Shroomin aint for wussies!
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Some of y'all was wondering where's the Dawg? Some of y'all was thinking he's done, the old baw can't hack it anymore......and some of y'all didn't give a rats ass if I ever showed up again to hijack this thread.....uhh, yeah I'm back!
I told the Shroom Posse before the shroom season kicked off I wasn't making a post until I had something worth posting....., I told the baws I've done run my yapper too much, we gotta find them shrooms and let the "Shroomin Ain't For Wussies" faithful know the Shroom Posse is still in the game!
The Posse kicks off the season 2-3 weeks ago, with cool and dry weather and with just enough rain in our stomping grounds to get my shroom interest perked up....we're finally off the porch. Over a 7-10 day stretch we hit a couple of our early spots and do ok, probably find 10-15 lbs between the bottoms and our early timber spot and then the rain stops and it's cool and dry so we're scrambling trying to figure out where to go. We're all trying to decide if we're loading up and heading south towards south central MO or do we hold back and hope the weather pattern shifts to a warmer and wetter pattern in and around the Platte CO and NW MO shroom stomping grounds.....well our patience pays off and we finally get the rain and somewhat warmer weather.....and the hunt is on. We hit the hills and do ok, no shroom worthy hauls but plenty of shrooms to eat and to share with family and friends.....then we get into the kinda shroomin every diehard shroom hound dreams about.....that type of shroomin that wakes you up at night from a shroom dream with heart palpitations and heavy breathing......the Mutha Lode, or damn close to it.
Quick side bar. Some of you may wonder what is a shroom worthy haul/Mutha Lode? For the Posse it's at least a 15lbs day. I know some privileged shroomers with private land and secret honey holes get 30lbs regularly but for most shroomers just getting 5-10lbs in a hunt is a really good day so if you're one of those privileged shroomers who have access to private land and honey holes just know you're in the minority because most of us scrubs are working our asses off on mostly public lands competing against the city hacks and shroom yuppies for every morchella we stumble across........back to the shroom saga.
This past Saturday we head north towards the IA line with the "pickle", the old green flat bottom river boat with a 50 HP Merc and two tanks of gas. The place we're launching at had been flooded pretty heavy the past 2-3 years so we hadn't been up that way to hunt shrooms. So we're heading down through the bottoms to launch and I'm seeing heavy equipment up ahead rebuilding the road to the ramp that was washed out from the flooding. Well, this was beginning to look like a situation where we may have a "failure to launch" scenario, the Posse was having doubts of getting to the ramp. I told the baws, pull up to the road blade operator and let's see what the hell is going on....the Dawg hasta get to the ramp. So I ask the blade operator if the ramp is closed and he says no, I said can you get us in, he gets on his radio and tells the dozer operator the Posse needs to launch the Pickle........dude dropped the blade and and made it happen....we fall in behind and away we go. We get to the ramp and I'll be damned if there ain't two river rats already pulled in ahead of us......I guess I wasn't so special after all, one already had their boat launched and the other rat was fishing on the ramp with his pickup tailgate down facing the river....he told us he would move.....I sure appreciate ya for moving your truck so we can use the ramp.....river rat.
We head down river and pull in to the first spot and we find a few shrooms but I'm seeing too many shroom stomping footprints.......the Posse decides we're hunting behind some other serious shroomers and it ain't looking good. We head south a few miles and try another stretch of the river and our fortunes take a dramatic change for the better. As we make our way through the bottoms and the timber we start finding nice scattered shrooms with a few clusters. Kirby is troubled because he thinks we're leaving shrooms behind and tell Kirby to relax and breath, we're doing a little shroom prospecting. I tell Kirby we're moving a little fast but MF'er knows what he's doing so just keep pace with'm........ and then the ol Dawg takes a few steps toward a bank and I lock up.......thar it is baws! Shroom Slope! Shroom Holler! Shroom Orgasm! I tell the Posse, I think I'm looking at Shroom Valley........and hear they come and we get to picking shrooms, just like that dream you have of shrooms spilling down a bank in front of you, there they are. When it's all said and done we probably get 5lbs off that slope. Tick Boy, MF'er, Kirby and myself were feeling quite elated and blessed to be kicking these shroom asses.....Tick Boy says let's not get greedy, probably time to head outta here....I was hesitant to agree but we decided to high tail it out and get home......remember, this is Mother's Day weekend and we're planning on another run tomorrow so we had to get our asses home so the women don't get pissed and shut down our shroom hunt tomorrow. Total haul.....bout 15lbs.
We head back up to the same general area on Sunday and are doing ok and then MF'er finds a Ash tree pattern that is crazy as hell....if that Ash tree was at least a 6 inch diameter trunk there was a decent chance there was shrooms around that tree......to keep it short, we were on a pattern that ended up giving us around 17lbs. So all in all the 2022 season has been pretty decent, I ain't gonna complain. I'll post some pics when I figure out how to use this MacBook Pro .....
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Looks like y’all had a good Shroom season too….as long as there’s a member of the Shroom Posse huntin the thread will live. I may have to turn it over to you young baws in a few more years….hell, them hills are killin me and a couple other old Dawgs in the posse…😂
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I think the Dawg and the Posse ended up with around 45 to 50 lbs for our season. Sure looks like everyone had a decent year around NW Mo. from all the post on Facebook and by word of mouth.
I have a short video of the Road Grader operator plowing us a path but for some reason I don’t see a video option on the attachment. The Ash trees are on fire with mushrooms in the hills along with the piss elms. I’ll be 61 this Oct and had Covid pretty bad last Summer and I felt it this year more than ever.
As the thread says… “ShroomIn aint for wussies” was surely true to the hunts we did this year. Feeling blessed we’re all healthy and still picking the best treats Mother Nature gives us every Spring.
The season is still going strong but my job says it over for me. Go get them boys!
I have a short video of the Road Grader operator plowing us a path but for some reason I don’t see a video option on the attachment. The Ash trees are on fire with mushrooms in the hills along with the piss elms. I’ll be 61 this Oct and had Covid pretty bad last Summer and I felt it this year more than ever.
As the thread says… “ShroomIn aint for wussies” was surely true to the hunts we did this year. Feeling blessed we’re all healthy and still picking the best treats Mother Nature gives us every Spring.
The season is still going strong but my job says it over for me. Go get them boys!
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I know the feeling. My knees hurt so bad after a hunt!
Dumb ass old me dropped of this site for FB. Big mistake I see now. That ash tip would have put me back in the hills. A couple days of 90's sent me whining back to my AC. I had a good year on small streams and the Big Muddy but avoided the river bluffs after sweating my A off. Funny how ash do that some years. Those patterns fill boxes when you find them. I don't hunt with any posse so it helps to see what yall are doing. Most FB folks just stumble into them it seems. Takes the pros to find patterns. I hear all of you on the aches. Food for thought, my dad hunted good well up into his 70's. Still kicking at 92. Still hit a road elm. I saw the same as you on the piss elm this year. And good elm scored. Maples in my secret spot near the border kicked them out for 2 weekends. A beaver cut on the Mizzou the boaters missed gave me 5 beautiful lbs one afternoon. Not my best year cause my Kansas spots were dry and sucked. Did OK in Iowa but nothing special. N. Mo was a rock.though.
On a side note I noticed the half bushel apple bag you dudes were haulin with. I been using those same ones for a few years now. Handy mothers. Fill a couple halfway and you are having some fun. Grandpa always said we were going to pick a bushel when we would see some big old elm back in the 70's. Young uns probably think a bushel is some new tic tocky streaming site. Great pics and a great story. You guys sound like a hoot to shroom with. The hunt and the stories that go with them live on. Only 6 months to go till we do it again.
Ok dawg and kb let's get this thread going not long and it will be popping season me and the morelmagnet is thinking bout going to okie this year to get things started never been there but sure would be a fun adventure I'm sure let's keep this thread alive boys 
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