|
Spring.
I can’t
wait for it. Turkey hunting. The rebirth
of wild flowers and the courtship rituals
of prairie chickens, sharp-tailed grouse
and countless other
critters. And lest I forget hunting for walleyes, pike and trout.
But whether
you hunt or not, do yourself a favor and
consider a couple different outdoor activities
this
spring: morel mushroom and shed hunting,
the perfect
tandem sport.
In the coming weeks,
throngs of cabin-fever-weary outdoor junkies
will begin combing the countryside
for morels and the lost antlers of elk and
deer.
Perhaps some of you in warmer climates have already begun the search.
Lucky you.
The search for morel
mushrooms is a spring rite of passage whose
popularity is
seemingly endless across the country. Why?
Wild morels are one of
Mother Nature’s
most scrumptious offerings. Sauté the tiny fungi in butter and
onions and serve them with a rare cut of grilled venison or elk, and
you’ll find
out. We’re talking culinary bliss.
I start to get the itch
when spring and early-summer temperatures start
to rise. The best time to
start looking for morels is after a good
rain and
when the daytime
temperature reaches 60 degrees or above. That’s when the morels
typically start popping from the ground like sprinkler heads at a
drought-ridden golf course.
A word to the wise, though:
Morel hunting is no canned hunt. It can
be as maddening as trying to call in a wary, oft-hunted tom. You
can walk
for miles
without a
sniff. And the mosquitoes and ticks can be as thick as thieves.
Still, when you find a patch of morels, well,
it’s fantastic. Like
finding hidden treasure.
Like everyone, I have
my favorite mushroom honey holes, those secret
hideaways unknown
to everyone except nature’s critters.
Wildlife mushroom hunting is a secretive sport.
The diehards never give up their “good” spots,
places that yield mushrooms year after year. Some even write a
dairy about their hunting experiences, documenting
mushroom locations (with GPS coordinates, of
course), the month and day, and the weather conditions.
You can never have too much information when it comes to wild
mushroom hunting, I guess.
The morel mushroom “hunting
season” varies widely across North America.
It begins sooner in southern climates and works its way north
as daytime temperatures start to climb. This is a general rule,
not an exact time frame. Mother Nature,
as you well know, works on her own timetable.
Scientists will tell you that several factors spur the growth
of morels in spring and early summer: higher temperatures (day
and
night), humidity,
soil
acidity
and more. Truth is, the confluence of all these factors has
to be just right before morels begin to pop in earnest.
Pay
close attention to stream and river beds, wooded areas, decayed
timber falls, as well as brambles and thick, dense
underbrush.
Morels grow anywhere
and everywhere,
in shade or not, and spotting the tiny buggers can be difficult.
Some people even belly-crawl to get a closer, ground-level
view.
Another word to the wise:
Never, ever pick or eat a mushroom unless you
can identify it. There
are several edible wild
mushrooms (puffballs,
chanterelles, boletes),
but others are poisonous, even deadly. Exercise caution.
Know what you’re
picking. And eat them with gusto (and a rare piece of venison
or elk).
When you’re out
picking mushrooms, don’t
forget the shed antlers.
Shed hunters are a fascinating
and growing subculture. Some are diehard
deer hunters who search for sheds as
a form of
scouting,
to learn
more about the
bucks on their hunting lands. Others simply hunt for
sheds to be in the woods on a
perfect spring day. Still others are trophy hunters,
and finding The Big Shed in spring is just as rewarding
as
harvesting a
trophy whitetail
in
fall.
Over the years, sheds
have been prized for their beauty and made
into jewelry, artful displays
and even tools.
Some shed
fanatics
train their
gun dogs
to “hunt” sheds
in the field. Sheds also play a role in nature’s
food chain; field mice and other critters eat them.
There
can be a downside to shed hunting, however. Law
enforcement officials in some states say early-season
shed hunting
is pushing deer from traditional
wintering
areas, which can cause unintended consequences.
Deer-vehicle
accidents may increase. And deer and elk could
get stressed after a long
winter.
In fact, big game managers
in some western states are worried that overzealous
shed hunters
are harassing
elk in wintering
areas when
they’re at their
weakest point of the year.
But if your shed hunting
coincides with your spring mushroom hunting,
you have nothing to
worry about.
And neither
do the deer and elk.
Spring. I can’t wait for it.
|
