# Are you kidding me...AGAIN!?



## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

Well, here we go again! I am starting earlier this season...

December is here and people are mowing lawns and still raking leaves that have not fully evacuated the trees yet! When ice should be forming on the lakes and we should be shoveling snow in sub-freezing temperatures. Face it, our weather is not the same anymore. An entire whitetail season that had zero measurable snow on the ground around here in the lower Michigan area 

This doesn't bode well for the upcoming Spring from my perspective, based on seasons past with this same weather pattern going into Winter!
There will probably be little snowfall this winter. Yet again it will be Spring like in January & February. Then the roller-coaster temperatures from January thru April culminating into a very poor Spring morel harvest. I really hope I am wrong, but trends seem to be on the side of this happening again.

This isn't a prediction, but a rant on what I see as a pattern of weather that is undesirable for morel growth in Michigan. Again, I sincerely hope I am wrong.....I guess I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than let down, so I am setting up the surprise here.....LOL!!!


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## fishgod (Nov 8, 2011)

Let's hope your wrong. This past year was my personal worse for collecting wild edibles. Not sure what Mom Nature has in store for us here in the lower SW. No acorns here again this year, but did have a bumper crop of beech nuts for "her" children. Kinda confused on the old timer's folklore about mast crop vs. harshness of winter. Living on the lakeshore, I am sure I will have my share of "Flake Effect". Better make sure the Ariens is running good.

Now, with that said, I have to go strap on the backpack blower and move some oak leaves, before the snow comes the end of the week. And then out the the shooting shack with the smokepole to try to fill my last tag.


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

fishgod said:


> Let's hope your wrong. This past year was my personal worse for collecting wild edibles. Not sure what Mom Nature has in store for us here in the lower SW. No acorns here again this year, but did have a bumper crop of beech nuts for "her" children. Kinda confused on the old timer's folklore about mast crop vs. harshness of winter. Living on the lakeshore, I am sure I will have my share of "Flake Effect". Better make sure the Ariens is running good.
> 
> Now, with that said, I have to go strap on the backpack blower and move some oak leaves, before the snow comes the end of the week. And then out the the shooting shack with the smokepole to try to fill my last tag.


What ever will be, will be. I really am not trying to be right about it, I just see what is happening and have to wonder what it will bring us. But I don't think I could take another crappy morel season. 

I'll tell you what though, around here there were more acorns than I can remember seeing this fall. I was getting bonked in the head by them while searching for hens!


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## Thirty pointer (Jan 1, 2015)

Oldgrandman said:


> What ever will be, will be. I really am not trying to be right about it, I just see what is happening and have to wonder what it will bring us. But I don't think I could take another crappy morel season.
> 
> I'll tell you what though, around here there were more acorns than I can remember seeing this fall. I was getting bonked in the head by them while searching for hens!


My spots down by my storage barn did well again this year for morels but that was the only spot .There was nothing as far as other mushrooms anywhere on my property .


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

Thirty pointer said:


> My spots down by my storage barn did well again this year for morels but that was the only spot .There was nothing as far as other mushrooms anywhere on my property .


The white/grey/yellow variety morels I am guessing? They seem to be a little more forgiving when it comes to growing conditions, and are found in a wider range of habitat. I love em, but not as much as the black morels!


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## zig (Aug 5, 2009)

Oldgrandman said:


> Well, here we go again! I am starting earlier this season...
> 
> December is here and people are mowing lawns and still raking leaves that have not fully evacuated the trees yet! When ice should be forming on the lakes and we should be shoveling snow in sub-freezing temperatures. Face it, our weather is not the same anymore. An entire whitetail season that had zero measurable snow on the ground around here in the lower Michigan area
> 
> ...


I agree, unfortunately. Without getting into the politics of it, the fact is our weather/environment is changing. I'm 38. I think about how things were for me hunting and fishing 25+ years ago. A couple streams I have fished for 30 years now show signs of real stress in mid summer, that never happened. One thing I noticed this year, while bird hunting, the floor is changing in many of the types of cover I hunt. I don't know how to describe it, but things that once were normal vegetation in new cuts are nowhere to be found. We almost always had a least one or two days of snow when bird hunting, this year was 77 in the later part of October. This was my worst hen year ever. I don't know what to make of it.....But I don't like it.


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## Thirty pointer (Jan 1, 2015)

Just normal climate fluctuations that have happened since time began .The earth was so warm at one point and oxygen levels so high that dragon flies had 1 foot wing spans .Things go in cycles and always will .


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

zig said:


> I agree, unfortunately. Without getting into the politics of it, the fact is our weather/environment is changing. I'm 38. I think about how things were for me hunting and fishing 25+ years ago. A couple streams I have fished for 30 years now show signs of real stress in mid summer, that never happened. One thing I noticed this year, while bird hunting, the floor is changing in many of the types of cover I hunt. I don't know how to describe it, but things that once were normal vegetation in new cuts are nowhere to be found. We almost always had a least one or two days of snow when bird hunting, this year was 77 in the later part of October. This was my worst hen year ever. I don't know what to make of it.....But I don't like it.


Yeah, it is getting old. I have a couple black spots that the least two seasons didn't come on, and as fickle as the morel is I wonder if they'll come back in future seasons.

I've seen woods go dead for no obvious reason, this WX we've certainly could be a reason for it if the plant under the surface ceases! Time will tell. But I think I am going back to a few of those old spots and see if they might have come back next Spring, I mean what could it hurt!


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

Come on WX, stay the course, I gotta restock this Spring!!!


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

Looking good WX-wise, as long as this isn't one of several January thaws and Spring in 3 weeks! Nothing too out of whack yet! Looks to normalize again rather quickly.....so far so good.

Sorry, I have anxiety over this lately......:help:


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## jeffm (Sep 20, 2008)

Ogm
I hope it stays the course also, I'm gonna need all the help I can get with the morels, hoping for a banner year for all of you this 2018 season, I never found any so im thinking a banner year would make it a little easier for me to find some hopefully, I looked back at my pics when I got out in the woods this past spring and it was May 20th when I found my first wild leaks while searching for morels in a well know woods for morels, I'm hoping I was just to late to find any but don't really know just hoping, I will start earlier this spring, will see.


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

jeffm said:


> Ogm
> I hope it stays the course also, I'm gonna need all the help I can get with the morels, hoping for a banner year for all of you this 2018 season, I never found any so im thinking a banner year would make it a little easier for me to find some hopefully, I looked back at my pics when I got out in the woods this past spring and it was May 20th when I found my first wild leaks while searching for morels in a well know woods for morels, I'm hoping I was just to late to find any but don't really know just hoping, I will start earlier this spring, will see.


Definitely go back there, good or bad WX this would be a wise move as long as you have good info the woods produces morels. Only thing is are they blacks or white varieties? This makes a difference when to look.

So a second Janruary thaw is here..... Though this one is a little more short lived and less warm...so I am digging that!

I haven't checked the Northern long term forecasts yet. No need to add to my stress!!!!


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## MrJosePetes (Feb 8, 2013)

Some pretty mild weather sticking around for a while.

No big deal as long as patterns correct themselves in February, which is predicted as of now at least. The more concerning thing to me this winter is pretty low snowfall, coupled with melts/rain every few weeks to allow the ground to become bare again... I'm hoping February/early March has consistently winter-like temps and good snowfall, and a slow, gradual warmup throughout the spring. As much as I hate winter, the later it stays cold the better. Last year was just so crazy and the morel harvests were super localized due to all the wacky weather from February through May. 

Man do some of us obsess over this stuff we can't control.


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

MrJosePetes said:


> Some pretty mild weather sticking around for a while.
> 
> No big deal as long as patterns correct themselves in February, which is predicted as of now at least. The more concerning thing to me this winter is pretty low snowfall, coupled with melts/rain every few weeks to allow the ground to become bare again... I'm hoping February/early March has consistently winter-like temps and good snowfall, and a slow, gradual warmup throughout the spring. As much as I hate winter, the later it stays cold the better. Last year was just so crazy and the morel harvests were super localized due to all the wacky weather from February through May.
> 
> Man do some of us obsess over this stuff we can't control.


LOL! Yeah, I have been stressing over the winter WX the past 5-6 years now. I'll spare everyone the whole "story" as i see it, focusing on right now.

We are going into our 3rd January thaw of 2018. 
Still it managed to return to winter within a couple days of the warm periods. 
February is supposed to be a more normal if not colder than normal February than is usual.
None of this is believable or predictable, so we are at the whim of Mother Nature!

As long as we do not see 60+ temperatures for more than a day in the next 2 & 1/2 months I think we stand a good chance at a normal black morel season this year..... 
It would be nice to see a really banner season for the first time in 15 years though.

The Spring of 2003 was a phenomenal season, the likes of which I am not sure I will ever see again!!!

...sorry, I couldn't help but rant...


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## fishonjr (Feb 16, 2006)

I’ll never forget the spring of 2003......epic picking everywhere. I found blacks that season in spots I’ve never found them and haven’t found them since in those spots.


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## MrJosePetes (Feb 8, 2013)

I don't know how things worked out the way they did but my black morel season was epic last year. Things went just right for the main area i was hunting i guess. I dont even think in a "normal" year I'll ever pick that many again. That said I really hope it can be a good season across the state this year. some of the areas I normally pick were really bad in my trips there, while others were great. Down in the southern part of the state, the black morel season was only a few days, for the second year in a row. But then further north my season lasted longer than I could have imagined. Picked my first blacks up north on like April 20-ish and last fresh ones were found around May 20 I believe. Then I picked a few fresh greys and yellows on the like June 6. Point being they are very fickle and last year that was exemplified with the extreme differences in what popped up in spots that aren't all that far apart. Just about everyone else I know had a below normal season so hopefully it can be better for everyone this year. It will be fun no matter what. There's a lot of back up options that time of year: trout fishing, ramp and fiddlehead picking, lot of fish spawning. It's getting closer guys


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## jeffm (Sep 20, 2008)

I agree Josh, lots of backup options and the fiddleheads are on my bucket list forsure, I was late on learning about them and there season and being edible to boot, but at least unlike morels that I was a bit late on, at least the blacks im thinking, i could still go out and locate them and they are plentifull it seems, but at least i could hunt for them for the next season, wish morels were like chickens i have been finding this winter, mushy but still at least I know where they grow for next season maybe lol, I guess it's all about the hunt for me maybe, I dunno. Time will tell, I'm still new at this.

Well this is what a lot of the forest looks like today that gets good southern exposure that i have been checking out, mid to high 40's today.
This is not good is it?


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

We now have a 3rd January thaw upon happening, but it doesn't seem to be ominous like in seasons past...at least NOT YET!!!

See what the near future brings us, the more normal the better!!!


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

jeffm said:


> I agree Josh, lots of backup options and the fiddleheads are on my bucket list forsure, I was late on learning about them and there season and being edible to boot, but at least unlike morels that I was a bit late on, at least the blacks im thinking, i could still go out and locate them and they are plentifull it seems, but at least i could hunt for them for the next season, wish morels were like chickens i have been finding this winter, mushy but still at least I know where they grow for next season maybe lol, I guess it's all about the hunt for me maybe, I dunno. Time will tell, I'm still new at this.
> 
> Well this is what a lot of the forest looks like today that gets good southern exposure that i have been checking out, mid to high 40's today.
> This is not good is it?
> View attachment 293597


Better get some snow cover or it will be bone dry before Spring ever gets here!

I don't know why I stress myself out like this.....


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## jeffm (Sep 20, 2008)

I hear ya ogm, I understand. 
Well we got a couple inches of snow last night and it's 19 degrees out and some flurries going on.


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## celticcurl (Apr 4, 2012)

jeffm said:


> I hope so cuz that last sentence is what I'm counting on hopefully, most weekends been out learning tree types and locating possible morel type woods i guess you could say.
> It's quite dry in my neck of the woods but the area's that held a little more moisture held some shrooms, time will tell.
> View attachment 304201
> 
> View attachment 304202


Oh yum. You got some of those phlegmy lena's (That's what my voice to text on my phone calls Flammunlina velutipes so I'm going to call them that forever).


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