# Where to stay away from?



## uofmball1 (Oct 31, 2005)

I know in many posts people talk about what trees to look for and what locations are better than others and it usually comes down to just get out and look. I was wondering if there are any trees or certain areas that you would not look (ie. oaks, pines, swamps, fields). Thanks.


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## woodie slayer (Feb 25, 2006)

i don't find any in oak stands. but have found em ash,popular,maple,beech,cedar,white pine ,apple orchards,an fields boardering all the above,not to mention sometimes in my lawn


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## mich_mush (Apr 29, 2014)

It's difficult to make categorical statements about morels; they are great rule breakers. However I would say Oaks and Red/White Pines are almost always a no-go. Cedars stands can sometimes support fruitings, but more often than not you are wasting time looking there. Seasonal swamps are often no good, depending on how long they have water standing on them; if they are wet through the summer I would say don't bother, but if it's just a 'vernal pool' you may have some luck there.


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## ROADIUS KILLIUS (Feb 10, 2014)

they grow where they grow...some of us actively picked an area for weeks that was under a foot of water :SHOCKED:...however a stand of red oak would probably be the last place i would start looking.


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## Downriver Tackle (Dec 24, 2004)

I would say Jack Pines, but I have one morel that comes up right next to a Jack pine in my yard. Never seen a morel by one besides there.


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## Waif (Oct 27, 2013)

They are where you find them! That said while I find some in oak slashings and edge of oaks its the exception and my belief is spores drifted in.Normally don,t like seeing oak leaves when hunting. My preference for early blacks is a popple jungle. An occasional oak or cherry or pine mixed in is alright and a week after firsts are found till blacks fade and whites start the outer edge,dripline or past it around big white pines produces some big ones. These seem to relate to slipped bark and also unidentifiable ghosts of rotted trunks that are just humps now. The later whites like lower ground with rich soil.Not always mayapple wet but similar rich and a large downed cherry is where firsts usually emerge.
Out of the forest,orchards and dead trees can produce.Where my plowing snow leaves debris some come up, and along the road popple related occasional individuals though mixed woods.


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## topgun47 (Jan 17, 2014)

That's funny. I see people saying to stay away from red and white oaks. If I had followed that advice, I never would have found my 10 biggest morels.


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## RippinLipp (Sep 12, 2008)

Ash, Elms, Apples, Cherrys are my main spots to look but I have found quite a few under white pines and in the middle of fields.. I have even found them inches from a swamp in the darkest peat you could think of.. If the conditions are rite they will grow where they want!! But ash, elms, fruit, and popples are my first areas to look..

A setback is a setup for a comeback


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## Downriver Tackle (Dec 24, 2004)

Everyone mentions Poplar. Is that any Poplar/Aspen, or Big Tooth Aspens? I've never found one in a patch of regular Aspen, only Big Tooth.


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## RippinLipp (Sep 12, 2008)

My luck down here has been BTA's 

A setback is a setup for a comeback


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## Woodbutcher-1 (Nov 21, 2004)

Downriver Tackle said:


> Everyone mentions Poplar. Is that any Poplar/Aspen, or Big Tooth Aspens? I've never found one in a patch of regular Aspen, only Big Tooth.


Do a goggle search on all of the above mentioned trees. Take a good look 
at the shape and the tooth size for every species. Also look at the tree trunk and bark associated with each species.

Example....Once you learn to differentiate the shape of dead ELM vrs. the shape of a dead ASH, from at least 1/4 mile away or longer, you will save yourself a lot of shoe leather.


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

topgun47 said:


> That's funny. I see people saying to stay away from red and white oaks. If I had followed that advice, I never would have found my 10 biggest morels.


This pretty much says it. There are some general habitat features to follow. But no one rule, as far as habitat goes, seems to apply. I have found them in the CCC pine rows and other places mosy unlikely, and have not found them in what would seem to be completely ideal conditions.

They are a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.....  and that is why they cost $40 a pound to buy


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## Downriver Tackle (Dec 24, 2004)

Woodbutcher-1 said:


> Do a goggle search on all of the above mentioned trees. Take a good look
> at the shape and the tooth size for every species. Also look at the tree trunk and bark associated with each species.
> 
> Example....Once you learn to differentiate the shape of dead ELM vrs. the shape of a dead ASH, from at least 1/4 mile away or longer, you will save yourself a lot of shoe leather.


 Trust me, I can spot the difference of the two from at least a 1/4 mile away. I have my own little BTA forest on my property that produces. Was just wondering if anyone finds them around regular Aspens. I never have and usually pass up those patches out on my hunts in state land.


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## skulldugary (Apr 12, 2003)




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## Greenbush future (Sep 8, 2005)

Really any depression, or area where a spore lands is always worth a look. Any location that shows evidence of standing water, I would avoid, but river banks can produce. Heck I've found them growing in the sand on Lake Huron, but it wouldn't be my first choice to look. Once ya find one, stop and look around very close, there will usually be more. Then remember what the area looked like, then repeat about 500 times. You will break your cherry soon if you put some time in looking.


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

mich_mush said:


> It's difficult to make categorical statements about morels; they are great rule breakers. However I would say Oaks and Red/White Pines are almost always a no-go. Cedars stands can sometimes support fruitings, but more often than not you are wasting time looking there. Seasonal swamps are often no good, depending on how long they have water standing on them; if they are wet through the summer I would say don't bother, but if it's just a 'vernal pool' you may have some luck there.


Tying into your first statement LOL I know folks that find a ton of blacks in overgrown planted red pines.. Alot of the area is covered in popple and thus it has to do with what was there many years ago and not today.. I also find some whites around white pines.. So it actually goes back to your original statement. 

For whites dying elm are number 1 for me.. But I am always "Looking for a hot piece of ash" LOL as ash tend to outproduce other trees for me in mixed hardwoods.


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## uofmball1 (Oct 31, 2005)

Thanks for the replies it looks like it once again comes down to you just have to get out and look. I was mainly asking because my property is mainly oaks and I have heard that looking in an oak stand has the same success rate as looking in a walmart parking lot. That being said we have found a couple over the years but not many and I just found a beefstake last weekend so it gave me some hope. I will be back out this weekend for some turkey hunting and hopefully be eating turkey and morels for dinner.


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## Sparky23 (Aug 15, 2007)

I have never found any in solid stands of maple or walut, other than that, ive found um about anywhere.


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## Downriver Tackle (Dec 24, 2004)

I don't ever hear too many people mention hemlocks. One of my goto trees around here. Usually find them under tight groups of mature trees. If you have to practically crawl in there, it's a good spot! Only problem is that don't seen to produce every year. One year a bunch growing, then the next nothing at all. Discovered a brand new hemlock area today. Beefsteaks already there, so chances are it might be a good spot.


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## CHASINEYES (Jun 3, 2007)

Downriver Tackle said:


> Trust me, I can spot the difference of the two from at least a 1/4 mile away. I have my own little BTA forest on my property that produces. Was just wondering if anyone finds them around regular Aspens. I never have and usually pass up those patches out on my hunts in state land.


I also have a stand of BTA on my property. It's one of the only places I get blacks in any numbers, nice little producer. I have several small stands of regular aspen which are in various stages from new to dying out. These regular stands look prime, but I've only ever found 2 morels in these stands. However, one stand does have an old half dead apple tree that has produced a handful of blacks each of the last 2 years.

I did have one small spot along a fence row that produced whites from regular aspen until the trees died out. They would grow upto 4 feet out in the field where equipment disturbed the aspen roots. Other areas similar to this along the same field have never produced.

Dead or dying elm, white pine and dead or dying apple trees are by far my best white areas.


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