and found about a dozen and a half of the big ones! And those were the only morels I got last year. The season was over.
Well I have read every state in the US has them. Maybe it is a matter of pinpointing them even if less of them. I am planning a March 6th trip to Southern Alabama and hoping to snoop around a bit. Soil temps look pretty good already really.
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Checked my spot today. Nothing yet. Supposed to be 79 today but not much rain in the forecast. These are just a small handful of the trees that came down in the hurricane. You can see the orange marking tape I left behind from last year.
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The deer carcass was about 30 yards from where the big trees fell down. I have heard that the Game Wardens estimate 10-20 percent of the deer population was killed during the hurricane. Makes sense I reckon, deer would hunker down under a tree in big wind, tree comes down, crushes the deer, kills or severely injured it. Iām guessing that is what happened to this Buck.I didnāt shoot this deer.
Bottom land to me where I find morels is low lying flood plains near small streams. These are the flat lands near small stream that only flood once in awhile or not very much if the flood often. If you get land near steams where all or most of the leaf cover is washed away or form depressed doughnut holes around tree trunks it too much flooding. there should be some ground cover but you have to find morels before it grows too high to see the ground easily.
I know you guys suffered in that cane. Hopefully more morels will come to some of you. I find it hard to believe that all that downed timber and disturbed earth wont produce some bounty. It might be better next year. I base that on tornado tracks and flooding in my area. Late summer/fall disasters often do best the 2nd season after. Morels do love the extremes. Tornado, hurricane, flood. fire, artillery, logging. Some I cant think of.
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