New transplant to Kentucky. Originally from Ohio, but it's been a long time. Looking for some info on season's here. Thanks gents/gals!!!
Hey John or any one else looking for a few tips. Welcome to the board. Season typically starts in KY in late March . However, I have found blacks as early as March 3rd.
I
hunt primarily in north central and central KY but I believe you will find morels in similar environments where I typically find most of mine. The blacks seem to prefer North and East facing hillsides consisting primarily of a poplar and pignut hickory mix. I believe that is why they are sometimes referred to as hickory chickens. When I search an area for the 1st time especially if I'm not certain blacks grow in that specific area, I will start at the base of the hillside in the morning with the sun to my back and work my way slowly up the hill. The sun will allow you to pick out the blacks amongst or slightly under the leaf litter. The blacks will actually be tan in color when they 1st pop and then as they grow they will develop black on the ridges of the shroom. When you find the 1st one, stop, mark it, kneel down and search thoroughly 360 degrees. You will almost always find more than 1. The blacks will usually grow from 1/2-1 inch in size to 3-4 inches in a period of 7-14 days depending on the weather. The smaller yellow/grey/ white varieties will grow in similar areas but will pop a week or 2 after the blacks. As for the Big yellows (that will initially pop as a grey), creek bottoms are my favorite areas to search concentrating on searching around live sycamore, dead or dying elm and live ash. These big yellows can sometimes grow in size for 1-3 weeks, but by that 3rd week they will be the size of a coke can and starting to deteriorate. I have found a lot of my patches over the past 29 years while turkey
hunting and some of those patches are still producing and some have petered out. Hope this helps.