shroom hunting

[Lost Arra]

5 days of rain and the morels are active.
Last year the drought kept the spores in the subterranean homesick blues.

Cloudy and cool today. Spitting some rain. Hit the woods with my bow, some stump-shooting arrows, a bucket and binos.
Yes, binos. Vortex Vipers 6 x 32 really help when stalking fungi.
Killed a couple of stumps but no pics.

This is no trophy mushroom but definitely a keeper:



The meat pole after an afternoon in the woods.



Google "price fresh morels". Yikes!
These are heading for elk burgers, pizzas and omelets.

Not exactly Beast Mode Hunting but a good day while waiting for turkey season.

[Sawtooth]

Awesome! This brings back memories of morel hunting and turkey hunting, all on the same days, in NE Missouri during the spring turkey season, back in the early 90s. You're about four months ahead of us here in the high country

[beachbunny]

we don't get them at the beach but they look tasty. i will try that sometime though.

[one-eyed Bob]

We usually do morel hunting and crappie fishing. The multiflora roses have torn me up but no luck so far. They look great; do you soak them and then bread them or what?

[Lost Arra]

Sawtooth: this is early for morels here too. Warm winter.

Bob: Crappie still pretty deep here plus the water is high with all the rain.

I used to soak the morels but now I just spray them thoroughly in the sink until all the dirt is off.

No breading for burgers, pizza or omelets. Only browned in butter (maybe garlic).

If eaten as a side dish I will coat them in panko crumbs.

[robcollins]

Used to find them in MO growing up, I'd rather hunt for them than turkeys. Have Never found them here in CO, Sawtooth, any advice? The voodoo I've perpetuated was:

"Look for mayapples, when they're up, it's warm enough"
"elm trees, they really like them"

Mostly though, they always seemed to be in the same spots year after year. Good combo of southern sun and moisture. Leaves made good mulch, but found them in grass too. Neither of my "magic indicators" really apply here in CO. (Elms, mayapples) I've obviously not looked in the right spots. I've heard they're here, just not as bountiful as our land in Milan, MO. I'm taking a class right now, so can't get back to turkey hunt this year. :-(

Egg, cracker crumbs, salt, pepper, fried in oil. Magic. Crappie fillets (walleye would substitute NICELY, that's about to start too) dredged in cornmeal, cracker crumbs, eggs, and Tony Chachere's is also magic. A little new poke, lambsquarter, fiddlehead and whatever else good I could scrounge, steamed in some green onion, garlic, and bacon grease.

Bedtime's the wrong time to be this hungry...

[robcollins]

And those are the yellow ones, not the early gray ones. Man they look GOOD!!!

[Smokepole]

Noice!!!!!!

[elmbow]

For a kid who grew up on those little black rubber chunks in Campbell's soup and thoroughly detesting "shrooms" for the first 25 years of my life, I will admit to having finally developed a liking for "some" of them. They are protected under the ESA here in the desert SW. I wonder if cryptobiotic soils are a close 2nd?

I tried the truffles in Europe and they were way too pungent for this kid.

So did you harvest them with your bow? Wait for them to stop quivering before you approached? You using a fishing point to prevent them going underground before expiring?