# Morel Season "2006"



## funebonz880

16 blacks near my house. Hows the cheboygan area looking??


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## bmilbank

I have thought about hunting shrooms this year, so what happens? I find 10 yellow morels in the middle of the lawn in the back yard. No shade, no trees, just morels growing up thru the grass. I've lived here for 20 years and this is the first time I've seen them here in my own yard. Here, by the way, is Westland, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit). I guess it's a sign to go out and find some more. I check the back yard first though. Good hunting to everyone!


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## Nine Milly

Went out today in NW kzoo. The area I was hunting seemed rather dry. Low land areas with sandy soil that typically produce my mother loads were empty. I think the soil seemed a bit cool, however I read on here where people are finding them in the kzoo area. I spoke with a couple other shroomer's in the parking lot they were all reporting similar results with no finds between 6 folks. Good hunting to you all.

NineMilly,
Ghost of the woods


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## STEINFISHSKI

I checked my early spots last night after work in the west Grand Rapids area and nothing. Won't be long now though.


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## BeaverPilot

I found 10 this morning after the snow melted! thats right-- you heard me ! they were frozen harder than a morel popsicle! cheboygan county


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## bigrackmack

Looked around today no luck in my good spots,But I will keep looking sooner or later they will be popping up...THis was in Livingston County....Also the Dundee area should have them they will grow just about anywere the conditions are right...Hope this helps..


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## Coldwater Charters

We found over 250 today, this freeze tonight will not be good for the ones we missed.


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## jpollman

OMG !

Bobber, I thought you dried up and blew away. :lol: 

Glad to see that you're still breathin'.

John


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## skulldugary

The morels ARE a poppin'.


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## WALLEYE MIKE

To my surprise, I found about 15 of them in a customers grass. The grass cutter ran over about a dozen more. He didn't see them.


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## Sprytle

MY GOD...... those look GOOOOOD!!!!:corkysm55 :corkysm55 :corkysm55 :corkysm55


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## bigair

20 blacks tonight in nothern oakland county.


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## wcoutfitters

Picked some morels on Tuesday and found this one and his sibling.


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## Happy Jack

Finally- picked 46 behind my house this morning. Left 10-12 tiny ones.


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## Arin

where are you guys finding these? what kind of lighting do you find them in? i've looked a few times in north oakland around a lake without anything...​


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## bigair

There getting bigger. 22 more tonight.


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## steely171

We have picked a few in mid state 49 of them two weeks ago as a matter of fact.So if you have not been looking you wont be finding


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## Rencoho

Finally!!, after reading all your reports, I looked in my favorite spot last night and found my first dozen morels, all greys, guess whats going in the scrambled eggs?


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## Happy Jack

Well it's about to get good here. Found about 40 small greys. Many only 1/2 to 1 inch tall. Biggest had a cap of 1 1/2 in. Accidently steped on a few so I brought those home. I picked some 3-4 in. greys same place last year. Ground cover is very dry. Also found my first false morels. Rookies like me could be fooled.

Arin- Found them all 2-10 ft. from dead elms in thick stuff near a swamp. I didn't find any around elms in the more open woods.


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## GullLkRltr

Not a bad morning's haul-big ones, little ones, lost count. :corkysm55 Now if we could just get some rain


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## twohats

I have 60 so far from wayne county. good for a beginner I think.


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## Dedicated Sportsman

Went out a little ways south of grand rapids tonight and found about a dozen or so before it got dark out. This rain is going to make those shrooms start popping out real good .


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## StumpJumper

This season is just looking better and better.


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## StumpJumper

Dedicated Sportsman said:


> Went out a little ways south of grand rapids tonight and found about a dozen or so before it got dark out. This rain is going to make those shrooms start popping out real good .


 Are the blacks still popping down there or did you find greys?


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## 3mancubs

Firecracker,
If you can afford to buy them off of ebay, you must be living in one of those big fancy houses they built on my morel patch.LOL.
What area are you from?
If you give us an area I'm sure we can help you out. Trust me they are everywhere.


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## Dedicated Sportsman

Im not sure what kind they were, but they really looked like the mushrooms at the top of this site right by MICHIGAN SPORTSMAN.


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## Dedicated Sportsman

28 more today! Found some bigger whites i think but again im not sure. This weekend should be good pickin!


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## twohats

54 tonight a mix of grey and yellow. More rain please.


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## wecker20

found 74 last night and had to leave cause my two year old son was getting tired. We had a blast finding them and he found his first shroom(1st time out) all by himself. Dad never saw it! I found a few in the jack pines and in the open areas. Most of them came from a mature stand of red pine. Found a few in the poplar trees too but pines seem to be the key the last 2-3 years for me.


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## Firecracker

No were not rich by any means .... just addicted to those yummy Shrooms. 

We are by Clare..About 15 Miles west of that....

being that Hubby works all those LONG Hrs...its easer just to buy them. Still not sure how to dry them....noone responded? Or did I miss it? Last year when I bought them they was dried already...


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## FREEPOP

My friend had some monster yellows last night. 10 inches high and as big around as a to go coffee cup. mmmmmmmmmmm


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## skulldugary

Firecracker,I dry mine by cutting them in half long ways,putting them on a screen in front of a window that gets a lot of sun and put a small fan on them.Don't let them touch each other and make sure they are completly dry before bagging the up or putting in quart jars or they will mold.My next purchase is going to be a dehydrator.


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## FREEPOP

skulldugary said:


> Firecracker,I dry mine by cutting them in half long ways,putting them on a screen in front of a window that gets a lot of sun and put a small fan on them.Don't let them touch each other and make sure they are completly dry before bagging the up or putting in quart jars or they will mold.My next purchase is going to be a dehydrator.


Exactly as above


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## theeyes

Jolynn is up to 2352 shroons now. Gotta love those Morels.








I would tell you were you could buy some, but they won't let me.


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## StumpJumper

Awesome!


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## Firecracker

Iam like SO drooling right now ......theeyes,,,,thats just wrong lol... sense u cant sell them lol can ya fry them and let me know when and what time I be there  


The drying well I almost had it right,,,thought u dry them as a whole.. thank godness I asked...  
Do those dehydrators work? I had one LONGGGGG time ago when they first came out, and I think this thing had a problem....


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## twohats

went out for 1 hour after work and managed 15, all grey. I have been cuting them in half and then soaking in salt water, rinsing and then frezzing on a cooky sheet.Then baging and placed in an air tight container. Will that work out or should I cook a little before frezzing. Thanks


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## theeyes

As soon as the bait shop closes, I'm frying till I go to bed. If I don't eat four pans full a night, I just don't feel right about it. 
I can sell em, I just can't post where here. Only Meyers and Ebay can.


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## StumpJumper

Thats a good way to freeze them.

I done it 3 different ways so far.

I dusted some in flour them vacuum sealed them flat and froze, then i can pop them out and straight into hot butter.

I sauteed some and vacuum sealed to put into omelets and scrambled eggs.

I also vacuum sealed some fresh so I can do whatever with them when the time is right.

They are better frozen then they are dried for sure.


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## victor mi pro bowhunter

went out yesterday found 20 macomb co

first of the year for me


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## Oldgrandman

StumpJumper said:


> They are better frozen then they are dried for sure.


I usually dry most of mine but am leaning that way more and more for flavor. I partially cook them and freeze them in their juice when I freeze em. I might try some other methods like you mentioned Stumpjumper and see what they come out like.
The best way to rehydrate dried morels I have found is to use bottled or filtered water. Rinse well then soak about 30 minutes, re-rinse and use fresh water and continue to soak for a few hours then drain, rinse and cook. They can be harsh otherwise I found. I dry mine whole as long as the stem is open enough to allow any occupants to escape. A couple places I pick are so buggy I soak, rinse, and eat them right away though. Free fresh meat you know!
Below is the shrink factor of cooking down the darks, was a nice pot full once.
Good luck y'all!


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## StumpJumper

I wish I could get the good "morel" flavor out of the dried ones. It's possibly an error on my part but I think cooked first then frozen is the way to go, they come out tasting like you just picked them.


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## Firecracker

vacume it huh.....wonder wether my kirby will do....... JUST kidding guys !!


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## twohats

Thanks for the info. I think I will cook them down a little then freeze. 130 total so far this year. This is my first time harvesting them.


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## Rackdaddy153

Hey all my dad went out Tuesday and found 75 in 1 hour. I went to the same spot yesterday and found 50 in 20 minutes. stopped at that cause I had to get home and start dinner. guess what we had, steak, morels and asparagus. I thought I was in heaven. am going back to the same spot today to look better and to another honey hole Ann Arbor area....


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## wecker20

but I can tell you where you can buy some....right? theeyeshaveit.net


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## Firecracker

if u cook them like above and freeze will they still fry up?
We mostly eat ours fried with Butter. ??? 

Might have to try this just to see the flavor differnce...


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## Arin

What's the most popular way to actually eat the morels? Do you do em raw or what? I found my first today and don't think I'll be finding enough to have to dry/freeze them, so I'm wondering about how you guys eat them>? ​


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## twohats

Got out for a few today and managed to pick 17. That brings me up to 147. A few were nice size. Here are the nice ones. click the photo to enlarge.


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## Sprytle

Some real nice ones there Twohats!!!!!!








Found a few myself today... nothing big though.



-Bob


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## wickedcarpenter

I just sauteed 15 whites in butter and threw em on a pizza :corkysm55 
The kids didn't want any after seeing the Rollie Pollies come out while soaking them :lol: 
Brent


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## Oldgrandman

Me and a bud ended up with 555 today from the DRY Great North woods, mostly white/greys. The SOB waxed me by 133 shrooms. I am done, ended the season at 1761, 16 less than I got last year but a lot less trips. Work calls (even when I'm on vacation!) so I probably won't get back out.
Good luck to those that are still at it.


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## Arin

Do you guys eat the stem? Or do you cut it off at the bottum of the cap?? ​


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## twohats

How long does the season last? I am in the southeast.


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## Happy Jack

I eat the stems.

found lots last year at the end of May.


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## Arin

twohats; I found my first small yellows in northern oakland, so theyre up and probably have a little while left.


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## fishindude

Here's a few from last thursday.


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## fishindude

and a few from saturday


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## bluesun7602

we found 3 dozen of deez babies in eagle! WOOHOO!!


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## bigair

I found a half dozen yellows, 10 blacks and a few dozen dried up blacks. The blacks are done around here.


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## 3mancubs

fishindude, A couple of those in the saturday pic look like beefsteak.


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## twohats

Spent an hour in a urban woodlot and found 10 nice yellows.Thanks for the info.


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## dinoday

I searched a couple different places yesterday ,the ground was dry as a bone!
Ended up finding three yellows,I think a good soaking would help a LOT!


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## wyle_e_coyote

Picked 126 blacks in 3 hours around Lake Co. this past weekend. I bet I could have tripled that if I didn't have to help a friend out with his turkey hunt.
In some areas the blacks were drying up, but in other areas they had just popped up. Going to head back up next weekend just for 'shrooms.


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## skulldugary

Yep,those beefsteaks should go in the garbage....


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## fishindude

They are beefstaks. I know somebody who eats them, so if i come across them i pick em. Those, however were really dry and crumbled right after that picture so i threw them back into the woods. My grandpa used to eat them, i tried it once(when my grandma wasn't around, she wouldn't let me) didn't really care for them. My granpda ate most of the ones that he picked, never really effected him.


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## Zofchak

Here's my finds from this Saturday in Milford. A friend and I found them in a mix of dead elms, mixed Oaks and Choke Cherry. Had to work for them as each small area only produced between 4-5 each. They really seemed to be concentrated in areas with heavy moss and green ground cover.


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## 5-J

Wouldn't you know it, I went into the woods behind my house this weekend and didn't see anything at all except a lot of misquitoes. So I decided to some yardwork with the help of my wife. I walked out to the front yard and there they were, four white morels waiting to be plucked. We then started cleaning up the side yard where we had extensive winter ice storm damage with a lot of pine branches down all over the place. What do you know, more morels. I didn't get many, but there were more in my yard than in the woods.


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## Oldgrandman

5-J said:


> Wouldn't you know it, I went into the woods behind my house this weekend and didn't see anything at all except a lot of misquitoes. So I decided to some yardwork with the help of my wife. I walked out to the front yard and there they were, four white morels waiting to be plucked. We then started cleaning up the side yard where we had extensive winter ice storm damage with a lot of pine branches down all over the place. What do you know, more morels. I didn't get many, but there were more in my yard than in the woods.


My buddy has been dumping his soaking water, bag dust, & trimmings in the woods behind his house and last year they appeared and again this year with even more. Not exactly where he dumped that stuff but if I understand how they grow he may have gotten the process going and that is where they ended up fruiting. I call him Johnny mushroom seed now, his name is really John.
My mom did the same thing in her yard and it worked. Give it a try. I live on clay so never tried it.


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## wecker20

Oldgrandman said:


> My buddy has been dumping his soaking water, bag dust, & trimmings in the woods behind his house and last year they appeared and again this year with even more. Not exactly where he dumped that stuff but if I understand how they grow he may have gotten the process going and that is where they ended up fruiting. I call him Johnny mushroom seed now, his name is really John.
> My mom did the same thing in her yard and it worked. Give it a try. I live on clay so never tried it.


I've been doing the same for about 4 years now. Have whites that grow in the yard under the apple trees but no blacks where I've been dumping the water or clippings.


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## FREEPOP

I have know people that have had it work for them, unfortunately not me.


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## Rencoho

You may have something there oldgrandman, last weekend as we arrived at our camp we were amazed to find 62 mushrooms near the cabin and fire pit, now this is not necessarily great mushroom habitat as the soil is completely bare around the pit, and nothing but these mushrooms was growing there. I just thought it was luck, but your post made me realize I have been cleaning and cutting mushrooms as well as throwing the stems on the ground in that area for several years, maybe just coincidence I don't know.


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## fishindude

I've dumped the water I've used to wash my morels in the same place at my cottage for years. I"ve only found a morel there one time. However, i have found them near the spot where i dump the water, and that spot is usually downwind. I've always been curious as to if my spore water caused those to grow.


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## FREEPOP

It'll work, but from what I've been told is they will only grow once. Something like they are not fertile. You can repeatedly dump and they will come up but it isn't like they re-seed, from what I've been told.


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## Oldgrandman

FREEPOP said:


> It'll work, but from what I've been told is they will only grow once. Something like they are not fertile. You can repeatedly dump and they will come up but it isn't like they re-seed, from what I've been told.


Even real mycologists often have conflicting views on how/where/why they grow.
Makes little sense that they wouldn't repopulate them selves like they do everywhere else they grow, if the underground plant (mycyglium or whatever it is called) got started and thrived I imagine thats all it would take.
So for whatever reason, if that even did cause them to grow in the first place, would take more than speculation to figure out. They are there and get eaten, thats what counts.


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## FREEPOP

I'm trying to get my beagles to find them for me. They pretty much have a one track mind though. 

I bet the dogs could find them pretty easy, cause when I sniff them they have distinct smell. Man, I'd really love them then :lol: :lol:


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## Happy Jack

Freepop- yea I thought about that too and I bet it could be done, on a leash of course. I saw on tv a beagle that was trained to sniff out termites thru brick walls.

Anyways I just went out for a couple hours and found 8 yellows-whites. One white was as big and wide as my hand. 2 yellows were round, bigger than a tennis ball and almost no stem. Need to figure out how to post pics.


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## Zofchak

Found 72 more today. Lots of small ones, this weekend should be great with all the rain over the next few days.


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## StumpJumper

I forsee fat yellows in the future


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## funebonz880

RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uh oh, i don't think the season's over yet


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## theduke

Went out to a honey hole I have and didnt find any today. Dont know if they are done or if someone beat me to my last spot. Then I get home and kept feeling like I had some bugs on my legs, so I pulled up my pants and nothing so I just ignored it for a while. Then half hour later I had 3 ticks on my sock.


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## Happy Jack

Picked 36 today and I was surprised that only 9 were yellows. Mostly greys, some older some very fresh. Even found a few pickable blacks. The woods being wet made the stems stand out.

theduke- My " honey hole " has only gave up 5 greys so far. When I found it last year I got about 4 lbs. of yellows on 5-23.


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## fishindude

I beat ya duke, 4 ticks this weekend.


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## Oldgrandman

Gonna hit a real good spot I only hit once this year WAY up North tomorrow. It appears to have no other hunters except me and my bud who found it. We did OK last weekend on darks no whites yet. Last year we found as many bad as we picked so maybe we didn't hit too late yet. I have hopes of another push of the darks there and maybe some whites at the spots I go to on the way since it's rained. 
Hopefully get enough to make the trip worth it.
Yeah I know it's always worth it, especially if you get any at all.


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## StumpJumper

Oldgrandman said:


> Gonna hit a real good spot I only hit once this year WAY up North tomorrow. It appears to have no other hunters except me and my bud who found it. We did OK last weekend on darks no whites yet. Last year we found as many bad as we picked so maybe we didn't hit too late yet. I have hopes of another push of the darks there and maybe some whites at the spots I go to on the way since it's rained.
> Hopefully get enough to make the trip worth it.
> Yeah I know it's always worth it, especially if you get any at all.


Was you guys wearing orange hats, drivin a ford?


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## Oldgrandman

StumpJumper said:


> Was you guys wearing orange hats, drivin a ford?


Big NOPE on the Ford. I gave up on them many years ago.
And I try to blend in more than stand out when in the woods. Heck we been known to hit the dirt when we see other people or cars out picking. Only sounds crazy if your NOT a true morel hunter! Right!?


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## Zofchak

Here's my finds for today about 1 1/2 hours for two of us in Milford. Should still be great this weekend.


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## twohats

Managed 10 tonight after work .Fried them up in sweet butter and white wine and then pored over scrambled eggs . EXCELLENT DINNER! the wife was very pleased.Puts my rookie total up to 167.


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## fishindude

My dad and I went looking during a break in the rain today. We totaled 23, not bad for only 2 spots and about 20 minutes. Plus one of them had a girth of 12 inches!:yikes: 

















I'm not sure why it's turning out so fuzzy. Maybe I'll try it again tomorrow, but i think you get the point


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## twohats

WOW! that one is a meal by its self.


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## unregistered55

I got five:yikes: in about 20 minutes at my Tick Honey hole. oh and one morel


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## cedarlkDJ

Mom wanted some shrooms for dinner tomarrow with the marinated roast on the grill I'm going to do for her.......just went over to the woods where I turkey hunt and got these in a half hour in the rain......got soaked!!!!...anything for Mom!......it's her day!.... ....Hope you all (and, or you and your Mom) Have a GREAT! Mothers Day!!!...after all, we wouldn't be here if not for them!!!!


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## bigair

whites are up.


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## StumpJumper

What a wet weekend.


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## GullLkRltr

StumpJumper said:


> What a wet weekend.


Wow! Nice Haul StumpJumper!!!:coolgleam Just curious if you found em in SW Mi or did you go North? If they're from down here it'll give me some incentive to get out looking again after all the rain we've had. Thanks


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## StumpJumper

Found these by Hesperia.


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## DTrain

Man... I only found ONE white/grey morel on Sunday North of Hesperia. One lonesome morel... I still picked it and ate it!

How is it that there could be only one?


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## Gobblerman

Here are some we found this year in Missouri. We found over 25# of Morels this year (April 20-May 2nd)


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## StumpJumper

DTrain said:


> Man... I only found ONE white/grey morel on Sunday North of Hesperia. One lonesome morel... I still picked it and ate it!
> 
> How is it that there could be only one?


Maybe you was after us?


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## Oldgrandman

Dam nice haul Stumpjumper.I gotta get more white spots. My old ones were logged and they quit coming up and my other ones are overrun with people. If I ain't on em at just the right time I miss out on getting alot of em, most of the time. I blame work. :rant: 
Sorry about that. Again, nice haul man.


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