northern wisc morels

[woodyboatguy]

The season is just starting, plenty of moisture , temps up and down. should be good for a while. We find morels by ash trees, a few at a time, have to fight the slugs , deer and bears.

[woodyboatguy]

28 greys on friday , woods drying out fast , have to look around shaded areas with wet swampy areas near, ash trees. Hunting much harder in north east wis vs south west wi. bring your bug spray!

[woodyboatguy]

Just tough going in forest county and I imagine the north woods in general. Look at a hundred ash trees in order to find a few morels. Saturday 6 morels , all grey, sunday 13 greys and 2 young blonds in 4 hours , 2 people. got a good work out. Still lots of leeks in the woods

[tvacao]

Found about 1/2 lb yesterday while I was waiting for the family. Told my Father, "See that tree? Silver, still standing, bark sloughing off...that is the type of tree I find morels under" We walked over and sure enough! All yellows and 3-5 inches. This was in the area of St Croix Falls, WI

[ec rob]

I found 5 very small yellows on a friend's land in EC county, 2 were too small to pick so i left them, i'll check back in a few days. Made a trip up to sign a contract to buy the place we have been looking at in Polk County, and stopped in to the in-laws' place where i've found them in the past. Not much there, only 2 along a field line on the southern edge of the property. Going to go back next weekend and will try to look some more. Still didn't see any on what will hopefully be my new place (somewhat near St Croix Falls) but it definitely has potential. It has not really warmed up much here.
Going to go check some public land up near Eau Claire today, and taking a newby with me. Hoping to find a couple there anyway, but i'm guessing i won't be hitting the jackpot like Earthmom.

[ec rob]

We only did find a couple, and they were tiny.

[woodyboatguy]

Found 14 blacks, 2 yellows , and a few larger greys, on monday, had a little rain last night, still looking for the earthmotherload.

[Trapperhub]

Woodyboatguy,

Congrats on your finds! I was wondering if you could shed some light on the types of trees you find your blacks on? I've been told pine but is it red or white or spruce? Also I've heard apple for yellows but is it only fruiting appleor can you check thornapple, or flowering crab? There is so much forest up here,I'd like to narrow my search a little.
Thanks

[spudzone]

In Sawyer and Washburn Counties... Cruised several hundred paper land mature white ash trees yesterday and today to see if any yellows were out yet. Not a single yellow in the deep woods yet! However, some of those trees did have fresh black morels around them, and occasionally on the mossy base. These are my first ever black morels - 2.7 lbs in about 4 hrs of hunting. These blacks were far more widely scattered around the trees than the yellows; maybe up to 20 feet away, unlike the typical 0-5 feet for ash tree yellows, and all on north slopes. The few trees that produced were very productive - 90% of my find came from 1-2 acres of 40-50 I walked - it was very difficult to replicate the pattern. Reminds me of checking dead elms - 1 in 30 or 40 seem to produce if you're lucky.

I'm guessing that the northwoods yellows are waiting for more rain and some warm weather. We have no oysters or chicken of the wood yet, and few mosquitos so far, so it's definitely early on still.

Some yellows are being found in towns now, or at least in Spooner and Minong from what I hear.

Cheers

[woodyboatguy]

Yes,, Ash trees work the best in the Crandon area, sometimes 50 trees checked to find one , then, moving a lot of leaves to uncover a few more. I always check apple trees , but no luck yet. Lots of leg work for just a few every day. WE have had 24 hours of light rain , hope to hunt this afternoon. Have to deliver a Chris Craft today.

[spudzone]

"...and few mosquitos so far..."
48 hrs later - plenty of mosquitos now. Must be time to find some morels!

[bfrauenkron]

Who's buying up there? They have all but quit buying down here just north of lax. And the morels are now finally ripe for the picking on our property. Damn weather this year is cramping my style. Info on buyers please, thanks!

[ec rob]

I'm still not finding much. My brother in EC city calls me up yesterday to tell me he's got a crap load of funky mushrooms in his yard, and sends me a picture. Of course, they're morels, good sized too, i tell him i'm on my way to get them, but just as i was about to leave, he calls back to tell me that his wife wanted to try them, so i couldn't have them. oh well. went back to my friend's farm in between thunderstorms and picked the 2 that i had seen last week. Looked all over but couldn't find any more. Makes a grand total of 9 that i have found this year. Kinda disappointing. I'm going back up to Polk County today and will check out some spots up there, hopefully i have better luck.
On the somewhat amusing side, i discovered a patch of what is most definitely Agaricus bisporus (your regular garden variety store bought mushroom) in my backyard yesterday, but they are full of bugs. I thought about trying to harvest and cultivate them, but with moving out of the house in a couple of weeks i've got a lot of other things to do.

[ec rob]

Wow, had much better luck today! My ten year old and I went wandering around my in-laws' back 40 up in Polk County, and hit the jackpot. We found all but 6 of these 65 morels in a 30' area. Some of them are in somewhat sad shape, but i was able to salvage a good deal of mushroomy goodness. The tiny one was an accident, it was hiding behind a bigger one and i didn't even see it before cutting it. We did leave a few that were either too small or too far gone. I even found what appears to be a black morel in the same spot, the first one i've ever found.

[woodyboatguy]

Rob , Looks Great , I think you have born a fine young man! Today we found 18 blonds, they look very similar to yours some shaped well, some a little eaten on. sizes 2 inch to 4 inch, Lots of mosquitoes , good luck tomorrow!