[mattolsen]

Went out to my early spot which is located in southern cook county. It's a small prairie at 626ft above sea level surrounded by swampy woods which has undergone controlled burns for the past 3 consecutive years covering different sections of the prairie. The soil is extremely sandy, and the majority of the swampy woods and the prairie is thick with ostrich ferns. I only found 3 morels about 1-1 1/2" tall. They were found in the center of the prairie near the stump of a cut down oak in a small patch of moss. No others were found in the area after another hour or so except for a lot of fiddleheads and some asparagus.

So, maybe give any areas that have undergone a burn last year as I've read that the blackened patches help warm the soil quicker than other areas. Hoping that if this weather keeps up with a bit more rain we should be looking good in the next week or two.

Hope everyone has a great season. Will post pics just have to wait to get home to upload them onto my mac.

 

[stealthpicker]

sound like you and I and others I know hunt the same grounds, mattolsen Good to hear they are coming up. Very busy with work to get out and scout. Won't waste my time for another week/week and a half. This rain this week will get things going good, if it doesn't miss us like it usually does that is.

 

[fungiforager]

Hey mattolsen, I also live in crook ahem I mean cook county and I feel like we also might share some of the same picking spots in common. Just got into mushroom picking last year right after morel season unfortunately, (the wife and I were walking in the woods and literally stumbled on what we suspected were morels but we're unsure because of our lack of knowledge) since then we have educated ourselves and had a quite successful year with chanterelles, hens, chickens, oysters , a few puff balls and a few bolettes of different varieties, one baby lions mane too. Long story short I have scouted out a few morel spots, one iam really hopeful about since it's about 600x100 plot of dying elms. Great to hear they are just about to pop, happy hunting! :-D

 

[fungiforager]

Found 20 greys and yellows down in the Kankakee area yesterday. First successful morel forage. They were delicious beer battered with dinner :-D

 

[stndman]

Found couple yellows in SW cook county. They were pretty dried up.

 

[shroomdog]

Too dry. I think we are looking at early May 10ish. Every year has been getting cooler in Cook, We need a nice wet/warm spring like 10 years ago,

 

[stealthpicker]

I second that ShroomDog. I just happened to stumble upon a patch of yellows in a mulch bed under an apple tree at one of my customers for work, house. Freaked me out to say the least. They were getting pretty dry, even in the shade, but still were 2-3'' big. Not gonna waste time trampling the woods to find just a few. Gonna wait till this weekend and pray for some rain the next few days.

 

[mattolsen]

Crossing my fingers, but having found a few last weekend, and having gotten some rain today(likely tomorrow) along with 5 days of sun/low 60's for the next 5 days makes me very optimistic.

I had a season, not that many years ago, that didn't really kick off until almost the second week of may and where I had found huge hauls up into the beginning of july.

Though, my best honey holes haven't produced like they used to for at least a couple years and I'm really trying to decide if I should concentrate on finding new areas or just keep scouting known areas until I start seeing an influx.

Last thing, I wish we had a DNR like Michigan does in regards to their DNR site creating a map with locations of morels provided by DNR employees. Given those areas would surely be overcrowded although even just having some definitive information as to what to look for in a good spot each year would be very nice. Rather than having a FP that doesn't allow collection of an organism that collecting does absolutely zero damage.

Good luck to all of you and

 

[fungiforager]

they are out and about in cook county folks, found about 40 greys and yellows south of I-80 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156933319665694&set=pcb.10153951841175395&type=3&theater">

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[fungiforager]

 

[fungiforager]

 

[cupyblon]

Anyone ever find any morels along the Salt Creak Trail? I live in Brookfield and was hoping to start my first hunt soon.