Mushrooms
Contributors to this thread:Kansas
From: crestedbutte
01-Apr-20
From: Catscratch
01-Apr-20
Started finding them on the 27th. Way earlier than usual for us.
From: Ben
01-Apr-20
Jason, I've been out twice . Once a couple days ago and today. Absolutely nothing although the May flowers were starting to come up today. I think we are still early here. I'm south of KC 50 miles, where are you located, at the far south end of the state?
From: Catscratch
01-Apr-20
You nailed it, I'm south central... right above the OK boarder. Wish I could say I've found a bunch more but haven't. It's still early for us too. Probably next week before we find much.
From: crestedbutte
01-Apr-20
Yep, south end of the flint hills....God's Country, baby!
From: ksq232
01-Apr-20
I’ve finally gotten pretty decent at finding sheds, but I still can’t see a mushroom for anything!
From: Catscratch
02-Apr-20
I have a hard time seeing them too. If I find one I better check behind me because I mostly like walked past quite a few of them. My wife can spot them though! She's good at it.
From: MDW
02-Apr-20
Been out about every other day checking my best spots and yesterday, I found about 3 dozen of the little grays. The best hunting should be only a few days away, just like the rut.
From: Kansan
02-Apr-20
I’m 10 miles from Oklahoma, so I guess I’d better start looking.
From: Catscratch
02-Apr-20
Found another mess of them. Nothing in our usual spots yet.
From: Catscratch
03-Apr-20
Another mess today. Large greys and small yellows. With the temps below 30 last night I figured we should pick as many as we could find. Don't know what a solid freeze does to a morel but I imagine it's not good.
From: KsRancher
04-Apr-20
I haven't been on bowsite in a while. Got on last night and seen this thread about mushrooms. So the wife and I went on a walk this evening for 30 to 45 minutes and almost filled up a Walmart sack. I know you can't eat them, but found one of the biggest "reds" I have ever seen
From: KsRancher
04-Apr-20
From: KsRancher
04-Apr-20
From: writer
04-Apr-20
I think those are the ones my dad called "beefsteak" mushrooms. He ate quite a few of them. But, he also didn't know they could be toxic.
From: t-roy
04-Apr-20
“Our best spots” or “our usual spots”. I’m curious what constitutes these spots for you Kansas guys. Do these areas produce year after year for you?
Here in Iowa, we find them mostly around recently dead or dying elm trees. Occasionally an ash or other tree that has just died or is in the process. Seems like these spots only produce for a single year or two, then they peter out. Just curious!
From: Catscratch
04-Apr-20
Nice finds KsRancher and t-roy!
I've found more "reds/beefsteaks" this year than ever. I don't eat them. The toxic ones aren't supposed to grow in this region of the country but I'm still not interested.
Usual spots are 1 of 2 things for us; dying trees (which stop producing once dead), and wash outs in general (some produce year after year... some never do).
From: t-roy
04-Apr-20
Thanks catscratch! The ones in my pic are from last year. It’s way too early for us yet.
From: drbonner
05-Apr-20
So if you can’t eat them why are you looking for them?
From: Catscratch
05-Apr-20
I don't look for them (beefsteaks), but do find them while looking for morels.
From: MDW
05-Apr-20
I used to eat the "beefsteak's" before I found out they could be toxic. Maybe that's whats wrong with me now? What's odd is that some people look for dead elms, others look for ceders and others look for sycamores. Would venture a guess that while looking for those certain trees, we walk past other good areas. Wonder what this cold weather will do to the morels?
From: Catscratch
05-Apr-20
I'm certain that I walk past 10x as many as I find. I'll stop and scan for trees that seem likely, then put my head back down and look for them on the way to the likely tree I spotted. Once in a while we come up with random shrooms, but the majority are found in "likely" spots. My youngest has grown fond of following me and finding the ones I walked past and didn't see... then talking trash. :)
From: KsRancher
05-Apr-20
Drbooner, we pretty much only hunt mushrooms in one spot. And there is a big dead tree where we park. The reds ones always grow on it for some reason. We are happy to see them there when we pull up, usually means the good ones are growing. We dont go out of our way to look for them. Where we hunt for them is 5 acres of cedars swamp with other trees mixed in. They seem to grow where the afternoon sun gets thru the trees and hits the ground. Not unusual to find 20-30 mushrooms in a 10ftx10ft square.
From: Matte
05-Apr-20
Found a few in SC Kansas yesterday.
From: drbonner
05-Apr-20
Do you eat the other ones you find? Most people I know that did anything with mushrooms would boil them and drink it to get high. At least that’s what I understood of it. Do some of you eat the ones that aren’t red?
From: drbonner
05-Apr-20
So I take it the morels are edible?
From: Catscratch
05-Apr-20
Yes, drbonner we eat the morels. They taste GREAT and are a blast to look for. I also view it as a great way to spend time with the family.
Other edibles that we look for in KS are; oysters, chanterelles, and hen of the woods (maitake). There are others that are you can eat but either have poisonous look-a-likes or just don't taste all that great. I'm sure others can chime in on this with their own views on the different fungi around...
From: drbonner
05-Apr-20
Thanks cat scratch I learn something new every day
From: TwoDogs@work
06-Apr-20
I am going to get out this week and look her in Chase County. The morels are very good but eating too many at one time can bother me. Thanks to Catscratch I now also find quite a few Chanterelles later in the year. I find most of my Morels around dying elms. One year I did find quite a few around Cedar trees. Friends of mine in Missouri swear by certain Oak trees. I guess only the mushrooms know what they need to grow.
From: Catscratch
06-Apr-20
Twodogs... I'm glad chanterelles have worked out for you! If interested look for Oysters and Hen-of-the-Woods in the fall (both much later in the year than chants). Both super easy to identify and taste great. I like both better than chants but not as much as morels. More importantly though, it gives me another season and reason to be in the woods.
From: KsRancher
09-Apr-20
Took the kids out this evening for about 30 minutes. Filled a Walmart sack to the brim. My little girl had more fun doing this than looking for Easter eggs
From: Catscratch
09-Apr-20
That's awesome KsRancher! Congrats, and the kids will learn that morels are way better than eggs. My 12yr old found a patch of 33 yesterday after shooting his turkey. Damn near forgot about the turkey hunt! We came out of the woods with more than 80 mushrooms, the kids were thrilled.
From: TwoDogs@work
10-Apr-20
KsRancher I am envious. I looked in another spot yester evening and got shut out again. My brother looked in a really good spot and found nothing. I don't believe they are up here in Chase County. When I was young we lived in the Missouri Ozarks and everyone there, including my family, ate the Beefsteaks with no ill effects. I do not eat them now.
From: KsRancher
10-Apr-20
The spot I have been finding them is right on the Pratt/Barber County line. We probably covered about a 1/2 of an acre last night to fill that bag.
From: crestedbutte
12-Apr-20
A nice little article in Mar/Apr 2020 edition of Midwest Living about morels. Didn’t know there were so many morel celebrations, guided hunts, hunting contests and festivals in the upper Midwest?
From: TwoDogs@work
21-Apr-20
My brother and I finally find a few here Chase County. They appeared to be extremely fresh and in very limited number. Hopefully more will show up if rains tomorrow.
From: KsRancher
21-Apr-20
Went out tonight for a little bit. Wasn't finding any of the little grays, that's what we like best. We like to find them real small and deep dry them whole. Was only finding the big ones, so we quit looking.
From: Catscratch
21-Apr-20
Lol, quit looking because you were only finding the big ones! Grays are best, but yellows are better than nothing. That's like passing on free room service.
From: t-roy
21-Apr-20
Sorry to hear about your dilemma, KsRancher! Hopefully, things will start looking up for you! ;-)
From: TwoDogs@work
22-Apr-20
KsRancher: You are facing a very difficult situation. If you need someone to remove all those big ones, so you could find some of the small ones, I could probably find a way to help.
From: Habitat for Wildlife
22-Apr-20
I have never been good at finding them, this thread always interests me. Some of you are amazing! Congrats guys.
From: writer
22-Apr-20
"We prefer the bacon-wrapped filets, but since the fine restaurant only had 16 oz ribeyes, we went to McDonalds, instead."
