Mushroom Discussion Board

my Oregon, Washington and Idaho foray

morelfarmer — Wed, 14 May 2008 05:04:41 GMT

I am back home after about two weeks of chasing the elusive morel. This year the spring morels in most areas are starting to flush about one month behind what has been normal for the past few years in what is known as the Intermountain West.

I was in the Yakima Washington area on Saturday May 4th and researched some of the early morel areas on the south aspect of the Columbia Gorge before heading for the east aspect of Mount Hood in Oregon.

I found morels in my normal spring hunting grounds on May 5th on the lower Easterly aspect of Mount Hood but as predicted it was just starting to flush and was running about one month behind schedule.

I believe that I saw information that Chris would be conducting a foray along the west aspect of Hood which always flushes earlier than the east aspect because that area is more conducive to morel propagation and has lower ground that flushes early.

I have not been able to find information on his Oregon foray but it may be here somewhere and I hope they did well. I just do not have time to look through everything as my morel year is starting to pick up and I will not be on any mushroom site very much through the season.

There is a burn in the area on the east aspect of Hood at Ball Point which is not very far from my best patch but being as that is a lower-grade, poor-ground area for early morels that I have researched for many years, I did not even bother going over there.

I have heard through the picker grape-vine that a mushroom club foray was being conducted in that wilderness burn site at the same time I was in my research patches, but I doubt that they found more than a few pounds of conica because conica often do not flush until a couple of weeks after the natural morels in the same general area flush.

A few years back Mount Hood National Forest began requiring that every morel be cut in half lengthwise as soon as it is plucked so I do not spend much time there any more unless I purchase a permit so that I do not have to cut my morels. One gallon is the normal limit that you may have in possession without purchasing a commercial permit.

Any city, county, state or forest law enforcement person or employee may stop you and ask to see your permit and often during the season peak they conduct road blocks to check for possession of more than the legal limit. In Oregon it is unlawful to possess or transport more than one gallon of wild mushrooms without a permit, even if it was taken off of your own property.

I surmise that there must be a good reason why that mushroom organization was conducting their foray on the east aspect, but they should have had a scout check it out in advance or have called the Dufur Ranger Station which could have told them that it was too early this year.

There are many places near Portland that are much better for morels this year, there is a 2007 burn site SSW of Portland and much closer for people traveling from that area or in one of the good producing controlled burn areas near Portland.

I was not consulted about the Easterly aspect of Hood so I figure that it would not have been a Chris Matherly foray, hopefully the club that was in the Badger Creek Wilderness area had someone with good fire morel experience present to help educate. It is unlawful to conduct any type of commercial venture in a wilderness area so hopefully no one paid to be there.

Eastern Oregon and south central Idaho started flushing a very few morels a week or so ago in the low-lands and the Blue Mountains may finally start producing volume later this week.

There were a couple of vehicles from Georgia working an early Idaho burn site off of quads but that burn is mostly very poor ground with a poor variety of host tree and the areas producing are private property. I already have enough research documentation on the area to not get excited.

Morels from the Chief Parish burn will be of lower-quality and most of it is on private land which is off-limits. The rest of it is on BLM and State Endowment lands where no commercial picking is allowed and the per person limit is only one gallon. Some people will push the rules to the limit and claim innocence when caught so I hope that those Georgia boys are not tempted to pick more than is legal.

If you desire to view some of my gold, morel, porcini and other mushroom photos visit my space:
http://www.myspace.com/moreldoctor

Forum: Mushroom Hunting Discussion

culvation

spudgun — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:08 GMT

I have some ideas on trying to grow Morels. I know that the Elm tree is the best for
morels in my area, but what other trees will the morels take to?
I have heard the Apple, Ash will work, but don't have many of them in my area or property.

Any help is appreciated.

Larry

Forum: Mushroom Hunting Discussion

transplanting morels

spudgun — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:21:24 GMT

I was wondering if a person could transplant the patch of ground that the morels are growing in.
I have a group that is coming up not near any trees. My thought was to shovel the ground carefully and then place the patch in a wooded area on my property.

Any Ideas????

Forum: Mushroom Hunting Discussion

Bellfountain foray

bobothehobo — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:58:30 GMT

any word on how the Bellfountain Ohio foray turned out?

Forum: Mushroom Hunting Discussion

East central Illinois

Sheraldyne — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:04:51 GMT

HI, I'm new here! Glad to meet everyone. I grew up hunting mushrooms in southern Illinois, Vandalia area. I thought I might try to get back into it now that I am old and grey. Now located outside of Champaign, IL. I never hear anyone talk about going mushrooming around this area, and I've always wondered if there are any over here? Any ideas on locations. Does anyone hunt out this way? Thanks so much. Just wondering if it's even worth going out in my area. Thanks so much. sheraldyne

Forum: Strictly Morels

northern IL

Chefdan — Thur, 24 Apr 2008 19:47:02 GMT

Anyone having any luck up here yet ?

Forum: Mushroom Hunting Discussion

Michigan Morels

sporeboy — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:46:27 GMT

Went out this afternoon and picked 114 nice sized blacks, along with 84 I put in there Sat. I have a good looking fridge, the ones I picked today were much biger than the last batch, largest one today had a 4 1\2 inch cap and was as big around as a silver dollar!! Looks like it will be a great year, good luck to all.

Forum: Mushroom Hunting Discussion

morels

OHIOMorelhunter — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:35:35 GMT

just went to my spot this year to find the first i have so far, 45 big enough to take and atleast 70 or 80 that werent small enough. and i was only there for about an hour maybe hour and a half

Forum: Mushroom Hunting Discussion

Michigan Finds

sporeboy — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:25:38 GMT

Found 84 nice blacks today 4\20, need a good rain to realy get um going.

Forum: Strictly Morels

MI. finds

sporeboy — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:13:55 GMT

Found my first 12 a week ago, very tiny, went out today and found 84, there starting to get some size to them now, need a good rain and they should realy pop!!

Forum: Mushroom Hunting Discussion

morels in central il

sb1968 — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:22:29 GMT

I'm new here , but love hunting. Just found first ones of the year , a dozen blacks. Are there any members from central il? And if so are you finding anything?

Forum: Mushroom Hunting Discussion

WISCONSIN FINDS 2008

avngal — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:02:37 GMT

The season is almost upon us and it may be an early one due to the unusually high precipitation we have received this year.

Please post your WI finds here with city/date/species of morel and keep the location to yourself...ha!

I think i'll start checkin gmy spots later this week.

Thank you and happy hunting!

Forum: Strictly Morels

three things

fungiseeker — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:20:55 GMT

:central kansas-april 18-I-70 + highwy 77--along +tore up road into woods, found about 120 greys + whites-still early i think, that could change this weekend

:does anyone know of buyers in eastern Ks

:there is a couple festivals in missouri coming up-one in Richmond mo-1st weekend of May
---St. Joe Mo is same time-i think

good luck

Forum: Mushroom Festivals

Morels in Cle Elum

CleElumGrl — Thur, 17 Apr 2008 21:30:53 GMT

Hi,

I just joined. I was curious if anyone hunts around the Cle Elum, Wa area. We have a cabin on the south Cle Elum ridge where we have been hunting for several years with little luck. Other homeowners/part timers have been hunting for years with success. Of course no one shares, so? I am new to foraging of the last several years. I have gone to two mushroom festivals. One in Quinalt, the other last fall in Long beach. Very fun.

We did rather well hunting for Chantrelles last fall on our own and did great with a mushroom expert who took us on a private forage with her.

Anyone interested in hunting and sharing your knowledge with us in the area when we visit our cabin?

Forum: Mushroom Hunting Discussion

When to start looking in northern Indiana

Elektrobot — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 03:16:33 GMT

I'm in the Northeast part of the state- close to the Ohio and Michigan state borders- and I'm not sure when things start popping up around here. Here is the past weeks weather conditions.

Last week was warmish until the weekend, which was rainy and cold. Lowest it got was 34 at night, days were 40's.

Yesterday (Monday) and today have been warm- low 60's and sunny, kind of breezy and no rain.

There is still no ground cover growing.......no Mayapples or anything, just bare soil pretty much.

How far out are we from mushroom season? A few weeks still?

In other news- my Mother-In-Law has found 15 grey's in Southwest Indiana.

Forum: Mushroom Hunting Discussion