Finding morels... the best advice I can give is to learn your trees. In my part of the world morels have an affinity for apple, ash, cedar, cottonwood, elm, mulberry, multiflora rose, and sycamore. There may be others but those are the species that I key on when I’m searching.
Then there’s the “I’m a fungus and I do what I want” thing... at my grandparents homestead (built in 1860) I would find morels growing all over the house yard. The trees there were catalpa, hickory, and oak. I suspect the affinity there was for the catalpa, but I can’t be certain. I would occasionally find some in a catalpa grove that my GrandPap and Great Uncle planted for fence posts in the early 1900s so there may be something to the catalpa affinity. I know people that claim to have spots where the predominant species of tree are oaks, but I’ve never been able to put a pattern together on those.
I know a lot of people who have good spots in the hills. Most of my spots are creek and river bottoms, but I do have a couple hill ground spots that are very reliable. I’m getting to the stage of life where it’s a lot easier to get to the patches on flat ground so I find myself checking the hill spots less often each year.
If you’re on fakebook you’ll find numerous morel hunting groups that can be a gold mine of good information if you’re willing to wade through the BS and troll posts, and there’s a lot of it to wade through even on the groups that are well-moderated.
My best spots are all on public land. Conservation areas along the Missouri River, city parks, state parks, national forest land, and wildlife reserves.
It’s been super warm and dry here in the middle of Misery for the past week. Most of the spots here are done if we don’t get some rain real soon now. It’s sprinkling out now with a good chance of heavier rain all day, and again on Thursday so I’m holding out hope that the late season will be a good one.
Thanks for the tips! There are a lot of trees in our woods.
A town park is very nearby, just a block or two away. The creek behind our house runs over there, so we share the same wildlife, trees, etc. Every year we see multitudes of people scouring for morels there. They don’t stay on the beaten path at all.
I will try to get to other side of the creek tomorrow. Maybe I will find something after all.