Morel hunting

[buck460XVR]

yeah, we say mushrooms too.
We also hunt fall mushrooms like "hen of the woods ".

The younger generation is getting far removed from the primitive skills that we enjoy so much. I hope nobody will just go into the woods and pick fungus without knowing what to look for. They could wake up very.....,dead.

We hunt the fall 'shrooms too. But around here, Morels are Morels........period. Folks put them in a whole different category than other wild mushrooms. I'd always guessed that one reason so many folks like 'em is not because of their distinct flavor, but because of their distinct look. Very difficult to confuse them with poisonous varieties, unlike like the Pearl Oysters in the bag next to the Morels. So even the most naive can forage and eat safely. We enjoy oyster and pheasant back 'shrooms just as much as Morels. Fry them the same way and they taste pretty much the same. Trick with Pheasant Backs is to get them small, before they get tough. Those two pairs of legs in my pic are my DIL and a Grand-Daughter. Both are experienced foragers.

 

[sugarmaker]

Morels and chanterelles are the only 2 I go out and hunt for, but I don’t have any good morel spots like some of you do. Wow!

 

[AK Hunter]

I would love to try morel hunting but with my luck I would pick the wrong ones.

 

[Howland937]

I would love to try morel hunting but with my luck I would pick the wrong ones.

If you're hunting actual morels, it's pretty difficult to pick the wrong ones since nothing else really looks like them.

 

[AK Hunter]

If you're hunting actual morels, it's pretty difficult to pick the wrong ones since nothing else really looks like them.

I always hear people talking about the false morels, so they don't look like the real thing??

 

[Howland937]

I always hear people talking about the false morels, so they don't look like the real thing??

Oh, I don't know about that part. I've never encountered any in southern Ohio or talked to anyone that has. I'd actually not heard them called false morels, but after a quick Google search, they look like what we generically call toadstools...which is anything not a morel. We also have things we call "puff balls" but I'm not sure what they actually are.

 

[Armored farmer]

I had a app on my old phone that was mushroom identification.
It was interesting.

We hunt the fall 'shrooms too. But around here, Morels are Morels........period. Folks put them in a whole different category than other wild mushrooms. I'd always guessed that one reason so many folks like 'em is not because of their distinct flavor, but because of their distinct look. Very difficult to confuse them with poisonous varieties, unlike like the Pearl Oysters in the bag next to the Morels. So even the most naive can forage and eat safely. We enjoy oyster and pheasant back 'shrooms just as much as Morels. Fry them the same way and they taste pretty much the same. Trick with Pheasant Backs is to get them small, before they get tough. Those two pairs of legs in my pic are my DIL and a Grand-Daughter. Both are experienced foragers.

I'm not seeing a pic??

Where are you from @buck460XVR ?

The reason I had the mushroom ID app was after we had a big timber harvest in '03 our woods was loaded with all kinds of mushrooms and fungi. I remember lion's mane and others that I dont recall now....many of them were fall mushrooms that I discovered while deer hunting. I just sold 60 whiteoaks in February, I hope it brings on a crop of 'shrooms!

 

[buck460XVR]

I'm not seeing a pic??

Post 19?

Where are you from @buck460XVR ?

West Central Wisconsin. Driftless Area.

 

[9x56MS]

Found under my bow stand last weekend.........



View attachment 999274

Nice haul. I started a few weeks ago digging leeks and am looking forward to some morels this weekend. Hope to give my new opinel pocketknife a workout.

 

[9x56MS]

Oh, I don't know about that part. I've never encountered any in southern Ohio or talked to anyone that has. I'd actually not heard them called false morels, but after a quick Google search, they look like what we generically call toadstools...which is anything not a morel. We also have things we call "puff balls" but I'm not sure what they actually are.

My wife and I pick the giant puff balls in late summer and she cooks them like egg plant Parmesan style they are delicious. Grandkids love them battered and deep fried.

 

[Rangersedge]

One day, 50+ years ago, my brothers and i literally found several thousand. Now lucky to find half a dozen in an entire day in the same area.

 

[buck460XVR]

One day, 50+ years ago, my brothers and i literally found several thousand. Now lucky to find half a dozen in an entire day in the same area.

Local Foraging guide claims the reason has to do with the die off of American Elms. 50 years ago was the start of the peak of the Dutch Elm disease and led to the mass die off of elms, with led to the explosion of morels. Morels and elms have a symbiotic relationship and morels are stimulated to growth by something given off by elm roots as the tree dies. With the mass die of of elms basically over with, so is the huge production of morels. Remember those morels I found under my bow stand this spring? (Post 19) Guess what tree didn't leaf out this spring? Didn't realize till just last week when the rest of the woods was green that the tree my stand is in is now dead. Last year it had leaves. Only new dead tree on the property and the only place we found morels.

 

[Encoreman]

Question for those that have feral hogs along with morels. Do you think the hogs eat many morels? AKhunter I understand a fake morel has a solid stem not hollow like the real deal, I have read folks eat them without any problems, don't know personally.