# Missouri Message Board 2016



## missourishroommate

Hello everybody! It is that time of year again!! I heard a rumor last night that someone in MO has found some babies. Anyone have any information on that?

Good luck ShroomMates!
Mitch


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## moreldreams

No but it would not surprise me.


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## taterqueen913

My friend said the lady she works with got a pic from her nephew but I can't find anything on it yet. You know how it goes. Last yr someone posted one as a joke from the previous year on facebook and it was on like wildfire everyone thinking they were out already. 

This weather does start the itch though, doesn't it? Can't wait. I have a spot that I find the babies at first, no dice for me today there. Couldn't help but take a peek. Mo conservation page said they thought we'd blow last years first reports out of the water. Hope they are right.


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## kb

whats up Mitch? Any luck down south yet? I guess we may start a little early this year, we will see. Record high for today was 81, the record low -8, I kind of hope everything slows down a little to be safe.. Hope you have had a healthy winter.


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## missourishroommate

Hello kb! Nice to hear from you! I have spent 7 days in the last two weeks down in the super swampy south and the weather has put the progression on hold down there from Ardmore to Austin. North of there to Wichita is starting to look ready. A couple early finds in OK and MO but nothing yet for Missouri ShroomMate!

Mitch


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## adriana

Im planning a visit to a friend in St. Louis sometime in April or early May. What are the best weeks for morels in the area? Here in Georgia we're expecting an early season. There were reports of finds yesterday south of Atlanta.


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## jeffschre

With the warm weather and soaker rains we've had this week, if I can get out, going to go tromping in the woods this weekend...see if I can get lucky.

Anyway, had a question...I know I missed alot of good hunting days last year (oncall rotation at work) trying to avoid that this year. If one were going to burn some vacation time (maybe a week or two) to go hunting, what weeks would have the most "promise"?


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## supplyguy1973

Went out yesterday to scout a few spots that blacks come up. Around here it is a bit early but I can't wait to go back out this coming weekend. It won't be long


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## kb

Jeff, I am up here by St. Joseph and usually I would say the last 15 days of April/ first week of May in a normal year, but this year I don't know. I would say I am no more than 2 weeks out up here, maybe much less if it stays this warm. I hate early springs, they turn out bad to many times. Hold off taking it as long as you can is my advice. Mitch, it is looking good down south as far as the weather goes. I got a new Ok. Atlas in the mail today to from Amazon, Karma?


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## laxin_1999

Too cold, looking forward to a week of 70 degree days before I go out.


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## mozeta

Just went out over my lunch break and found 3 good size blacks at one of my reliable spots in South St. Louis County. Guess the season has started early this year. Also noticed a lot of May Apples popping up in some places.


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## jeffschre

That's better than my luck, tromped around in the wood for a couple of hours at Weston Bend State Park didn't find anything but alot of May Apples.


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## newb87

Just got home from checking a few spots and found 30 small medium sized greys in KC MO by the river. Still a tad to early but there up.


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## joeblow

Nada tonight in the creek bottoms BUT some warm days and they should be a poppin...

Please give your thoughts on the effects of the winter and last spring flooding on the river bottoms as it relates to morels.


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## newb87

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## newb87




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## newb87




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## newb87

Finally figured out how to post pics lol...


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## newb87

Got a little photo happy now that I figured it out lol...


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## horsepotatoe

Went out to Stockton area and we got skunked. The area looked great!


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## jmerx

Found four today


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## taterqueen913

Ah....my heart is happy once again! Great photos.  So nice to see. Thanks for sharing. Happy hunting everyone.


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## newb87

Thanks, found them the 5th time out this year so my heart felt the same or similar as yours did lol, crazy thing is i didn't find any under tress that were still in the ground. 5 different tress recently fallen over that were in the hole, growing out of the dirt stuck to the base of the tree or directly outside the crater from the empty hole the tree left.


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## huntergatherer

love those in the field pictures, please keep em coming


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## trotline

Checked a couple spots Tuesday and nothing. Will try again next week, platte county. Some rain would help things.


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## jmerx




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## jmerx

found 15 today


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## river ratz

What type terrain u finding them in


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## jmerx

I'm finding mine in small wood strip on field edges


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## shroomdawg

I'm finding a bunch wherever I find fence posts and trees with purple paint........, I tell ya it's weird, seems like wherever I find the purple paint there seems to be shrooms...........hmmmm, I think I'm on a pattern boys, that's what makes this message board worth while.....sharing shroom knowlwdge. Good luck y'all. :wink:


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## swi shroomer

Dawg: Are you a hill hunter or river bottoms? I hunt a couple of counties north of the Iowa-Missouri border in southwest Iowa in the hills. I track the Missouri board to help time my first hunts, plus for all the great stories and pics. 80 here today. KB knows me from years on the morel boards.Need rain


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## blarneystone

I couldn't take it any longer, i have cabin fever Went out to a conservation area in Saint Louis County today. Hunted form 10 am to 1:00 Pm and found 5 small grays. They were in a creek bottom on the southern bank side of the creek.
Still probably a week or two before the big yellows arrive.


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## trotline




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## trotline

Well will figure out how to post pic later. Tromped around for a couple hours, sat down to drink my water and take a break. Found one while sitting. Little smaller than the cap on my water.


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## kb

that was a question i forgot to ask SW. I picked some in the bottoms and the hills this week. 90 miles south of the border. Real dry between me and the border. Got skunked 30 miles south in Weston Bend today. Lots of sweating though. Came home when it became more work than fun. Strange year so far,


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## jhoward1

Found one tulip morel under some honey suckles in jefferson county.I usually find them first, then grays about a week later, then yellows a week after.


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## trotline

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## shroomdawg

SWI, today the Posse went out on the bottoms between KC and St Joe and found it was too dry, went back to the early spot (private land not in the bluffs) where we found shrooms yesterday and found another 1 1/2lbs, so in two days that early spot put off around 5 lbs. When/if we get some rain we'll be back on the bottoms and then into the MO river bluffs working our way north towards IA. We need rain boys!


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## jmerx

Hey jhoward what part of Jeff county r u in? I went to wildwood and union today last couple days it's been Festus and desoto.found them on the east side of jc.


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## kb

dawg, i hear you on the dry. I went a little north yesterday and there is not a lot of moisture on south facing areas left. Your other spot must be a good one, I need to get a tracker on your vehicle.


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## swi shroomer

Dawg and KB: Thanks for the info. I'll keep you abreast of extreme southwest Iowa when I get out into the woods. I'm a hill hunter if I hadn't mentioned that. Feels strange this year as kb noted. Maybe because it is early onset but dry and such up and down temps. Time will tell. Good luck all!


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## shroom dog

I found 15 grays 3/31 Missouri River bottoms in Boone County.

Found one little bitty gray 4/1 on my creek ~20 miles north of the river in Boone County.
I left that one to grow up some.

This is the earliest I've found morels in either spot in 40 years of shroom hunting. That said, it appears to me that, in general, things are moving along about the same as always. I normally don't even start looking until April 7, but with the early spring I couldn't resist.

General observations - good moisture in the soil right now. May apples just starting to peek out of the ground. Haven't seen a snake or box turtle yet. Ferns and other low greenery just barely getting started.


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## jmerx

I was only able to pull 2 small greys from the wood yesterday! Hope the rain tonight is a good one.


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## newb87

Let's pray thoughs fellow hunters who were doing the rain dance these past few days secretly so nobody seen you looking like you had some type of medical emergency and need medical care immediately pays off... I was only caught twice the 5 times I attempted it, witch if I was someone else spectating what it looked like I would of been tempted to call for medical help lol. Calling for rain from 1-6AM tomorrow morning, hope it's right.


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## jeffschre

Went out a little south Sat. 4/2 to a new area for me Crooked River Conservation Area (description on MO Conservation page sounded promising).

Was really hoping to find a public use area with similar "topology" as the Excelsior Springs/Crystal Lakes area that I had so much good luck on two years ago (that I unfortunately lost access to when guy that allowed me to hunt lost the house in a divorce). Stuck hunting public access land again now, which rather sucks.

Anyway, it looked like a potentially good spot (mostly sandy soil river bottom) but was too dry (only found may apples in one location and they were already starting to turn brown, mosses were starting to turn brown also), some areas had good moisture but don't think it's been warm enough yet.

After spending 3 hours tromping around and seeing a whole lot of nuthin' (outside of watching an Eagle soaring around in the updrafts for 10/15 mins.) I called it a day...was thinking to myself Weston Bend might have been a better choice...but seeing KB's post about getting skunked there on Sunday also...makes me not feel so bad about trying to new area.

Might try it again in a week or two if we get some good rain...maybe.


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## ms_ morel

As much as we all would like to see our delicacy blossom forth upon the land in abundance (rather than the spotty few the early starters have found), I'm afraid that the Temperature Maps here in site tell us that it's still just too cold, yet. See for yourselves: http://www.morels.com/soil-temperature-maps/ See also the Soil Moisture Map: http://www.morels.com/soil-moisture-maps/

I think we all can use the time leading up to those maps giving us the '<em>go ahead'</em> to get our gear and our bodies ready for the frenzy. :wink:


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## the original morelmama

The map links are appreciated but I'm not sure what I'm looking for in temps or moisture for good morel hunting. Any tips? Thank you!


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## newb87

Went out for a few hours today found about 50 total but only was able to salvage about 20, the rain didn't do much of any thing in certain areas. Did find some recent fresh shrooms that weren't that old. I've seen more false morels this year then I've ever seen, found a cluster of about 6 in a small area and found a few others in a different spot.


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## jhoward1

I found my first tulip morel on april 3 under some honey suckles on a fence line outside of pevely. I found 8 more tulip morels today in mixed woods in bottom areas in imperial.


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## jhoward1

Your probably finding more reds because they come up early when its still cold


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## ms_ morel

I've seen the term <em>"tulip morel"</em> mentioned in here a couple of times, now. Is that not the <strong>"Morchella deliciosa"</strong> which is native to Europe? I guess that in order to understand precisely what is meant by "<span style="text-decoration:underline">tulip morel</span>" is to know what morel is that in reference to. Could someone please enlighten me? Thank you.


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## shroom dog

My spots are all getting rain right now. happy happy


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## trotline

Off work tomorrow, going to check couple areas. Sunday was last time out and only found one. Left it alone and hope some more popped up. Will beat the weekend rush. Good luck all


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## workhardcamphard

I've checked 80% of honeyholes and nothin' ....its just now heating up some in sw MO tho. One last spot I'm going to check Sunday. Right now I'm stuck in PTMD (post traumatic morel disorder)


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## newb87

The spot I posted thoughs pics from usually produces about 10-15lbs the second week of April only produced 50 morels so far. Most were to old but found some fresh ones that had to of just popped up recently. Hoping it's going to produce it's normal harvest by next week. We shall see, a little advice the deeper you go the better your odds.


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## mushroom_mentor

Hi everyone! If you're just getting started and need help finding your first morels, check out this super informative video on getting started. This is my passion and hope to help others discover their passion for mushrooms as well!!! Good luck! Here is the link to my video: http://youtu.be/ismIK7GhmP8


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## trotline

Found 3 more close to the one I left Sunday. The one I left did grow, about doubled in size in 5 days. Grass in the area also jumped up 4-5 inches. Still need rain and should start finding more. Good luck with your finds


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## newb87

Found a couple more today on a east facing slope in the grass, wish I was paying more attention didn't even see them until on the way out of the woods.


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## jeffschre

Went out to Weston Bend early this AM...mainly trying to get better at identifying trees by bark, and hoping I might get lucky and find some while I was there. Ran across a couple of other guys who appeared to have found some (didn't ask but the bag was swinging like it had a few it in anyway).

I come up empty though...did mark a patch of Elms that looked promising on GPS to check later assuming we get some rain by the time the temps. start climbing north of 60°F again.

Ground temp might have been just a little on the cold side, was between 48°F - 50°F where I checked with the temp probe...alot of the may apples and mosses were starting to dry out already.


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## hammerhead

It's a late post, but I found 13 little grays in woods east of New Bloomfield in Callaway County last Sunday, April 3. Found one little yellow under an old pear tree. Been chilly and busy since, but I'll get out again tomorrow.


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## vroomshroom

To mushroom_mentor on your video
While I commend your effort you might want to fact check yourself before you help
Viewers identify trees.....that most certainly is not an elm tree....
Your bark and leaves are cottonwood


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## sustainable forager

Yeah they spammed every message board with their stupid video


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## jhoward1

Yes tulip morels are morchella deliciosa,.They are about the size of a baby carrot. Unfortunately they only appear solitary or in small troops. I never find a lot but they are a good indicator when to looking for the bigger morchell esculenta, grays and yellows. I start finding the grays and yellows about a week after i find tulips. I usually find grays first and then yellows.I went out today, exactly one week after finding tulips and found one small yellow. It has been too cold at night and too dry so i was lucky to find that one. I have been covering a lot of ground and have been skunked a lot this year.


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## jhoward1

You can identify m.deliciosa by its lack of cross ridges in between the longitudinal ridges.


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## mushroom_mentor

Hi guys! My partner and I are passionate about mushrooms, and are trying to spread the love. We've created a youtube channel for people who want to get started finding morels and for people who are into watching mushroom videos. Check out our second video and let us know what you think. Please subscribe so we can keep doing this. It would be great to be able to do this as a daily vlog channel so the support is necessary for that to happen. Thanks! https://youtu.be/dUxufP0AHqY


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## jeffschre

Looking the the 14 day Precip Totals Map, might have to think about looking farther south around "Clinton/Warsaw" area.

Would be a long drive from KC to potentially still "come up empty" though.


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## ms_ morel

<span style="color: indigo"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'"><span style="font-size: large">To Jhoward1, Thank you for the rather informative reply.</span></span> </span>


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## jhoward1

Your wellcome ms morel. Morels are slowly coming into season this year. Search at todays pevely honey hole yielded 1 half free (m.semilibera), 3 tulips(m.deliciosa), 4 greys, and 3 small yellows(m. Esculenta)


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## ksmorelhunter

JHoward1, where in the state are you located if you don't mind me asking?


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## jhoward1

I live in jefferson county


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## ms_ morel

<span style="color: indigo"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'">Thanks, again, Jhoward1. I, personally, think that better luck may be had after the rain that is the forecast for Sun-Mon of next week. Hopefully, some of that will reach you, too. We'll just have to wait and see what happens, eh? </span></span> :-D <span style="font-size: x-large"> </span>


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## jhoward1

The rain should definitely help. The little bit of rain we got last week has really helped already. 4-12-16 i found four m.esculenta(3 grays 1 yellow),one m.semilibera (snakehead), and six m.deliciosa(tulips) in pevely. On 4-13-16 i found seven m.deliciosa, 27 m.esculenta, and 9 frost bitten/damaged in imperial. Only two of the 27 m.esculenta were yellows, the others were grays, so theyre just now coming up. Thats kinda the natural progression of types of morels in the season with some overlap. Unfortunately morels are very pleomorphic, which means that depending on types of conditions ie temp, moisture, soil composition, they may look very different so identification is difficult. Morels also fruit in flushes, the first flush is usually small with only several mushrooms coining up, then if conditions are right, the fungis regroups its nutrients and sends up a large flush of mushrooms. So return to your honey hole cause it might keep producing until nutrients run out or conditions aren't right anymore.


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## taterqueen913

Yeh our usual good spots are still too dry and crunchy. Getting lots of excercise but little to show for it this year. Hope the rain comes and it does help. Found only 12 all afternoon yesterday 4-13-2016. mixture of types as well, half already dried out and 3 of the 12 were frost damaged. 

Guess we got used to being spoiled and we don't know how to take a less than stellar year. Early set so there's always hope. Last year I had quite along season finding actually more in suburban type areas in grass towards the later part of the season, so maybe???

Read a very interesting article about lightning helping mushrooms fruit if it's not too much of a direct hit on the area but close by....be interested in seeing how that comes out as a friends yard that produces mushrooms --their tree got stuck by lightning last year and borders the area that produces. I'll report back at the end of the season of that really worked or not.  Mushroom theories and science are always interesting. 
Good luck fellow hunters. On the bright side haven't found any ticks yet.


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## kb

No ticks yet, yeah i noticed that to. Weird. Also noticed large bunches of morels are hard to come by this year. Drove 90 miles to the line and picked a couple lbs. mostly bottoms, some hills. Very Dry. Lots of ones and twos on perfect elms that should have been loaded. If it rains I'll go back and hit them again, Local lilacs were almost in full bloom.


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## jhoward1

Its true for me too, im usually sweating as i trudge through woods, smacking mosquitos, spraying bug repellant, and still itching from chiggers. But non of that this year yet.


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## jmerx

The tics r out on the east side of Missouri!


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## jmerx

I was wondering if anyone is going to make it to the Mushroom Festival in Pere Marquette?


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## newb87

Just got back from from stomping around the bottoms and found a couple pounds in 1 hour, would still be out there but the boss lady called me asking if I had the key to the other car... Just I was about to tell her why would I have it i pulled them out of my pocket. Found a patch of at least 75-100 out in direct sunlight around a elm but over half of them were shriveled up the size of grapes.


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## workhardcamphard

Ticks in SW MO as well. We took our in town/in house pup and he was covered with them after our 3 hours in the deep woods. We picked about 4 off ourselves as well.


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## newb87

There's about 50 in this pic believe it or not but half if not more were toasted like they popped up before these.   

I've been pretty lucky with the ticks, have only seen 2 on me the whole 2 dozen times I've made it out. Even if it's just a little this rain I think will make one more small flash. Nothing crazy but enough to get a skillet or 2's worth.


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## newb87

It was hard to see so many morels burnt up like that with the season we've had, there was clusters of 5 and 6 all shriveled up.


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## newb87

It's even worse to see that I was picking these two days later on the 17th last year 2015 only 100 yards from the ones I found today. Hope to see some fresh ones like these after the rain.


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## mushroomsarah

Oh my goodness NewB87! I would just die instantly if I ever found that many! I'm sorry several were dried up. I found one today, hey it's something. That's pretty typical for me. I've never found more than 7, lol. What part of the state are you in?


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## newb87

Mushroomsarah I'm in central MO and hunt the whole KC,MO surrounding areas, thanks I was happy with what I found considering the dry conditions and how much every things starting to get over grown quick. One thing I am happy about is I haven't had or seen many ticks at all evenues after being barrier neck deep in brush. My fiancé says it's bc I cover to much ground to quick lol. Forgot to add seen my first fresh pheasant back yesterday that was medium sized. Usually don't see thoughs until I'm finding large yellows.


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## jean marie

I would be so ecstatic if I found morels like that!! I'm like you mushroomsarah, never found more than 10 in a day. Last year I found them late and were pretty far gone. I found 5 yesterday and the tips on 3 were dried and dark. I salvaged what I could. How much longer do you all think the season will last? I'm really getting discouraged since it's been so dry here and temperatures in the mid to high 80's are in next weeks forecast. Thoughts anyone?


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## kb

NIce rootball there New. I think. How dry is it? When i checked it out on the noaa site we are about at 20% of normal in most of Mo. north of the Ozarks. Kansas was worse than that. Western Iowa has been a desert for the last 2 weeks. The big El Nino last winter is still screwing up the weather. first we were to warm to early, then it got cold again. now its warm again but to dry. I walked a valley of dead elms today that would normally give me #5-10, i found one single small morel. Will more come with more rain? I doubt it. seasons generally move north about 100-150 miles a week. The tick thing is weird, seen only 2. i spray my clothes with permetherin based stuff from Walmart, takes care of most of the ticks.


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## morelkingz

https://instagram.com/p/BETk9ZzK8od/ Follow me please


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## mushroom jake

Hey NewB87, u think camden county is worth hunting or should I hed north. I'm doing horrible here.

Jacob


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## trotline

Floated 5 miles of river,walked most of it. Nothing, dry ground. Been a terrible year. Will check a few more spots after some rain and will be done for the year.


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## mushroomsarah

NewB87, I'm in mid missouri too. No luck for me this weekend except the one I found on Friday. I've decided to pray for rain and stay optimistic. Jean Marie, ten in a day would be a huge deal for me, lol! I will say I haven't found any ticks while I've been out either...and I'm a tick magnet!


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## newb87

Went out for 2 hours this evening and scored 5lbs, I think the seasons about to be prime picking after this rain from what I saw today. Went back to the spot I found that big patch of on Friday that most were dried up and 30 new ones popped up in the same spot. Only after 2 days the new ones that popped up were already 2-3 inches tall. Only saw maybe a half dozen that were to far gone the rest were all fresh.


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## newb87

Mushroom Jake I think camden is a pretty ideal spot to hunt, I wish I had the time I would of hunted down there already. There out there and seen for my self that sense Friday 2 days ago fresh ones are popping up.


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## morelkingz

https://instagram.com/p/BESNQkbK8gn/ Follow me and tag me in the photo and I'll post it on my account


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## shroom dog

I managed to catch a few after work yesterday. No clusters, just one here, one there. Most of em decent size.


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## shroom dog

My spots aren't giving up big numbers, but the size is good.


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## newb87

Ya shroom dog thoughs are some nice meaty looking shrooms right there, 80% of the ones I found yesterday where pretty large as well. I stumbled on a really nice area west of olathe that had a nice amount of shrooms. I left at least 100 that were water logged or to far gone. Only covered half the area thinking about heading back out to get the rest before we get anymore rain.


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## mushroommadman

Found 6lbs Thursday. Glad to finally get some, but definitely not a good year. Worst year I've ever seen. 







</a>







</a>


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## newb87

All very fresh, very nice haul mushroommadman. Thursday as in yesterday 4-21? I've seen a couple dozen fresh greys in the past 3 days but not as mature as thoughs. If you don't mind me asking what county are you in?


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## mushroommadman

Yes, these were found 4-21-16 just along the Missouri/Iowa line.


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## newb87

If I decide to make a trip up north looks like it needs to be sooner then later, Hoping Thursday or Friday I'll make it to or 100 miles past the Iowa border.


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## mushroommadman

The sooner the better that's for sure !!


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## jeffschre

Wish I could find them in the lbs. kinds of numbers but I haven't been that lucky yet.

Went out east to Brookfield, MO this weekend...got access to some private land in a creek bottom...got my hopes up when 5 were found less than 10 feet from the car...unfortunately only found 1 more in the entire 3 hrs. of searching....6 is better than nothing I guess.


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## ms_ morel

<span style="color: indigo"><span style="font-size: large"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'">So, I take it that the season around KC is just about nil? It seems that way from the chatter in here. :roll: We are going to get quite a bit of rain this week and weekend with temps up in the high 70s/low 80s according to the weather guessers right now. Maybe this will help? I hurt myself and can't go out into the woods this week or next. I guess I'm going to have to try to buy a pound or two from someone? :-? </span></span></span>


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## kb

madman, those are some beauties. makes me want to hit my spots up 35 again just to see. did you get those on any particular slope?


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## mushroommadman

Kb- Found em mainly just flat ground, although most were found where the sun was hitting them pretty good. Some of the grays were in some thick underbrush. I'm kicking myself for not going back, I'm sure some nicer ones came up in those areas. How many I'll never know. The way the season had been I talked myself out of wasting my time, but I knew I would have these regrets afterwards. Trying to get off work for next week and I'm planning on hitting Iowa pretty hard on up aways. I don't think hitting your spots would be a bad idea especially if your headed through that way anyway on your way to another spot. I found 6 fairly decent ones around here Tuesday on a north facing slope. I wasn't going to go look, but my wife talked me into it. Glad she did because it made a tasty morel, egg, bacon sandwich for supper last night! I'm going to check a few spots myself in Iowa where I found these 6lbs just to see on my way back through.


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## newb87

Welp packing my bags for my journey north tomorrow, headed down 29N and hitting a few spots on the way to West Oak Forest east of 29 right passed glenwood where that nice land owner let me hunt his 20 acers of private property. Going to be on the highway at 5AM so I have a decent amount of time to hopefully score a couple lbs. Will probably check out the bottoms near Omaha sense I'll be right there. Hoping for a good haul, I'll be sweet talkin momma nature all the way to my destination.


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## newb87

With what you've seen in Iowa madman you think north facing slopes are going to be my best bet?


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## mushroommadman

NewB- yes I would concentrate mainly on north slopes going only that far north. However, some trees that are known to produce late I wouldn't pass up. Good luck!


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## kb

Well i got a good old fashion butt-kicking from mother nature today. 400 plus miles, 6 hrs of walking, too many elm to count. Only 5 morels. Worse trip i have ever made north of I-80 in over 20 years of going to the hills up there. the irony is i found 4 on one of the first trees i checked. Still think their are some there, just not where i was. New, the bottoms are a good idea. At least they have reports of morels. I usually get my butt kicked at least once a year, but not in NW Iowa.


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## newb87

Thanks for all the knowledge madman, I know being the year we had its going to be a hit or miss. Let me just ask you one more question of advice, giving you had a whole day to drive north how much farther would you push it north with better odds? Thanks again


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## newb87

Ya kb might be doing most my hunting tomorrow in the bottoms, I just got off the phone with that guy who has that private property and said he picked a handful off his land last week but only looked 100 yards in. So will see how it turns out.


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## kb

Might be more in the hills down toward the border. I found them there so I assumed going farther north would be no problem. Another problem is going to be how crumbly they are getting from all the rain. Madman and I both picked on the border a week ago. I watched them get larger from Thur. to Sun. Hope you do well. Every time you add a new spot its a good thing.


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## catfishjohn

Howdy fellas. Still fresh shrooms being found in west central Mo/east central ks. This year has been a personal worst, but they are still growing/confounding. None of my regular spots produced at all and the hedge trees have thrown out the best bunches. This late, with this tough sledding, the deep shade is starting to produce. The ticks are horrendous, but there are still fresh morels out there. I had to radically change 30 years of "experienced" shroom hunting sense to get on them, but I'm glad I had the sense to.


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## swi shroomer

New: That forest near Glenwood is very close to where I found my first morel around 1968. Good to hear you had some good finds this year. Enjoy your stories and the Missouri boards trememdously. Great stories, lots of know-how. Good stuff.


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## missourishroommate

catfishjohn, thanks for the post. I too have experienced my worst year finding Morels. Very interesting that your are still finding any at all let alone some fresh ones! Congrats on the perseverance! Are what you seeing, here and there, or does it look like a pretty good flush? Have you checked on the cedars down that way? I was down there two weekends back and only found any at the bottom of steep north facing hills.

Good luck ShroomMates!
Mitch


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## newb87

Finally able to sit down and enjoy a good one after 6 hours of driving today, didn't do to bad but didn't do what I was hoping to do. But for the knowledge I got in return was enough to call it a season and wait patiently with a freezer full of morels until next year. 

SWI shroomer: That's pretty interesting swi, the guy who's land i was hunting today has lived there for 30 years and gave me a history lesson about the forest and the property owners. You dont think about it when you just glance over but there's lots of history off up in them hills. Today was the first time I got a real taste of the hills, and boy is it not what I'm used to. The property owner is 68 and walked me all up and down them hills lol, I learned more this year hunting with him today then I've learned each year I've started hunting. After 3 hours filled up 2 bags, took a break emptied the bags and filled them back up before calling it a day and headed back north bound. One of the elms we checked produced 25 morels, the others we checked produced no more then 10 and a lot of 1's and 2's. I was pretty a$$ backwards on them hills but pretty sure we were finding most on West facing slops 2/3's more then the north slopes put off. 
 </strong>    
kb as bad as I wanted to hit the bottoms I wasn't aware there was so much standing water puddled up every where. The small patch I checked was more puddles of water then any thing was seeing to many soggy shrooms then good so headed to the hills. Came back with a walmart sack and a half full of mostly on the fresher side. Didn't get as many pics as I wanted to bc when we would come up on a nice patch he would start tossing them in his bag while I was snapping pics lol. But here's the ones I have, like dawg this pups headed to the porch with some cold brews until the 2017 morel seasons upon us. Cheers


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## kb

nice mess new, makes me want to go check some more spots. Catfish, are you in the bottoms, or hills. I'll look in a walmart parking lot if that's where they are.


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## morel finder

Nice pics NewB. I've been keeping an eye out for your posts this season. You've done very good considering the bad year it's been. I think the Dawg and the Posse need to hook up with you and KB next year and put on our own Forray. I think we can do about as good as any so called Celebs do. :-D Just remember " It's not how many you find... but how many memories you made finding them". Till next time boys and girls may us all have a year of continued good health so we can be ready to enjoy our favorite past time next spring. God bless us all!!


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## catfishjohn

KB and shroom mate, haven't seen anything on the cedars. None-and I mean NONE-of my usual spots produced. Sycamores never fired. I only found one cluster of 10, everything else was ones and twos. The best producers in my area were hedge (Osage orange) and honey locust. I suspect that's because they are our heartiest native trees and somehow hold moisture near their root structures differently than other, more prolific "morel producing" species. We went three weeks without a drop of rain when the soil temps were prime, but the finds around hedge and honey locust were fresh and moist at that time. Last couple of times out, I've been in deep drainage in the bottoms near cottonwoods. Again, no big clusters--a few groupings of four or five, but they are fresh. I bet I haven't even found 20#'s this year after walking the soles out of my boots. I could've driven to the rain, to my spots in E Iowa, but I didn't. This year humbled me and made me rethink some things, and that's never a bad thing.


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## mushroom_mentor

YAY! we found MORELS![video]https://youtu.be/tVAEj9RGYJ8[/video]


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## Old Elm

Really......


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## taterqueen913

Well, here's a wrap up of my experience this year. in reference to an earlier post-- No, the lightening did not help my friends site in her yard. So that theory is busted this year. LOL In fact, nothing...BUST in all of the areas we usually find together &amp; what we did find were not in our usual spots. I know it as just too darned dry here &amp; we couldn't really travel to follow the rain due to our jobs. Wish we could've. We walked for hours and miles &amp; probably ended up with 3-4 lbs to split between the 2 of us. Only to then find probably a pound in my yard where I never find any. And that was not in 1 trip-- that was compiling the findings of several trips. Towards the end they were getting really big &amp; we thought with the last rain maybe we'd all get another flush. But to no avail. By then the grass was getting pretty tall . It was definately a sad season here for us.  But I did still get out &amp; be one with nature &amp; I do always enjoy that. I enjoy hunting them more than eating them--so we definately got plenty of excercise this year &amp; we've been spoiled the last few yrs-- so I guess you can't always have the pot o gold. 
Many we did find were stunted - we assume from frost bite earlier at the tops &amp; were very pretty oddly shaped in comparison to what we usually find. 
Still love it &amp; look forward to it all winter--and it's a challenge every year &amp; I guess that's the main thing isn't it? They are a mystery &amp; let's face it --if we all had it perfectly figured out, well they wouldn't be a treat anymore--we'd all be growing them in our gardens like cucumbers. 
I hope that the folks up north of us have a much better season than we had here. good luck!


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## kb

taterqueen, like your attitude. The hunt is always the best part for me to. Just a screwed up morel year. If it makes a difference, the season was screwed up for us travelers to. Had to be the worst year in Kansas in my life, and i'm 56. Mo., Iowa, Neb. , S. Dak. very poor. I have friends who have been back to illinois and up to Wis, and MInn., and things don't sound much better. The mountain burns are loaded, but that is a real long ways away. Well there is always next year.


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## swi shroomer

Tater: Your comment about the "odd shapes" really resonated with me. I found very few this year, and the ones I did find were all irregular looking, such as being more squat and round rather than long and cylindrical as they are in more normal years. I also noticed this feature in a lot of morels I saw in pictures posted at various outlets online. I was hoping someone else would make this observation. Anyone else have this experience? Thanks!


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## jeffschre

I'm just going to have to get access to more private land...that's all there is to it.

I have yet to actually find any on public conservation land yet...although I've seen other hunters out with finds in their bags...that is "the problem" they're in someone else's bag already.

Have seen some awfully shroomy looking sections of timber while out on my cycling training rides, going to have to "keep a lookout" for land owners this year and see if I can catch them outside.


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## kb

SW, I think it was the uneven temps. Many very cold mornings and frost will keep them from maturing. Also a lack of sufficient moisture at the right time. Jeff, my entire off season, every where i go, my eyes are open to new places. I drive my family nuts on trips. they roll their eyes when" Look at that elm" comes out over and over. I spend the fall hiking new spots to keep in shape and tag trees. My version of fun. Addicted I am.


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## jeffschre

Dammit...where was all this rain at 6 weeks ago, when we really needed it...now it's just going to make me have to mow my yard more.


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