Find More Morels

Increase Your Morel Hunting Skills Bill Cooper 3/22/16 Interest in morel hunting has mushroomed in recent years. Competition for the succulent morsels is keen and those who have honed their fungi hunting skills are in the kitchen repeatedly during the season serving up mounds of golden fried morels. Hunters who practice shooting, anglers who cast often, or golfers who spend extra time on the course, all excel at what they do. Time and effort spent improving their sports skills shows off when the chips are down. The best morel hunter in the Ozarks, the late “Spud” Gibson, used to say that it gets into your blood. “I’ve hunted morel mushrooms since I was a boy, “ Gibson said. “By nature I know when they start popping.” Possessing a sixth sense about the appearance of morels is a skill set which is acquired from many years of experience in the woods looking for them come spring time. “Most people these days don’t have the time to dedicate days at a time to hunting morels,” said naturalist Jim DiPardo, a personal friend of Gibson’s. “Gibson was an exceptional woodsman, having been reared in the Ozark Mountains,” DiPardo continued. “I learned a good deal about morels from him and learned a few tricks of my own by ‘burning some shoe’ leather as Ozarkians say. Don’t wait for the sun - A common conception about morel hunting is to wait until the sun pops out after a spring rain. “Morels grow incredibly fast,” Dipardo noted. If all conditions are right and it is going to rain until 3p.m., be there before noon. You may beat someone else to the prize.” Calculate the pop - “Morels begin to emerge when a combination of climactic factors converge,” according to DiPardo. “Part of the mystery of hunting morels is figuring out when temperature, humidity, variance between daytime and nighttime temperatures lessen, and when soil acidity and other factors are just right. When temperatures reach the forties at night and the sixties in the daytime, you better have your pickin’ bag ready. Paying close attention to these factors will greatly improve you success rate of finding newly popped morels.” Don’t trust Mother Nature - “Mother Nature loves to pull tricks,” Gibson used to say. “Just because you found morels in one spot one season, does not mean you will the next. The best plan is to have many locations where you have found morels over the years. Then you will have morels to eat every spring.” Look, look, look - Morels may be found in a variety of locations. However the best locations are usually damp creek or river bottoms. Search around fallen timber that is decaying. Some suggest looking around trees that have just died. Many old timers say that once a tree has lost it’s bark, morels will no longer grow around it. Check inside the gooseberry and multi-flora rose brambles, too. You may be pleasantly surprised. Use your binoculars - I got the shock of my life one spring turkey season. Kevin Small, a guide in north Missouri stopped on a gravel farm road and broke out his binoculars. I thought he was looking for turkeys. “There are dozens of big morels under those maple trees over there,” he announced. “Let’s go get them.” Pack a bag - Be prepared. Pack a bag in your vehicle. The urge to hunt morels may catch you off guard. Small plastic bags or handy, but to insure morels for the future, use a woven mesh bag, such as the ones oranges come in. Spores will fall from the morels you pick, seeding the area for the next season.