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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Ga.boy on April 12, 2008, 02:27:00 PM

Title: Morels?
Post by: Ga.boy on April 12, 2008, 02:27:00 PM
Probably posting this in the wrong place, but need advice quick. As my son and I were coming out of the woods this morning after a fruitless turkey hunt, we stumbled into these shrooms. I've seen posts here before about Morels, and these kinda look like the pictures I've seen. Anybody able to tell from these pics. if these are Morels or a ticket to the emergency room?
Please remove if this is an improper post. I WAS bowhunting! LOL.

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/ccbunn/2008_0313Ansley9-8-070009.jpg)

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/ccbunn/2008_0313Ansley9-8-070011.jpg)
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: Fletcher on April 12, 2008, 02:46:00 PM
You lucky dog you.  Yep, those are morels.  Slice them in half, soak in saltwater for a bit, dry and roll in egg and flour and saute in butter.  They're also good in an omlette.  I'm sure others will have some greeat eating ideas, too.  We've got another week or two to wait up here.
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: CheapShot on April 12, 2008, 03:13:00 PM
Those look to be Morels to me. One good way to tell is to slice them in half, lenght - wise they will be hollow all the way through. I'm going Turkey hunting tomorrow, I always look for Morels during Turkey season.
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: Otto on April 12, 2008, 03:17:00 PM
Next time cut em off above ground with a pocketknife.  Leave the roots intact.
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: vermonster13 on April 12, 2008, 03:27:00 PM
Do like Otto said and you'll find them in the same places year after year.
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: Ga.boy on April 12, 2008, 03:35:00 PM
Thanks guys. Wish I had known to leave the roots behind. They have been kept damp and cool. I wonder if I could replant the roots and a small section of the stem in the morning in the same spot they came from? I found them in a really damp hardwood creek valley.

CheapShot, thanks. They are hollow like you said.
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: vermonster13 on April 12, 2008, 03:43:00 PM
Worth a try. Good Morel and Fiddlehead cutting spots are mapped out and closely guarded secrets up here.
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: BowHuntingFool on April 12, 2008, 03:53:00 PM
Quote
Originally posted by vermonster13:
Worth a try. Good Morel and Fiddlehead cutting spots are mapped out and closely guarded secrets up here.
I agree, worth a try and congrats on some fine eatin ya got there!!!!  A good Morel spot is a top secret find, when your going to check it make sure your not being followed!!!!!   :cool:
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: bentstick_55 on April 12, 2008, 04:48:00 PM
Yep Morels, each and every one!  YUM!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: swp on April 12, 2008, 04:51:00 PM
Better send them to me and let me taste test them for you. Wouldn't want anybody to get sick from eating something that look like morels.  :)
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: Keith361 on April 12, 2008, 05:24:00 PM
I know I'll probably get beat up over this one but... I've never had them.

Where should I be looking to get some?

Tahnks,
Keith
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: vermonster13 on April 12, 2008, 05:40:00 PM
Well shaded, damp places.
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: alaskabowhunter on April 12, 2008, 05:56:00 PM
yep those are golden to me.... I remember picking 'shrooms with my dad once back in Minnesota. He kept asking if we could eat this one or that one.... I finally told him " you can eat any mushroom you want... once". enjoy
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: Jack Guard on April 12, 2008, 07:13:00 PM
Yeppers, you found yourself some Morels there.  

As quoted from the book "Basically Morels" by Larry Lonik.  

"The stalk of a true morel is hollow and is joined to the bottome end of the cap.  The stalk of a flase morel may be hollow or pithy and is attached only at the top of the cap"

Enjoy
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: rascal on April 12, 2008, 07:52:00 PM
I agree with the logic "you should have cut the roots off at the ground" but dont worry about them not growing back due to taking the roots with you.  Morels grow by spores and have nothing what-so-ever to do with the roots being there.  I cut (actually I pinch them off) them off because I dont care to spread the dirt all over my prize on the way out of the woods.  If conditions are right those morels will be back year after year as mentioned and you will want to go back to that spot in about 4-5 days you will probably find more right where you picked them.  Next time you pick bring an empty mesh onion sack to put them in so you can hopefully spread any spores on your way out of the woods.

Of course it cant hurt if you want to bury the roots back where you found them, just make sure to look for more while you are out digging the hole =).
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: BAK on April 12, 2008, 07:55:00 PM
And I woke up to a fresh layer of snow on the ground.  Nice find.  Nice climate.
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: Don Thomas on April 12, 2008, 08:25:00 PM
No need to worry about picking their roots... they don't really have any. The morels we pick are not individual plants, but the fruiting bodies of a huge underground network of mycelia that constitutes one living organism. That's whey you find "them" in the same place year after year. I can't make a positive ID from the picture, but if you will dry a bushel of them and send them to me I will give you a positive opinion! Don
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: Brian Krebs on April 12, 2008, 09:21:00 PM
THEY ARE A 'SAFE' MUSHROOM; BUT YOU HAVE TO COOK THEM- DO NOT EAT THEM RAW.
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: Lost Arra on April 13, 2008, 08:40:00 PM
Almost filled a 5 gallon bucket with morels yesterday evening while out stump shooting with my daughter.

Mushroom and cheese omelets this morning!   :thumbsup:    :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: 4runr on April 13, 2008, 08:52:00 PM
Lost arra, you're killin me! Morel and cheese omelet, is like dining with a king.

I looked yesterday, found nuttin  :banghead:
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: sticshooter on April 13, 2008, 09:36:00 PM
do these grow everywhere in the US? I love shrooms. Big wetland in back of the house but never looked for these.<><
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: Lost Arra on April 13, 2008, 09:48:00 PM
Frank: I think the only consistent characteristic of their location is ......trees. I'm usually in the woods but I find them in grassy areas too if a big tree is around or a dead tree was there. I found my last bunch in an oak thicket. (I'm no morel expert in locating them just in identifying them.)

My daughter found the first one yesterday directly under a 3D target!
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: Cedarfeeder on April 13, 2008, 10:32:00 PM
Just remember there is also the false morel. Also known as the red mushroom. Always cut your morel mushrooms in half to make sure they're hollow. Not everyone dies from eating a false morel, but the toxin Gyromitrin, can cause allot of other illness.
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: Gatekeeper on April 13, 2008, 10:43:00 PM
Quote
Originally posted by sticshooter:
do these grow everywhere in the US? I love shrooms. Big wetland in back of the house but never looked for these.<><
Sticshooter,

Here is a link to a thread about morels. It may answer some of you r questions.  http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=058726


Ga.boy,

Great find! Congratulations!
  :clapper:
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: Lost Arra on April 13, 2008, 10:45:00 PM
When I find morels I'm not finding anything else. There aren't other mushrooms around. Fortunately the morel is pretty distinctive.
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: George D. Stout on April 14, 2008, 09:28:00 AM
rascal is correct.  The best way to carry  is with the onion sack or other netting bag.  It is too cold yet here in Pa.  The third week of April starts our Morel march 8^).

The black phase comes earliest here, then the gray/yellow phase into early May.  They love to grow among poplar, wild cherry, butternut and cucumber trees around here.
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: Ga.boy on April 15, 2008, 11:38:00 PM
Thanks for all the info. and advice. My computers been down since right after I posted this thread, and I just got it back up and running.
I found these in a damp, shady creek valley that is predominately Red Oak, Poplar, Hickory and a few old growth pines. There are a lot of blow downs from a small tornado that came through the area a few years back. A lot of ferns and other green stuff that I don't usually see many other places also grow in this area. And the skeeters are already out there!
Title: Re: Morels?
Post by: fatman on April 16, 2008, 09:54:00 AM
Ga.boy, you might try taking the stems to a similar area closer to home to see if you can start a new population...I've heard of people throwing out "spoiled" mushrooms and having a crop the next year.....the spores seem to be throughout the entire fungus?

We need a couple of good, hot days around here to get them to "pop"....

fatman