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Ok, what am I doing wrong?!

Discussion in 'Ohio' started by tiffmarie, Apr 20, 2015.

  1. Apr 20, 2015 #1
    tiffmarie

    tiffmarie Young Morel

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    I'm sure it's an ancient question when it comes to mushroom hunting, be it Morels or any other tasty fungi. What am I doing wrong?? I got in to mushroom hunting a few years ago and while I can find nearly every other mushroom I want (with the exception of Black Trumpets), I can't for the life of me find more than a dozen Morels. I have a few spots that I frequent that should (according to every bit of reading I can get my hands on, be it books or internet) harbor copious amounts of them...and yet, I can barely find any. I've always been somewhat of a tomboy and since I grew up on a river, I grew up catching frogs, nightcrawlers, etc, so I have the "eyes" for looking for things. And yet these bastards evade me.

    I've tried various techniques, from doing the whole get-down-so-my-face-is-practically-in-the-dirt method to the semi-crouch-and-look-ahead-of-me method. And yet, nothing. Or at least, almost nothing. Rarely do I find more than one in any given location.

    I could really use some tips. I see so many posts saying "I found 30lbs" or "I found so many I couldn't carry em all" and I wanna bang my head on my computer.

    Tips? I live a little bit north of C-Bus. If anyone is interested in allowing me to go along with them a few times, I'd totally be down. I do have Mace, mind you, haha, and I know how to defend myself so no funny business! But seriously...help. And seriously...if someone would be willing to let me come along, I'd not go to that location on my own or anything like that. I'm not shady, lol.

    Thanks :/
     
    tiffmarie, Apr 20, 2015
    tiffmarie, Apr 20, 2015
  3. Apr 21, 2015 #2
    ant

    ant Morel Connoisseur

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    Ide be willing to let you tag along but I live in Xenia.I have a couple throw away spots.Those basterds can be difficult to spot some times.Usualy if I find one I stop and study the area real good.theres usualy morre.Find the snitch then look real well for the others.
     
    ant, Apr 21, 2015
    ant, Apr 21, 2015

  5. Apr 21, 2015 #3
    buckeyebowman

    buckeyebowman Morel Connoisseur

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    Have you considered the possibility that the spots you're looking in only grow a limited number of morels? I'm no old hand at this, only my third year shroom hunting, but I also grew up wandering the woods and fields and am pretty good at spotting stuff. I do most of my morel hunting at my fish and game club which has more dead elms than you can shake a stick at. Thought I'd hit the mother lode! Yet, I've only found morels under one dead elm tree! Same tree, two years in a row! The key at my club is the apple trees. Maybe you need to broaden your horizons and develop some new spots.
     
    buckeyebowman, Apr 21, 2015
    buckeyebowman, Apr 21, 2015
  6. Apr 28, 2015 #4
    thunter

    thunter Morel Connoisseur

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    tiffmarie....I hunt specific hillsides and even know i think i have a handle on where they like to grow, many of those "prime" hillsides are fruitless. Only once in a great while will you hit one that's a keeper.
    Yesterday I hiked I'm guessing 10 miles to hit a half dozen hillsides that I thought could produce, I found 2 small half-frees for an entire day of hoofing it :(
    Today i did good, hitting areas that I had found over the years doing just what i did yesterday.
     
    thunter, Apr 28, 2015
    thunter, Apr 28, 2015
  7. Apr 28, 2015 #5
    jdk32581

    jdk32581 Morel Connoisseur

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    Keep walking! Took me lots of miles to find a productive area.

    thunter-
    I asked this on the ohio board but what county are you in? Tulip, cherry for the blacks?
     
    jdk32581, Apr 28, 2015
    jdk32581, Apr 28, 2015
  8. Apr 28, 2015 #6
    thunter

    thunter Morel Connoisseur

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    Hocking,...,.there are some cherry around and a lot of poplar where I hunt
    I don't put as much stock in the trees as some do, but rather the poplars just like the same condititions as the shrooms do....at least for the blacks
     
    thunter, Apr 28, 2015
    thunter, Apr 28, 2015
  9. Apr 30, 2015 #7
    dswfresno

    dswfresno Young Morel

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    I'm 1 hr n half east of columbus in coshocton county and I found 55 shrooms 2 days ago in the same 25 foot of woods. Found grays sponges and dogpeckers, was a great day to go out. Just an FYI to those that say they pop up and that's there size but that's way wrong its a 14 days process takes them 7 days to reach the great size so I would hit the deep hills and look on the east side of the hills that's where all mine were found
     
    dswfresno, Apr 30, 2015
    dswfresno, Apr 30, 2015
  10. May 1, 2015 #8
    cotty

    cotty Morel Connoisseur

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    I hunt everywhere from licking county southeast, hocking and pickaway and ross for my blacks, licking down to morgan counties for my yellows, and Fairfield and hocking for my half frees, me and thunter prolly hit the same hill sides when I can get out, have prolly crossed paths once or twice, during black and half free season, just gotta look for new areas, try the state forests, ask the farmers if you can hunt their land in return for half of what you find, I only have one or two go to spots that consistently produce large numbers of morels, try looking around dead and living elms, dead and living ash, poplar, cherry, apple trees, lilac bushes, and sycamore trees, early season hill sides and ridge tops, late season lower hill sides and bottoms, late season yellows will normally always be in an area with sycamore and elm mix, but for the most part they will grow where they want, im a tree hunter, I cover lots of ground but look for select trees, and that normally pays off big for me
     
    cotty, May 1, 2015
    cotty, May 1, 2015