[newmorel2]

Hello all!

Not having a great year this year; only 2 half frees found and a few dozen greys my wife found growing in the gravel in our driveway. I live in Van Wert county where there's not a lot of public land and all of the private land I've gotten permission to hunt has been poached.

Could someone please point me in the right direction (North or South) to find some good public hunting grounds where I might have some success tomorrow? I'm afraid this might be my wife's uncle's last year to hunt and I really wanted to get us on some good ground and have a blast with him. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and happy hunting!

(I took the day off of work to go hunting with him so I don't mind driving as far as needed)

 

[newmorel2]

Chose to drive up to Mohican State Forrest. Gorgeous there but we didn't find a single morel; not even a dried up one. The ground was really dry.

Hopefully he'll still be able to make it out next year. Good luck in your hunting endeavors!

 

[cotty]

nobody had a good year this year, i found 3 1/2 pounds myself, my normal is around 30 to 40 pounds, this year has been a bust for most people newmorel2, dont get discouraged you will find good ones next year or the year after and i have heard good things about mohican state forest if you hit it at the right time, just a weird year this year, we had that cold snap that slowed them down and then the hot streak that dried it out and put a stop completely, we will have a good year next year i promise you that

 

[newmorel2]

Thanks Cotty. Hopefully I can get involved with some groups/forays to learn more next year. This is only my second year and I only have my wife's uncle showing me what little of the ropes he knows for our area. However, he said it's changed a whole lot since he was younger.

Hard to know what's really going on as it seems their are infinitely many variables affecting things. Not to mention hearing lots of polarized views on morels "popping" and what not.

I did venture down to Tar Hollow but was apparently too early. There were a lot of hunters out down there and it really got me excited to find my first morels! Been hearing a lot of good things about AEP land so I'll need to check that out next year too. Will start saving up the vacation days now

 

[cotty]

AEP land is awesome i hunt it every year and dont come back with less than 6 pounds average, and for starters they do not pop, they grow over a period of a week and you have a week once they go thru their growing life to pick them, and it does not matter what bag you have, they do ther sporing business before you find them, plastic or mesh is fine, and all kinds of things go into a great morel season, starting when germination starts in the fall, need a washout fall for a bumper crop, and winter and early spring precip does not matter truthfully, just a sustaining moisture to promote growth when they do come up, blacks look for poplars and wild cherry, yellows look for elm, sycamores, apple trees, ash, silver maple or some call it water oak, and half frees grow in all of the above, ground temps need to be between 55 and 65 degrees, day and night temps need to be preferably 60s day time and mid to high 50s at night for yellows, and 50s days and mid to high 40s at night for blacks and half frees, look high on the hill at the beginning of the season mid season middle and high, late season middle and low on the hills and check bottoms, learn your trees, become a tree hunter, if you know your trees you can cover more distance faster and find generally more morels

 

[shroomerboomer6969]

don't listen to cotty completely. this year has been a record for certain countys (wayne). get to the woods early and stay in them to late season. if your new, make your own mistakes and find spots yourself. thats the joy. oh and getting supper drunk.

 

[cotty]

i agree shroomerboomer i dont expect anyone to listen to everything i say, i just tell people what i know and how i hunt, everyone has their own ways and you learn by your mistakes i been hunting for many years, and have made lots of mistakes myself that have cost me the motherload quite a few times, like not walking 40 more yards up the creek bank, i found over 100 morels in one spot that i was a few days too late on because i didnt, and missed the motherload by a few days this year because i was meaning to check this sycamore grove i been eyeballing for weeks now, found 67 monsters but they all crumbled in my hand, you gotta just really gety out there and learn for yourself, yes its nice to have some guidance and accompany people on some of their hunts to experience what goes on and habitats they grown in and so on and so forth, but i can say for sure one thing if you still out looking check the high grass and sycamores, if you are in northern ohio you still have a chance for some good morel days, its down to acidental finds in southern ohio for me, but they are still out there is you are willing to bare the high growth, ticks and heat. good luck shroomerboomer and newmorel2 and like i said i just tell people what i have learned over the years, and in my area they did not grow well, hopefully they will for you if you can find the spot, if not there is always next year

 

[shroomerboomer6969]

you speak truth cotty, enjoy your posts.

 

[cotty]

newmorel if you are down for a trip i am trying to get a forray set up for next year at AEP lands, it will be a fun two days of picking, and getting to know local hunters and their tips and tricks of the hunt, im always down for spreading knowlege, to those who want to learn, shroomerboomer, the invite goes out to you as well the more people the better, trying to get an ohio mushroom club going and need members from all locals of the state, west virginia and pennsylvania is welcome as well if people want to join this effort

 

[newmorel2]

I'm game. Let me know the details when you know.

 

[buckeyebowman]

Same here! Newmorel2, this season has been a disaster where I hunt! I hunted all day today. So much so that my legs are turning into knots as I type. My knees and ankles hurt! Hmmm, might be time for an Advil! I found absolutely nothing today! No dried up, over the hill "dead soldiers". No stumps. No nothing. But, when morel hunting you'll have that on occasion. Here's hoping for better things next year.

 

[cotty1]

i wont know for sure when till the blacks start coming next year, by then i can tell when to set a trip up, when i hear reports of yellows south of me i will let you know the details, but as shroomerboomer said, you also have to make your own mistakes find your own spots, but its always fun to get with experienced hunters to figure out the ropes of things, if we get a washout fall we will have a banner season of morels, and if we have a dry fall we will have a poor season, i benn noticing that here lately didnt think about that till someone on here said something about that, every time we have alot of rain and early season snow in the fall we have a huge year when we dont get that its a bust for the most part keeping fingers crossed for next year, but as for now, good luck on the other great funguses of the woods and happy chanterelle hunting

 

[newmorel2]

Cotty, a mesh bag might be the best bet as I've seen a quite convincing video on YouTube of picked morels releasing tons of spore.

<a href="https://youtu.be/fAMC4JkVAZs" title="Morel mushroom spore release">video </a>

 

[cotty1]

newmorel, in public places i use mesh bags because most of the time you have to get them early being everyone frequents the areas, in my private property spots i just let them grow and use whatever bag i have available, does the same thing as carrying a little baby morel around the woods in a mesh bag which tears and crumbles the morels, my normal bag is those cloth shopping bags, they even the weight out, and allows for more room for more morels, the way we are going to preserve morels for our kids is let them grow and do their thing before picking them, if you do that, yes mesh spreads the spores, but when they do it naturally, they actually spread the spores further faster, and you stand a better chance of having the same patch come back for you year in year out if you let them mature first before picking, thats all i meant by that

 

[buckeyebowman]

Well, there's mesh, and there's mesh. The old potato or onion sack isn't really a very good idea because those things are abrasive as hell! I've found some very soft mesh laundry bags at WalMart for cheap, but the things are huge! 10 pounds of morels would get lost in one corner of these things! At a local outdoor store I found a wonderfully soft mesh sack that might hold a dozen decent size yellows. I don't remember what the original purpose of the sack was, but it cost about $15! Uhhhhh, no thank you! Whether they allow spore to spread or not, the most important thing is that the sack allow for air circulation to keep your 'shrooms as dry as possible. The thing about plastic bags is that, on a warm day, they have the tendency to sweat inside. You could wind up with as much "mush" as "shroom"! I'm still searching for the ideal sack.

 

[cotty]

i agree with you on the plastic, but at the same time thats why you carry a small cooler with you like i do i carry water in it and have enough room for my shrooms, keep them plastic ice packs in there for the shrooms to keep them cool, but each hunter has their own thing i prefere mesh over plastic but if i dont have any mesh, ill use plastic, private property i got i got 10 acres or so so not a long hunt so ill use plastic cause im in and out in like a half hour

 

[newmorel2]

I've seen some people using a mesh "delicates" laundry bag from walmart. Not sure of the dimensions; probably 15"x15" with a zipper. They are $2-$3 here

 

[cotty]

sounds good i myself even after many years of hunting am still trying to find the prefect bag, i have used everything from paper bags to plastic, to onion and orange and potato, and also burlap, the best i have found is the cloth shopping bags, they even the weight out and dont hurt the morels as much as mesh but also dont sweat like plastic