Morel Mushrooms... Have you found any?

[+Pirates of Prescott]

I have never found any Morel Mushrooms. That is what I hope to find when Geocahing. Has anyone come across some Morels when trying to find a cache? Is there any time of year that is best for Morels? Also do they grow by certain certain vegetation?

Any Help would be appreciated.

Thank You, Pirates of Prescott Wisconsin

[+bittsen]

I have never found any Morel Mushrooms. That is what I hope to find when Geocahing. Has anyone come across some Morels when trying to find a cache? Is there any time of year that is best for Morels? Also do they grow by certain certain vegetation?

Any Help would be appreciated.

Thank You, Pirates of Prescott Wisconsin

Typically they are found in moist areas, around dying or dead Elm trees, Sycamore and Ash trees, old apple orchards and maybe even in your own back yard. Ground cover varies and it is very likely that each patch of mushrooms you come across may be growing in totally different conditions. It is a common practice of shoomer's to hit their favorite spots year after year.

http://thegreatmorel.com/questions.html

[+The magician & his assistant]

PS. A morel is not actually a mushroom, it is a fungus.

Pss. I still call them mushrooms!

[+Kit Fox]

I have never found any Morel Mushrooms. That is what I hope to find when Geocahing. Has anyone come across some Morels when trying to find a cache? Is there any time of year that is best for Morels? Also do they grow by certain certain vegetation?

Any Help would be appreciated.

Thank You, Pirates of Prescott Wisconsin

 

I've found snow plants but no morels.

 

I typed morel in the search engine and came up with these previous threads.

 

geocaching n shroomin..

 

Mushroom Hunting - Geocaching Side-mission, Too many varieties to categorize?

 

Gps And Morel Mushrooms

Edited July 6, 2009 by Kit Fox

[knowschad]

PS. A morel is not actually a mushroom, it is a fungus.

Pss. I still call them mushrooms!

 

All mushrooms are fungi. Or, more correctly, the mushroom is a part of the fungus:

 

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source.

 

 

I have stumbled across morels here a couple of times, but more often, I take the last couple of weeks in May off from caching and just go shroom hunting. In our area (your area), Bittsen is right... elms. Look for elms dying of Dutch Elm disease. There's plenty online about morel hunting, so go do some Googling.

 

I've also stumbled on King Boletes (aka Porcinis aka Cepes), Chicken of the Woods, Hen of the Woods, Oyster mushrooms, and Lion's Manes while caching, all of which are excellent edible wild mushrooms. Geocaching is a good way to get you out into the woods where you will find those things. Be sure to never eat what you cannot positively identify, though!

 

Regarding Kit's Snow Plants... I was not aware of those, but they sound as though they may be related to Indian Pipes. I was caching one spot of woods last year where they were so plentiful that it was difficult to avoid stepping on them!

Edited July 6, 2009 by knowschad

[+Coyote's Girl]

I found some back in April. Around here they start popping up around late March. One guy in our town woke up and found he was the Morel King of southern Illinois with quite a large nuber of them growing in his own back yard.

[+nejohnson]

I found these on a dual-purpose caching/mushroom hunting trip earlier this year (funny story, didn't find the cache because I ran out of light shroomin). These were all found around cluster of 4 or 5 dead oak trees. There were tons of little ones too, but I didnt lay them all out for the pic.

 

Edited July 6, 2009 by nejohnson

[knowschad]

I found these on a dual-purpose caching/mushroom hunting trip earlier this year (funny story, didn't find the cache because I ran out of light shroomin). These were all found around cluster of 4 or 5 dead oak trees. There were tons of little ones too, but I didnt lay them all out for the pic.

 

 

Those are awesome, Nick. Large ones (I've heard them called "bigfoots"). Hate to break it to you, though... that one in the bottom row, 5th from the end is a Diet Pepsi can, not a morel. You will know when you cook it up... it'll have a somewhat metallic taste and be a bit tough.

[gojkgo]

[+PJPeters]

I've found a few. You just need to watch carefully. A good place to hunt is in areas that have recently burned (brush fires, etc.).

A side note - when you do hunt morels, first make sure of what you're picking, as many mushrooms (ex. false morel) can prove to be poisonous. Second, use a mesh bag - that allows the spores to spread as you walk, causing more to grow.

 

Good luck in your hunting.

[+flask]

last may i found TWO large patches of morels near caches.

 

since i was living in my car, i had no viable way to manage cooking them, but if i'd had friends with me i'd probably have whipped up a little chaudiere thing with maybe a little salmon, convenient or not.

 

the only other pothunting i do reliably around here is for puffballs and black trumpets.

[knowschad]

last may i found TWO large patches of morels near caches.

 

since i was living in my car, i had no viable way to manage cooking them, but if i'd had friends with me i'd probably have whipped up a little chaudiere thing with maybe a little salmon, convenient or not.

 

the only other pothunting i do reliably around here is for puffballs and black trumpets.

 

Morels dry very nicely. They keep forever as long as you keep them well dried.

 

Oooh! I wanna try black trumpets! I've found their close cousin, chanterelles, but no trumpets yet. When, and what sort of woods, have you found them in (while caching, of course. Gotta keep this geocaching related)

[+flask]

last may i found TWO large patches of morels near caches.

 

since i was living in my car, i had no viable way to manage cooking them, but if i'd had friends with me i'd probably have whipped up a little chaudiere thing with maybe a little salmon, convenient or not.

 

the only other pothunting i do reliably around here is for puffballs and black trumpets.

 

Morels dry very nicely. They keep forever as long as you keep them well dried.

 

Oooh! I wanna try black trumpets! I've found their close cousin, chanterelles, but no trumpets yet. When, and what sort of woods, have you found them in (while caching, of course. Gotta keep this geocaching related)

 

because i was caching and living in my car, i had no way of drying them, either. i DID try to call ahead to cachers i knew in the town where i was going to see if anyone wanted them, but i got no answers.

 

(notice my graceful tie-in to caching)

 

black trumpets, i have found, seem to like second-growth forest primarily of beech and oak. they really like oak, but i find the forest composition is usually a beech/oak mix. where i live they start coming up in late august and go through mid-october, and they seem to do best in wet years on well-drained hillsides.

 

the market downtown sells them at $40/pound.

 

roz payne lives in my town, and besides her affiliations with the black panthers and the yippies (yes, THOSE black panthers and yippies), she's a world-class pothunter and they sell whatever she brings at the market.

[aniyn]

In the pacific NW they tend to stick to higher elevations, and thrive in areas recently burned. I've been looking when i cache, but no luck so far.

[+popokiiti]

Mmmmm, Mmmmorels......last time I saw any, they were diced finely and densely packed around the meat of a wonderful Beef Wellington....

[+TheFedora]

Never have found a Morel while caching, but as a kid growing up in southeast Ohio I distinctly remember going out with my mom to go Morel hunting. The best edible mushroom there is, bar none. Saute them with butter and salt, mmmmm......

[+Mule Ears]

Is this a morel?

 

 

We found it on the way back from our DNF of a cache high in the Pinaleño Mountains. We know, of course, that toadstools are poisonous, but there being no toads nearby, we figured it was safe. Delicious! A really memorable day with the DNF, the mushrooms, and the flocks of migrating jellyfish filling the skies with their purple glow.

[+flask]

Is this a morel?

 

 

We found it on the way back from our DNF of a cache high in the Pinaleño Mountains. We know, of course, that toadstools are poisonous, but there being no toads nearby, we figured it was safe. Delicious! A really memorable day with the DNF, the mushrooms, and the flocks of migrating jellyfish filling the skies with their purple glow.

 

you've never seen a psilocybin mushroom, have you?

[+Mule Ears]

you've never seen a psilocybin mushroom, have you?

 

Only briefly.

[+bittsen]

Is this a morel?

 

 

We found it on the way back from our DNF of a cache high in the Pinaleño Mountains. We know, of course, that toadstools are poisonous, but there being no toads nearby, we figured it was safe. Delicious! A really memorable day with the DNF, the mushrooms, and the flocks of migrating jellyfish filling the skies with their purple glow.

 

That is not a mushroom you want to be eating. It can (and likely would) kill you but the least it could do would be to send you on a hallucenogenic trip.

[+Mule Ears]

That is not a mushroom you want to be eating. It can (and likely would) kill you but the least it could do would be to send you on a hallucenogenic trip.

 

One of the jellyfish, their leader or at least elder judging from the whiskers, said something very similar. But he was quoting a lot from Hunter Thompson and Jefferson Airplane and I kind of lost the thread of it. Good info for next time, though.

[+flask]

 

That is not a mushroom you want to be eating. It can (and likely would) kill you but the least it could do would be to send you on a hallucenogenic trip.

 

i don't know about that; i hope to be lucid at my death, or at least not impaired.

 

any mushroom that looks like that is likely to be poisonous, though. and the really swell thing about the really deadly mushrooms is that while you ARE going to die, you often have time to reflect on the deliciousness of the mushroom while you wait for your organs to fail.

[+Nalarangka]

Hunting dryland fish (that is what we call morel mushrooms round these parts) is a common pastime of many people around Middle Tennessee. I have hunted and ate them all my life.

[+DeadHead82]

Is this a morel?

 

 

We found it on the way back from our DNF of a cache high in the Pinaleño Mountains. We know, of course, that toadstools are poisonous, but there being no toads nearby, we figured it was safe. Delicious! A really memorable day with the DNF, the mushrooms, and the flocks of migrating jellyfish filling the skies with their purple glow.

 

This thread got me looking in my mycology field guide. My best informed guess at this fungus would be the fly agaric mushroom in the family Amanitaceae. It's latin name is Amanita muscaria. While the guide does say that this specific type is poisonous, it mentions nothing about hallucinogenic effects. I doubt considerably that, if one were to eat this particular fungus, they would have anything resembling a good time before succumbing to it's effects. Of which include "delirium and profuse sweating."

 

Most of the Psilocybe mushrooms that are used recreationally come from the family Strophariaceae otherwise known as "little brown mushrooms" They have small brown caps, white stalks and bruise a bluish color.

[knowschad]

Is this a morel?

 

 

We found it on the way back from our DNF of a cache high in the Pinaleño Mountains. We know, of course, that toadstools are poisonous, but there being no toads nearby, we figured it was safe. Delicious! A really memorable day with the DNF, the mushrooms, and the flocks of migrating jellyfish filling the skies with their purple glow.

 

you've never seen a psilocybin mushroom, have you?

 

I have, but that is an Aminita Muscaria. Do not even think about eating it!

 

Edit:

Actually, while I stand 110% by my post, there IS a rather interesting history of eating this mushroom:

 

The active ingredient is excreted in the urine of those consuming the mushrooms. In Siberia, it was not uncommon for the poor to consume the urine of wealthy people who consumed Amanita muscaria mushrooms. This may sound like a bad means of getting intoxicated but the urine drinkers seemed to get as high as the actual mushroom eaters, for free.

Edited July 7, 2009 by knowschad

[+DeadHead82]

By the way, I love morels! I grab as many as i can get in a season. Using a mesh potato sack for transport purposes, of course. Find some moist soil and a dead elm or ash tree and you're golden. I haven't found many in recent years as i've been away from my home stomping grounds for a while finishing up school. There aren't alot of places around campus (or outside of town) that facilitate hunting them. Areas where they are found are either parkland or private property. I sure don't want to go around stepping on any toes! Anyway, i'll shut up. I just wanted to speak up on a topic of personal interest. Thanks for the cool thread

[+bittsen]

Is this a morel?

 

 

We found it on the way back from our DNF of a cache high in the Pinaleño Mountains. We know, of course, that toadstools are poisonous, but there being no toads nearby, we figured it was safe. Delicious! A really memorable day with the DNF, the mushrooms, and the flocks of migrating jellyfish filling the skies with their purple glow.

 

you've never seen a psilocybin mushroom, have you?

 

I have, but that is an Aminita Muscaria. Do not even think about eating it!

 

Edit:

Actually, while I stand 110% by my post, there IS a rather interesting history of eating this mushroom:

 

The active ingredient is excreted in the urine of those consuming the mushrooms. In Siberia, it was not uncommon for the poor to consume the urine of wealthy people who consumed Amanita muscaria mushrooms. This may sound like a bad means of getting intoxicated but the urine drinkers seemed to get as high as the actual mushroom eaters, for free.

 

Going from memory, some cultures have a shaman who has, over time, built an immunity to the poisonous effects of the mushroom and therefore can consume much more than an average person. One way of keeping the role of Shaman was that they could eat the mushroom without dying while a commoner would succumb and die. They considered the Shaman a magical being. And, yes, the Shamans urine would be shared with its psychotropic properties to give "visions" to anyone who consumed it.

[k_statealan]

I never hunted them until a year or two ago. Last year I moved in with my wife after the wedding and she/we live on 200 acres of mixed crop/wood/pastureland that's been in the family since the 1880's. This year was the first time I ever went on my own. Managed to find a bunch, but when I went with my sister in law she found a ton and I found very few.

 

The next day, my brother, who had never hunted before, and I walked around for 2.5 hours and found only a couple. We passed by one area on the way back to the house and decided to look just for the heck of it. We ended up picking up at least 50, several of them in the 6-8" range before it finally got too dark to see. Came out by myself the next day and got about a dozen more. Even found one 3 feet from the paved road on more or less flat ground where anyone could have seen it. Later I found out that the area we were looking in hadn't been searched by the family for at least 15 years because they never really found anything there.

[+Manville Possum]

I have been hunting Morels for over 25 years, I started using a GPS unit to mark "patches" a few years ago before I heard about geocacheing. Sometimes I have someone drop me off on top of a moutain and hunt my way back to my truck. This year we had a bumper crop in SW Va./NE Tn. and according to my GPS the first ones that I found in mid-march were around 2000-2300 ft. in Popular groves on the north slopes. Seems that wild turkeys like them as well as I do. I dry the ones that I don't use fresh, they are great in stir-frys and on the grill.