Hello to anyone that visits my thread. I'm new to the forum and very new to the hobby. I'm talking so new that I just caught morel fever on Saturday, lol. I've never pictured myself getting excited over fungus but when I saw that first one I was hooked. My fiance, daughter, and I decided to spend the day at one of the more popular, bigger parks in Greene County just hiking and getting in touch with nature again. As we rounded a bend in the trail my fiance spotted a single yellow growing at the base of a tree and asked what it was. Now I've never hunted them before or seen one in the wild but new what it was immediately. Further down the trail we spotted two more about a foot apart in a grassy area about five feet from the river's edge. We searched and searched the rest of the day but those were the only ones we were blessed with. Once my fiance and I got home we researched as much as we could about the best methods and places to find them. Here it is late Tuesday evening and so far I've spent a good deal of time at four different parks in Montgomery County where I live looking for them. The thing about it is that I haven't spotted a single one. Zero, zilch, nada. I'm very disappointed and somewhat down about not being able to find anything. Like I said before, I did alot of reading regarding methods that others use and the places they frequent. I've heard you find them around elms, apple trees, poplars, in grassy areas, that they don't grow around pines, that they do grow around pines, in loamy soil, in sandy soil, search in the morning, search right before dawn. The list goes on and on. With so many theories out there it sounds as though you search high and low, near and far, and if you find them you're lucky and if not then it just isn't your time. Am I right about this? Are there things specific to the Dayton, Ohio region I should be looking for? Should I be offering animal sacrifice or first born children? Can someone just lead me by the hand to a good 40 pound take of them? I'm at a loss because I know they're out there but no matter how hard I think I'm looking I'm coming up empty handed. Please, someone have pity on me and throw me a bone, lol. Also, what are these other edible fungi I've been reading about in this area such as ramps and hens and the others? Sorry for such a long winded opener and thank you in advance for any help you may give.
Wow, that is a good opener. The addictive part of the deal is that they are difficult to find. You can look under the right trees, with the right soil temps and moisture content and never find them. But when you walk back to your car, they can be growing out of the limestone parking lot that you almost tripped over 2 hours ago when you were excited to get into the woods. Sneaky little buggers! No one is going to lead you to 40 lbs of them. Patients is a statue. Keep looking and remember the spots you found them and check back there every year. Most spots only produce a couple mushies per year. The pics you see of ppl with truck loads of them have spent years finding their spots and look where they are known to grow and move on. Some ppl have found hundreds under one tree, it happens. I have been hunting for 30 years and have never seen it but I think this will be my year! If I find 30 in a day, that is a big day for me. I spend hundreds of $ in gas and countless hours looking. Welcome to the club. No other mushroom out there will even come close to how tasty a morel is. Dryads saddle tastes like watermelon rind. Ramps are good, they smell like dirty socks. A little ramp goes a long way. After you eat a ramp, you will most definitely come down with a condition called Ramp Ass. Every one around you will know you ate ramps. Good luck to you.
well i think ive got them figured out..you can watch all the trees you want to ..hunt in the shade or sun.rocky soil ,sandy soil,dirt mud grass.....but what ive figured out is they will grow where and when they damn well please...i hope that helps....good luck
This is some funny s#@%. Welcome to the club NOmorelsman. Its true look all day in the woods 0. trip and fall over speed bumb in the prking lot and taadaa! Damn mushrooms!!!!
Now that's good stuff Nomorelsman! EVERY single first time hunter goes through exactly what you are going through right now. I've only been hunting them for about 6 years...and the beginning of the year is still like that for me every year! Im still learning...but all it will take is patients, once you find that first cluster for the year,. You are golden. Don't get too excited when you do, check the trees around them, take a close look at the soil, whether or not its a sunny area, what the temp is...ect...take in as much knowledge about the find as you can! At least that's what I try to do. I've been out maybe three times this year,,,and I have only found one lonesome grey. My plan is all day Saturday after the next two days of warmth and rain! Good luck to you my friend!
Thank you everyone for the responses. As I type this I'm in a little wooded spot in the middle of a high traffic area searching for them. I figure that if there's no rhyme or reason to how or where they grow then my best shot at finding them is to apply that same theory to the way I hunt for them. Passer-by are giving strange looks to the full grown adult fumbling around in the grove of trees but I can't fault them, the poor saps have probably never tasted a morel sauteed in butter with a splash of cream and salt. I think I finally found out why the Israelites wandered for 40 years. They were hunting these damned morels, lol. So once again thank you everyone for the replies but the longer I type the less time I have to look. Happy hunting!
I hope things start popping this has been a bad year in my neck of the woods, not a good year to learn about morels. I have been out about 7 times., first time 3, second time 1, third time 52, fourth time 3, fifth time 0, sixth 0, 7th 0 and thats 4 -5 hours of walking in area's we generally find them in, good habitat. I think the late winter really hurt the morel season, unless they still come up. In Belmont County , our season is from 2nd week of April, to 1st week of May, you may find some afterwards, but a lot of times there getting old.
From what I've read in this area you can find them up until the first week of June. Is this an hour exaggeration? About what time period should I just stop looking all together?
If we get some rain and a little cooler temps in the next 5-7 days I think there will be another decent flush mostly yellows to come up in central Ohio. If it stays in the high 70's low 80's and no rain the rest of the season looks pretty grim to me. I am usually done in Knox,Richland and Licking county by May 15 or there abouts.
Never had a late winter ever affect a season, the season happens when it happens with no dates attached. growth dates and yields fluctuate yearly and eventually areas will stop producing. Those who rely on their every year spots will have disappointing years mixed in with the great years. I have my regular spots but every year one or more spot has more or less than the year before so i find at least 3 or more new spots every year. And ktrap, yes lower temps and lots of rain mean far more than warm temps because warm temps always come with less rain. So when you have lower temps you get more rain not to mention if you have lower temps and don't get more rain it doesn't hurt a season as bad as no rain and warm temps. Cooler temps also extend your season by 1-2 weeks. It's easy to get discouraged when the regular spots don't do well so look elsewhere cause even in the worst years there will always be good patches somewhere. If it's too dry find those areas with more moister, usually semi open grassy areas and hills that weep. These areas will almost always be where you normally never find. Good luck and don't stop looking cause this season will most likely be shortened in a lot of places
@nomorels, when the 24hr average temps stay above 60-65 it will end quick so pray for a cool down and go all out to find those patches that are still around. Morel newcomers always benefit from time in the woods. Be patient and keep scanning the ground. Or hunt trees and leave the rest for shroom hunters.
Hey everyone! I've been out a couple more times with absolutely no luck which is what I expected. How have you guys/gals been fairing? It seems as though my sacrifices to the rain gods are working. So does this mean we'll have a few more chances to hunt due to the rain?
Hello again everyone. So with all this rain and low temps does that mean morels are out again or is it too late?
Hello! I just got in from my first time ever morel hunt (relocated here last year from Mississippi to the Van Wert area). My wife's uncle took me out to two different locations where he had permission to hunt and we came up with none at the first location (I assume because it was way too wet and there was a lot of undergrowth) and a dozen from the second location where it was moist but not extremely wet. So to answer your question, as an admittedly extreme (first day) novice, they are still popping up in north-west Ohio. I'm hoping to have more luck tomorrow but we'll see.
Still popping up in NE ohio also, I just went out yesterday and found some fresh morels as well as some that were a few days old, and even a few that were over a week old. This is still the only hobby that I have that rates more like an addiction than a hobby...lol I've hunted these things for over 6 years now and while I've been skunked a couple years previously this year wasn't a dissapointment..... I was sure it would be a year without my favorite meal. Considering how cold and wet it was in April and how hot (over 80) it was in the beginning of May, these mushrooms seem to have a way of finding their window of opportunity. I came out of the woods after an hour and a half with over 5lbs of nice looking large yellows, and a few super fresh smaller yellows. Good luck to everyone that enjoys nature and the hunt, not to mention the addiction that is morel hunting. I'll post some photos when I get a chance.....
Moreljava- Where in NE ohio are you located? I am in south-eastern Cuyahoga county. Tuesday I found some huge yellows. Have not had much luck since. The rest of the week I found greys. Will post some pics Asap.
