SPRING MOREL FEVER

When spring comes around the corner, we get the morel fever. Well actually we get ours in December, an early onset. All we talk about is how many days can we possibly take off work to go hunting, where we are going to go, daydreaming all day about how many we will get this year. All with a huge grin on our face.

Ahhhhh, morels.

There are a bunch of different types of morels. Where we live, in the foothills of South Carolina, we find the tiny Tulip morels, and the giant Blonde morels, but never do we find a Black morel or a Half Free morel. Those we find up in the mountains when we go on a morel hunt with the Asheville Mushroom Club. Then there are those you find on the west coast, and we call those burnsite morels. They come out after forest fires around morel season.

Half Free Morel
(Morchella semilibera)

Black Morel
(Morchella conica)

Blonde Morel
(Morchella esculenta)

Burnsite Morel
(Morchella atromentosa)

HOW TO FIND A MOREL

Season

Here in the United States, you can find morels almost in every state. You will not find them in hot Florida and arid Arizona. They start fruiting in February on the Pacific coast, and then fruit through May in the North East, and end up in Canada. The peak fruiting season is from April through May. In South Carolina, the season lasts from late March till mid April. That is only one month in a whole year, and 2 weeks in any given place. No wonder we get all feverish.

Because we have so little time to get as many as we can, and so much land to cover, it is always good to know where, and how to find these suculent little morsels.

Trees

Morels come out early in Spring when the leaves have not yet come out. And morels associate with certain tree roots, therefore it is a good idea to learn certain bark patterns. The trees to look around are Ash, Tulip, Oak, Hickory, Sycamore, Cottonwood, Maple, Beech, in some areas Conifers, old Apple orchards, and Elm Tree stands.

TIP: Word of caution, when you are morel hunting in old apple orchards, know the history of that apple orchard, if the pesticides were used, don't pick morels there. Lots of pesticides are persistent, they stay in the soil for long periods of time, and morels are the best heavy metal absorbers in the mushroom world.

Ash Tree Bark

Beech Tree Bark

Cottonwood Tree Bark

Hickory Tree Bark

Maple Tree Bark

Oak Tree Bark

Sycamore Tree Bark

Tulip Tree Bark

Elm Tree Bark

Apple Tree Bark

In South Carolina, we find ours in Ash, Sycamore, Cottonwood and Tulip mixed forests, next to creeks and rivers. So guess what we do all year long, we look at trees when we are in the car, and pin point our new possible morel hunting grounds.

Terrain

In the mountains, where the black morels grow, it is hard to go morel hunting because you are always on the hills, going up and down, great workout if you need to lose some pounds.

Down here in the foothills we find them in flood plains. We find a wildlife managment area that is right next to a river or a creek that has flooded the plain, and 90% of the time, morels will be there. We usually get up at 5:00 am, and drive to our favorite spots, hang out until the sun starts coming out, sipping on hot fruit tea or coffee, listening to the birds and other wildlife waking up. Usually there is mist or fog involved too, and maybe also some hunters.

TIP: Morel hunting is not recommended on private property, because you might get chased out by othe owner, or even threatened and/or turned into the police. Remember it is illegal to be on someone else's private property.

TIP: If you are hunting in a wildlife managment area, wear orange socks, a super bright jacket, etc, so the hunters don't mistake you for a deer.

Temperature

When the ground temperature hits 50 F ( in the shade and in the morning ) start looking…carry a digital cooking thermometer ($12) with you at all times!

When the ground temperature hits 58 F in these same areas, you are wasting your time.  They have moved up to higher elevations (and so will you if you want to find them!)  Following the ground temperature is a great tactic that we use every spring.

Plants

Native blooming plants can also be great indicators of ground temperature when you are scouting around or covering long distances in a car.  Notice the progression of bloom development and take some ground temperatures somewhere along the way, you may just learn something!

Other Mushrooms

There are lots of other spring fruiting mushrooms that come out around the same time as morels. Some of these are: devil's urn, all sorts of cup fungi, false morels, enoki, deadly galerina, deer mushrooms, all kinds of jellies.

A mushroom not depicted in the above pics called a False Morel also fruits around the morel season. People say that it looks like a morel, but I beg to differ. Morels have nice honeycomb style pattern, where as False Morels are more convoluted. Morels are hollow inside, where the False Morels are not. It is actually quite easy to distinguish them.

False Morels or Verpas are said to be poisonous. Lots of people get severe gastrointestinal issues, and deaths have also been reported. But then again some people eat them, and never get sick. I would never eat a false morel, there are plenty of other mushrooms out there to eat. Not worthed the risk. Besided, False Morels produce a compound similar to rocket fuel.