“Alright, Pops, are you noticing a slight trend here?”
“Yahhh, they’re growing around the elms.”
“Well, yeah, elms are a key component… But are you noticing anything else?”
“Ahhhh, weeeellll they’re growing from the ground,” a remark comes my way.
“Hahaha!!…Greeeeat point…Nah, it just seems like most of these dink, grey phase morels are coming out of moss.”
Little did I know that I was actually on to something…
Early season morel foraging is tough. You’re not going to find the big gold phase morels that are like little beacons that nearly glow. Rather, you’ll be searching for much smaller grey phase morels, which are nearly impossible to see – seriously, they’re wicked hard.
Picture yourself in the woods a month after the snow has melted. There’s some green here and there, but, for the most part, the landscape is painted grey-brown; dead leaves blanket the ground with trees and shrubs just beginning to bud. Not only do the little grey morels share the same color, but their irregular pitted cap is like a natural ghillie suit that masks their silhouette in the texture-rich forest floor blanketed in leaves. Only growing 1-3 inches, you’ll be fortunate to see a portion of them pop out from the leaves – they hug the ground.
Clearly the table is against you. How do you get a leg up? If you’re mindful of the following rules, I guarantee you’ll have a standing chance:
Rule #1: Focus on the Foliage
At this time of year, what also clings to the ground but isn’t colored grey-brown nor has the same texture as a morel? If your answer is moss then you are correct! The stark contrast in color (green) and near smooth texture of moss helps significantly; therefore, they’re much easier to distinguish. Most of the greys I see in the early season grow straight out the moss. Like a sponge, moss seems to create ideal conditions by soaking up enough moisture for grey morels to thrive in. Another thing I look for are violets. These blue-purple flowers tend to grow in more open parts of woods that not only get the benefit of some sunlight, but also thrive in soil that gets more water. This slightly borders on “MacroMoreling”, but I figured to lump the two together because if you find the two growing together near dead elms, there is a really good chance you should find morels. Now that you’re looking for the right indicators, it’s time to start seeing them.
Rule #2: Keep them in perspective
Your perspective on two different levels is critical:
• Out of all the morels you see, 1% of which will be when you’re standing. 99% of them will be when you’re hunkered down assuming a baseball catcher’s position. Why? The answer is simple. Keeping your eyes lower to the ground gives you a better angle at seeing them. Remember what I mentioned about hills being your best friend in MacroMoreling (start from the bottom of the hill and move your way up)? The same is true here; it’s all about your eye angle. Why? Well, leaves from various plants and trees generally grow out parallel to the ground. That’s a lot of surface area if you’re looking from above them, which naturally masks you’re vision to seeing a morel hiding below. For example, if you place a standard sized oak or maple leaf flat on your hand, how much of your hand will you be able to see? Not much, right? Most of your hand will be covered up by the leave. However, if you flip it on its side, all you’ll pretty much see is your hand, right? Less surface area covered up translates to giving you a better visual of the ground. Get low.
While crouched, move your head from low to high and side to side in small increments. Sometimes these minor eye perspective adjustments are all you need to see them. Also, make sure to look in 360 degrees and not just in front of you. I can’t count how many times I’ve had to turn around to get ones that I walked past. I obviously didn’t see it before – they could have been obscured by a twig or leaf. By changing my perspective and looking back at the same patch, I was able to actually see them.
• Keep calm and morel on. I don’t know about you, but when I misplace something I sometimes go into a panic mode with my eyes. As if to be ultra-thorough, my eyes pan quickly in all directions causing me to look blindly – clearly problematic. The same can be said when I go moreling. The odds are stacked way against you. It can take, at minimum, 50 ideal trees to finally come across some. Stay positive mentally and calm with your eyes. In time, you’ll find them.
Rule #3: Pace yourself
When you’re MacroMoreling you’re going at near hare speed. When you’re MicroMoreling, you should be going at tortoise speed. Your eyes should be sweeping slow and methodically (keep calm and morel on) panning 360 degrees. Your eye and body movements should be in small adjustments from high to low and side to side. When you do see one, STOP. As much as you’ll want to harvest it, STOP. Trust me, it won’t run away from you ;-P When you see one, 99.99% of the time, you’ll see more (if not, mark it on your GPS or Field Notes and return in a couple days – eventually others will sprout up). Glance a few inches away from the one you spot. Chances are another one will appear out of thin air. And then take a gander a few inches by your feet and, sure enough, there’s another one! I swear they grow in the blink of an eye sometimes!!! Anyway, the “morel” of the story is if you move too fast, and you probably will step on the one under you and miss the others. My pace is that of a squirrel hunter: slow and methodical. If the woods don’t come back to life with birds, slugs, deer, turkeys, slugs, etc. crittering about you, then you’re going too fast. Dial your pace down; slow wins the race every time.
Alright, now that you’re seeing them, let’s walk through how you get them ready for the best part: feasting!
Morels from the Woods to the Dinner Table
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