# Morel habitat?



## mkhan91 (Apr 27, 2021)

What is considered good morel habitat? Like when searching for a spot to hunt morels what features do you look for? I was also wondering what trees they tend to grow by here in Buchanan county. I’ve only ever found random ones without a clear indication of what tree it’s living off of.


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## nico (Oct 27, 2016)

Elm, ash, cottonwood, maple,sweet gum are good trees you can learn to identity them online& mo. Dept. Of conservation has a lot of tree information. I always have luck with water nearby even dry creeks I use google earth a lot to look for creeks. They like moist soil not to wet not to dry.good luck should still be hunting up yourway sycamore trees are good too I also found a app it works on windows 10 but not on my phone I got the free version from windows app store it shows public lands and property lines, very helpful for me


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## mkhan91 (Apr 27, 2021)

Thanks for the info. Is a creek/river mandatory? And even when searching slopes, I want to make sure there’s water nearby? And how close would you say is close? Feet? Hundreds of feet? What about the floor? If there’s lots of overgrowth is it considered a bad spot? Do you want mostly leaf cover?


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## nico (Oct 27, 2016)

Most of the trees morels like grow near water, I'm not real good slope hunter but another member told me water runs downhill so that gave me a lot to think about maybe valley's, racine's etc. I have found morels in thick ground cover. Look for tree's that have bark falling off & dying trees, they say late season try north facing slopes. It doesn't have to be right next to water


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## shroomsearcher (Apr 7, 2018)

mkhan91 said:


> Thanks for the info. Is a creek/river mandatory? And even when searching slopes, I want to make sure there’s water nearby? And how close would you say is close? Feet? Hundreds of feet? What about the floor? If there’s lots of overgrowth is it considered a bad spot? Do you want mostly leaf cover?


No, a creek or river is not mandatory. I've found morels on hilltops far from any water source. What is needed is adequate soil moisture, and that comes from rain. And lots of "undergrowth" not overgrowth is only an indicator of how late in the season it is. When I examine these forum pages, and I go from A to Z, The woods where people are finding morels are usually greener than mine are at the same time. This is how I time things.


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## Kbart (May 13, 2018)

mkhan91 said:


> What is considered good morel habitat? Like when searching for a spot to hunt morels what features do you look for? I was also wondering what trees they tend to grow by here in Buchanan county. I’ve only ever found random ones without a clear indication of what tree it’s living off of.


Do yourself a favor and learn to zero in on (learn how to identify) Elm trees. Look for ones with split bark or bark staring to fall off. You'll get overwhelmed if you look at too many options. Look only for Elms to start. Look for water sources as they tend to grow in loamy soil near water. You can expand your horizons later and you'll get less frustrated. If you learn how to hunt trees, you'll find Morels


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