10 Best Morel Mushroom Hunting Tips!

I spent my first few (unsuccessful) years searching for morels with the assumption that they’d be like finding my usual Autumn wild edibles: find a pretty forest, walk in it, pick the mushrooms. I’m not sure how many hundreds of miles I drove, or walked, but I can tell you that I pretty much gave up on morels entirely for a few years! Morels are not as common as many other wild edible mushrooms, they are harder to see, and their life cycle is quite short. To find them, you need to FOCUS YOUR SEARCH:

• Time It Right: The morel life cycle is short, and they are absolutely a coveted treasure among mushroom hunters. You have to be out searching for them, putting the effort in *during those few short weeks* that a particular species is fruiting. Too soon, and you’ll miss even the baby pins, or be trampling the prime ground that *would have* produced well if you hadn't stomped on it! Too late, and other pickers will have taken the majority, or they'll be past prime/moldy.

• Soil Temps: Most morel species begin to fruit when soil temps reach around 50°F. Some states have Government resources that keep track of soil temps, or you can just go out there and stick a thermometer in the ground. (Go about 4" deep)

• Learn The Trees: Morels grow in association with the trees around them. Certain species prefer certain trees, and you can pick potential foraging ground by locating the trees they associate with. Morchella americana, for example, has an association with the riparian Cottonwoods in the Pacific Northwest, but is found with Elms and Oak on the eastern half of the USA.

• Do The Research: Find out what kind of morels grow in your area, and find out *when* they usually grow. iNaturalist.org is a huge help, here. Using iNaturalist, you can search the term "Morchella" and select results only from your state, which will give results for every morel observed there! A convenient graph of when the mushroom was most often observed will help you know what time of year to be looking. MushroomObserver.org is also a great resource, but a bit more unwieldy to use. Use the search bar to search for species names, then click the map option to see observations.

• Use Your Previous Finds: Once you find some morels, take note of everything about the area. Soil temps, direction of the slope face, nearby trees and vegetation, disturbed or natural ground, etc. You can also see what the trees in the area look like from satellite view, and try to match that visual cue to nearby patches of trees around the same elevation.

• Elevation: When hunting species like Morchella tridentina, which basically fruits along the snow line as it rises up the mountain, knowing what elevation to focus on can be key. Use an app like OnX Hunt to always know your own elevation, and the elevation of your potential foraging ground.

• Indicator Species: Part of refining your search areas will be learning indicator species that grow alongside/before the morels you’re looking for. This is covered in some detail in TIP #9.

• Slow Down, Get Low: hunting Morels is not like hunting many other mushrooms, like lobsters or chanterelles.  Morels are often smaller, colored like the ground around them, and enjoy masquerading as pinecones! Slow down (or stop), get low to the ground, and look outward toward the distance, looking for pinecone shapes that are just a little off.

• Train Your Eyes: Some experienced morel hunters will often look at pictures of morels for a few minutes before heading out for the day. This “trains the eyes” to spot them easier… there’s some science behind it that I don’t understand, but if it works, it works. I do tend to feel that my eyes work better after a couple hours of finding morels, once they have "adjusted" to seeing them in the terrain, so there's likely some truth to this idea.

While it may seem strange, this is probably the most valuable advice that I have to offer you, and it cannot be undervalued for several key reasons:

• The Buddy System: It could save your life. Some morels are known for their love of rugged terrain. Even just a badly twisted ankle could become a serious problem, if you’re a mile from your car with nobody around. Bring a buddy.

• A Knowledgeable Friend Is Priceless: Several of the best morel hunting trips I have ever had were only possible because of the expertise, hard work and generosity of a friend. Become friends with people that you know find lots of morels. Do not be weird about it, and never ask them for their spots. Wait for them to offer, and if you find someone who *is* willing to share their spots: value this person immensely, and *reciprocate their generosity somehow*. These people are a rare breed and should be treasured.

• Safety In Numbers: Beyond the innate dangers of traversing rough terrain, wildlife is certainly an issue out there in… the wild. The more people you have with you, the less likely any predators are to feel inclined to be anywhere near you, let alone attack.

• Learn From Your Friends: If you’ve ever traveled in a posse of morel hunters, you know that if you’re not being quiet to listen for morels popping up, you’re generally *talking about morels*. Different species, associations, weather and soil preferences, growth patterns, oddities: you name it! Soak up the knowledge of the people you’re with, and share your own.

• Morale: In my experience, low morale consistently leads to no morels. It can be easy to get discouraged, if you’re all alone and haven’t found anything for a couple hours (or days, or weeks). A friend can help the whole day be more pleasant, they can remind you to stop and eat, they can boost up the whole team’s energy by finding just one baby pin!

• More Eyes On The Ground: When searching out a potential new spot, you’ll often stop the car, look around for 15-30 minutes, then drive to a new potential spot. Having just one person with you *doubles* the potential amount of ground you can cover during this 15-30 minutes! Make sure to not travel one person behind the other. Spread out and cover more ground, and always try to hit both sides of the road when scouting if the terrain allows.

• Find Some Friends: Yes, this is literally tip #3. Use social media to find these friends! Many of my best, most loyal, and most amazing foraging friends (outside of my actual family) have become my friends through social media. Don’t force anything, but a network of friends is *invaluable* when it comes to foraging, especially when they’re all focused on one thing, like morels.

• Expand Your Knowledge: Yes, you can even learn a thing or two from social media. Many experts in the field frequent Facebook and other platforms. Find them, follow them, ask questions!

• Ignore The Drama: Take it from someone who has waded neck deep through the feces that is Facebook mycological drama and survived, on multiple occasions: it is never worth it. Block the cause of the drama. Move on. Do not get involved. Trust me. 🥰

• Get Out There: Join as many mushroom and morel-focused Facebook forums as you feel comfortable with. Get all your local areas covered, so that you can see species as they pop nearby.

• Use The Search Function On Facebook: there is a search bar that can be used within each individual forum on Facebook. You can use it to search for morels (and relevant terms), to see when and where they have popped in previous years, or recently.

• Follow Foragers/Mycophiles On Instagram: Following foragers, especially local ones, will give you an excellent idea of when morel species are growing. I personally enjoy posting the first finds of each species on the Mushroom Marauder Instagram.

• Observe: Watch those forums you joined. Set notifications for every local mushroom forum to “all”, if you can handle it. People love to be the first in an area to post a baby morel! Often times these posts will be very popular, easy to find and generally mark the "beginning" of morel season for an area.

Speaking as someone who tried and failed for almost ten years to find morels, I can tell you that I personally know the feeling of being discouraged while trying to hunt down these elusive creatures. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you feel down in the dumps during your morel adventures.

• Your Time Wasn’t Wasted: Each time you try and fail to find morels, you get a better sense of what unsuccessful areas are going to look and feel like. Keep track of your failures, and make sure you weren't just too early. Keep trying new spots!

• Your Time Still Wasn’t Wasted: Yes, you heard me. You were in NATURE! You (hopefully) brought buddies. Maybe a dog? You got fresh air, you got exercise, you got dirty and liked it! Forgive yourself the wasted gas, and revel in your hobby. You’ll get them next time!

• Don’t Burn Out: If you’re failing to find morels day after day and can’t catch a break, take a step back! Take a day off, and do some research and planning. Ask a local forum for pointers. Perhaps try a new location, or a different species!

• They’re Not Gonna Find Themselves: At a certain point, it really can be about perseverance. You don't want to be pushing yourself daily to the point of driving yourself crazy, but you can expect to be spending a significant amount of your free time looking for morels before ever finding a single one, let alone any quantity.

• Bring That Buddy: Yet again, friends are great here! If you carpool, they can turn a 6 hour drive into a 3-hour drive and a nap! They can commiserate with you over failures and celebrate success when it happens. Priceless stuff.

• Keep Your Energy Levels Up: Eat food. Drink water. If caffeine is your thing, go for it! Bring some high-energy friends who love mushrooms as much as you. Without energy, morale can plummet fast, and you won’t find that magic patch in the last hour of searching because you already went home.

• Really Strike Out All Season?: Keep your spirits high and stomach primed by picking up some morels from Foraged, a collection of independent foragers from around the country. I've sold my lobster mushrooms there in the past and have nothing but respect for the owner and his vision. Check it out!

• Other Things Grow During Spring: Keep your eyes out for other edibles. Oyster mushrooms grow year round, Verpa (Early Morels) grow just before/during morel season on both the east and west coast, and in my area Spring Kings (Boletus rex-veris) are a delectable springtime treat! Find out what else grows in your area during spring. Don’t forget that Chlorociboria grows year-round as well, so you can be collecting blue-green wood for art projects any time of year. I also wrote a blog about Finding and Identifying Early Morels, AKA Verpa species, if you feel inclined to read it.

• Don’t Leave Home Without Your Morel Compass T-Shirt! 😅 Yes, this is a blatant advertisement for some of my wife's artwork. We have over 30+ original mushroom-themed designs on a wide variety of high-quality products, which we sell to pay our bills and feed our family. 🥰 Our Mushroom Stickers are one of our most popular options, and they also now have Free Shipping anywhere in the USA!

This is going to look like a paid advertisement for OnX Hunt. It is not. I’m suggesting that you use this product because it works well. It is what I use for every foraging trip I take. I believe that there is still a free version that works well for all the basic features like route tracking and land ownership. I personally buy the yearly subscription that includes the fire layers on the map, for the specific purpose of using them during Morel Season. You can also use Gaia Maps for this purpose, I hear great things about it as well but don't have personal experience with it.

• Land Ownership Boundaries: This is a huge one. OnX keeps an up-to-date map layer showing exactly who owns what piece of land. It will show private land, government land, public land, BLM, etc. This is *incredibly* helpful when planning out a trip. It can also be used during the trip, to stay off private land as you walk around.

• Gated Areas: While not perfectly consistent, OnX does have many of the Forest Service and Private gates marked on their maps, and they get updated with “open” or “closed”. This feature has certainly saved me a long drive or two.

• Route Tracking: Track your path. OnX leaves a trail along your path on the map once you start recording so that you know exactly where you’ve traveled, and how to get back to your starting point. It’s also nice to see how many miles you walked that day.

• Other Tools: OnX keeps track of your GPS coordinates and elevation, has a 3D mode to show topography, and a hybrid map to show both satellite and topography lines. You can also drop unlimited pins with different colors, to mark potential spots, or successful/unsuccessful ones with their own color.

• Elevation: Not only does elevation matter as far as actual mushroom growing goes, but a steep rise in elevation can mean that the ground is unsuitable for picking. Use OnX in conjunction with Google maps to find places that you can both drive to and walk around.

• Burn Layers: This feature is only accessed through the paid subscription, but is the single feature that many burn morel hunters, including myself, pay for. OnX will show an outline of where each fire from previous years has happened on the map, giving you accurate information and the ability to plan spots within a burn ahead of time. Find a flat spot at the right elevation with decent road access within a burn on OnX maps? You might have some company, but you’ll also probably find morels.

• Offline Maps: OnX lets you download maps up to 10 square miles at a time, and keeps it on your phone for use when you’re out of cell service. This way all the pins, roads, trails, detailed topography and other features are still available when offline.

   

Sometimes, mushroom foragers like to talk some big talk. Phrases like “I’m gonna pick my own body weight this season!” and “Those gates can just be walked past!” may have been uttered in the past by yours truly, but when it comes right down to it: it’s better for everyone to just be respectful.

Just because you *have* friends who are interested in mushrooms/morels doesn’t mean much. Just like anything else, you have to put the effort in to reap the benefits!

• Keep In Touch: Start a group chat / private messenger group just for morel season. Use it to keep in touch about recent finds, potential areas, meet-ups, etc.

• Don’t Be Greedy: Share those spots with your posse. Maybe not *all* your spots, but if your friends are trusting you with their spots, you should be returning that favor.

• Forage With A Plan: Use the number of people you have to your advantage! Split up, take different areas (walkie talkies come in handy here), whoever finds the most morels can bring the others to that more productive area.

• Make The Plans: If you’re heading out to look for morels, invite your people. Even if it’s a bit of a drive, you never know when someone might just be feeling frisky and want to join you! Hopefully, they’ll reciprocate the offer sometime.

• MAKE THE PLANS: Set a date. Pick one that works for as many people as possible. Offer carpool options, organize meetup spots, and plan out multiple potential areas for the day!

• Use Distance To Your Advantage: If your morel hunting buddies span across the state like mine do, even better. Keep in contact with them! You can watch as the morels creep upward to your area, and have a heads up on locations that may be worth the long drive.

You can follow every tip I’ve given here to the letter, but the simple fact is: if you’re not out there actively looking for these mushrooms during their very short season, you will probably never find any. Beyond just the stamina to often walk for miles, it can take perseverance, willpower and even a touch of humility to truly be successful when hunting morels.

• Don’t Push Your Limits: Yes, you want to cover a lot of ground. No, you do not want to end up with leg cramps 4 miles from your car with the sun setting. Always give yourself plenty of time to get back safely. Make sure to stay hydrated, rested and fed.

• More Boots Is A Good Thing: Once again, having friends is the way to go. If you coordinate a grid system, a small number of people can comb a fairly large area. Even just splitting to entirely different potential areas can prove very rewarding: if one group has success they can call the others over. If you have separate cars, you can cover even more ground and keep in touch by walkie-talkie, which is what I recommend.

• Keep Track Of Your Boots: Or rather, where they’re walking. Use OnX hunt (or one of the other apps that do so) to track your route and save it, so that you have it on file for later. For natural species that will continue to produce year after year, a route showing your exact path during a day's hunt can be quite helpful in later years when you're trying to remember exactly which tree you found the mother lode under. 😉

• Make It Part Of Your Life: If you’re picturing going out and finding morels within a couple hours of searching your first time, you’re likely going to be disappointed. (All power to you, if this isn’t the case!) Just finding your first one will likely require a lot more time than you think, and a bit of dedication to the cause. To have a truly "successful" season and end up with some dehydrated morels for winter, expect to be scouting or actively foraging for morels at least once a week during the season.

• Invest In Decent Gear: You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on outdoor equipment to be a successful morel hunter, but it really does help to have durable clothing that you can be comfortable moving around in for 6-8+ hours at a time. Get some decent boots, some jeans or other pants that you can clamber over logs in. Durable pants with a fleece inner lining are pretty amazing. A backpack with some support, an emergency kit and other “essentials” from Tip #1 are also a good idea.

Well, that’s all the tips I have for you today! I truly hope that these tips help you in your morel-hunting adventures. If you’ve managed to slog all the way through this blog, congratulations... that’s a good sign that you probably have the patience and dedication to actually find morels! 😅

Before you go, you should definitely check out some of my wife Suzi’s wonderful mushroom stickers! We also sell her incredible mushroom-themed artwork on a variety of Mushroom Merch, from Eco-Friendly Tote Bags all the way to Coffee Mugs.

Give us a Follow over on Facebook and Instagram, and say hello!

Mush Love, Full Baskets.