There’s been a bit of chatter on the In-Depth Outdoors Hunting and Fishing pages recently about morel mushrooms. What’s rare here, is that there’s quite a few people willing to share information about these little mushrooms, whereas most people would sooner discuss the location of buried treasure in their backyard. There’s something about these little fungi, that makes grown men and women lie to their children, friends turn into mushroom-crazed adversaries, and to people who like them, binge heavily on butter and garlic-soaked specimens from hillsides and valleys across the Midwest.
I was trained in morel-hunting by my grandmother, during perhaps one of the greatest booms the sport might ever see. In southern MN throughout much of the mid-late 1980’s, dutch-elm’s disease ripped through the region, killing off a vast number of elm species, and creating the all-too-perfect conditions which can create a flush of morel mushrooms. Morel’s are the fruiting body of a fungi that lives off of dead and decaying tree roots, so these roots in a certain age/condition are vital to finding morels in the first place. Back then, there were areas where it was hard to walk without stepping on one. Nowadays, there isn’t that much dead tree root throughout the soil, so the first step is to find dead trees, or what’s left of a dead tree, in order to find the food which they need to exist in the first place. I have found it to be true, that a good morel-hunter spends as much time looking up at the tree-tops for dead branches, as they do looking down for the morels themselves.
This weekend, my family went to visit some friends in South Dakota, an area where I had never morel-hunted before in my life. I asked around, and got some second-hand information from John Kutz, an IDO member with a friend in eastern SD. I had a few leads on locations likely to hold morels, and decided to spend some time looking on aerial photos for similar locations on public land where I could look for them myself when out there visiting. This would be a challenge. It’s difficult to find spots near home, that you can check on constantly. Not to mention, I had no local knowledge of the area I was to be hunting, only some experiences in finding them throughout MN and WI to draw upon. This report is dedicated to helping those look for the right areas, such that you can find locations likely to hold morel mushrooms, no matter where you might be.
This year, I’ve found morels under decaying ash, apple, and elm trees, though they grow under a variety of other tree species as well. For the most part, elms are the easiest to find as they tend to grow larger, and their white, bark-free branches are the most conspicuous and easily identified. The perfect elm tree is large (more roots), freshly dead, with most of its bark still intact. This tree, on a slope with some sunlight, yet a medium-dense understory, along with some moss and other forbs to keep it moist makes for conditions morels thrive in. In South Dakota, we first found dead elm on an open grassy site. Those morels were not very well protected and we found a few “burned” ones that were dried and crumbly. We focused on a river bottom after that, with more wooded understory, and found our first morel nearly 30 feet from the tree that produced it. As it turned out, sunlight was the limiting factor in this darker and deeper river valley, so all of our morels were found in a band next to the trail where enough canopy was opened for sunlight. My experience has been that you typically have a limiting factor, be it water, sunlight, slope, etc., and honing in on these limiting factors will help you pinpoint the location of other morels as a pattern emerges. Just like fishing, you find one, then another, and another until there becomes a rhyme and reason for their location.
Most of our morels were found on east facing slopes, with the south-slope mushrooms either only existing in thick greenery, or burned up, and along the edges of openings. We located the dead elm trees first and then searched the perimeter of their canopy, knowing that the root system comes out from the tree base just as far, if not further. Keep in mind, we found some incredible looking elm that had zero mushrooms under them. That’s part of the game. Sometimes they’re there, sometimes they’re not, but when you do find them, you’ve really done something. Morel mushrooms are a spring treasure to me, and even though fishing has my attention for most of the year, I always make time for this hobby!
Nice report Joel
You stated the best advise I was ever told when I was a kid in the 70’s looking for them
I have found it to be true, that a good morel-hunter spends as much time looking up at the tree-tops for dead branches, as they do looking down for the morels themselves. This is VERY TRUE
Yep, moisture, warmth and sunlight, along creek bottoms is my favorite, good read.
Joel…Regarding the harvest of these little guys, is it best to cut them off at the bottom of the stem (as close to ground as possible…) or just pull them out of the ground? Is leaving some of them in the ground good for future growth? Can’t wait to head out behind the house to look!
I’ve always cut them off at ground level and use mesh produce bags.
Like Henny said, pinch/twist, or cut-them off at ground level with a knife or scissors. Most morel experts agree that pulling them out of the ground can damage the mycellium or underground structure of the morel, thus preventing more same-year (at least) or future-year blooms (possibly). There’s some argument as to the extent of the damage you can create, but as an added bonus, your morels won’t have the gritty dirt taste that comes from jumping around in the same bag with a root-pulled shroom.
Good hunting!
Joel
I alway soak my morels in a cooler half full of water to get some or most of the sand out of the mushrooms. Each year I dump the water out by the wood pile. I know there’s still some spores getting washed away. Last spring I had about 10 nice sized morel pop up. They didn’t come back this year, was hoping I’d have something going. Sometimes one will get fruitings out of dirt delivered, sometimes they pop up in center field at the little league park, there’s always opportunity. Sometimes we will see a sandbar covered with them, no tree in sight. Just be on the look out! Nice report, and my kids still think hunting morels is pretty cool!
Great advice….dirt in the mushrooms is no good. Sometimes, esp. in dry conditions, this is a must!
Joel
I dug up this photo from a few years ago. I think it really exemplifies the way “real” morel hunting is like. Try to spot how many are in the photo.
The more you look, the more you keep finding!
Joel
Here’s a picture from a couple years ago. I can’t tell you how many I found crushed/trampled this year. For all you morel newbs – you should look a little better.
On a side note, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture can kiss my
.
Wow – cool shot. I hear you on the public places. I trample a few myself from time to time. Repeated checks by different people would make it tough. They’re hard enough to find on their own, let alone when there’s others out there you’re competing with!
Was out last night for my last pick of the year. Just enough for dinner on egg/ham sandwiches. Plenty more either brown/rotten, crumbled, or molded. I was hoping that last rain would kick a final flush of giants like it can towards the end of May but I think we’ve been too unseasonably warm.
Joel
here’s last years wood pile fruiting. Didn’t have any time to get on the river this spring, but up till last week we were too dry, now it’s past the season.
Oh well, next year.
Super cool, it works! Guess I’ve just been dumping the water in the wrong spot. I’ve got a dead elm in the yard that’s been kicking out a half dozen or so on its own. I’m going to dump water there next spring to see if I can kickstart it a bit more!
Joel
best spot i have had for the last 2 years is by a row of semi mature pine trees with cut grass around them. never would have guessed it until the owners said they had been running over alot of mushrooms.
The last time I went about 2 weeks ago I found only 2 and almost not worth eating except maybe in scrambled eggs. So A light went on and I thought and said to the wife, lets dry them out and when they get to the point where they are brittle we’ll grind them up and try to grow some this spring. I’ve got them sitting in the window right now and there as hard and soft now as the daily humidity.
Thought Id make a 3′ wide by about 6′ long wooden tray about 3′ off the ground and grind up some dead leaves, bark etc. and do all that this fall to get the growth medium as ready as possible, maybe even go dig up some of the green moss they grow out of and put that in there too.
After grinding the mushrooms up I’m sure they have to go through a cold conditioning process so in a small jar and into the fridge for a few days, maybe even let them go through a few frosts to get them conditioned on the back porch. Then late this fall I’ll spread the grindings all over the top of the growth medium and let nature condition the spores etc. until spring. I’ve got the shade in a back spot under a soft maple tree to do all this, maybe it will work. Anyone familiar with growing any type of mushroom, I know theres a few guys that grow a few kinds with limbs and mushroom plugs, any info or advice or what if you did this kinda stuff would be appreciated, any ideas?
I’ve read up on this and have always heard that it’s a difficult process that often doesn’t work. Here’s some more information on it. Curious to see how it works for you! – http://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/growing-morel-mushrooms.html
Joel
Ya Joel thanks for the info, Were going to try, what have we got to loose, I’ll let everyone know how it goes. I went to a few sites and the amount of debrise they put over the spores seems way to much for me when their growing out of the green ground moss they grow out from around here. Too me all they need is a place to spawn, moisture, sunlight and the right conditions. How are they supposed to grow and push up the weight of 3″ of rough bark and debries, don’t makes sense to me when they grow out of the green ground moss I’ve picked hundreds from that are right on the surface on the moss. I’ll find out. When you can find them growing out of cowpies out in a pasture that says something besides 3″ of weight of rough compost.
Like you said, what have you got to lose. Hope it works well, would be great to have a good spot in your backyard!
Joel
It has been years since I have hunted morels. They are fun to hunt and great eating too.
Recently, I have bought a book by the Audubon Society about musthrooms of all kinds.Lots of pics and descriptions of both the edibles and poisonous ones.
I want to do some hunting for the later ones like the hen of the woods, etc.
It makes interesting reading if nothing else. I enjoyed the posts here too.