I was in a BAD way this past morel season. I had been out looking for over 20 hours w/o finding one morel. I had a honey hole and even it showed no signs of morels. Being that I live about 50 miles west of Ava, where the first morel was found in MO, I was literally going crazy. I became obsessed and wholly focused on finding some. A week or two after the first find, a person claimed to have found 8 lbs. of morels. Being convinced I was an adequate hunter, I chided the poster by saying I couldn't believe anyone would post such a claim w/o photo proof while living in the "Show Me" state. He replied he wasn't able to post pictures but would gladly send them to my phone should I call him. I did call and he sent the pictures. He was from Taney Co. I am from Greene Co. He said he had lived up here and had a couple of spots I should check out. I checked them out and found NADDA.
When he learned I had again struck out, he offered to take me with him down south. I couldn't believe he was offering to begin with. Secondly, I didn't want to just be brought to a spot, I wanted to LEARN if my prior knowledge of morel growing terrain was accurate. I kept looking and found nothing but old dried up oyster and shelf mushrooms (just about at every spot I looked).
I finally relented when it was evident the season was coming to an end. I called him up and asked if he was still willing to show me the ropes. He graciously agreed and said come on down. I believe he was cautious of me as I was of him. I just couldn't believe ANYONE would show another person their gold mines (honey holes). I wondered what was his intent? WHY is he doing this? I had my mace and knife handy should there be need for them. We went to his first spot and low and behold we not only found them, but he was "making" me find them all. He said he wanted to see if I had the eye for them. I DID because I not only found the ones he did , but found a few he had missed. That helped sooth my mind because prior to that day I was wondering if I was just a retard and was missing them, walking right by the morels but not seeing. That was not the case. We went to two other spots that day. I picked them all and he let me take them all home!!! There was close to a pound, which was the most I had EVER found in my life. They were a bit dry, so there was more than even the weight suggested. I ended up going down another two times. The second time was another big haul of around a pound and we struck out the last time. Since then we keep in contact and have become friends. It became evident through my questioning and statements he made his intention for showing me the spots was to just be a good human being. To give to someone else, paying it forward and perhaps for some redemption of his past. I wanted to publicly state how grateful I am for his assistance and help with my mental status (AND putting some shrooms on my plate!). As well as helping me to BETTER identify terrain more conductive to growing morels. Before Felix ie Morel King, showed me the ropes, I didn't know shit about finding morels. Thanks Felix!!! BTW, I was not the only one he assisted. We met up with another hunter from Springfield who was also having difficulties finding any while I was down there the second time. He also helped curb my pessimistic view of the human race. There are good people out there. I'd bet there are several on this forum. Good luck to all. Peace...