12 Tips for Finding More Morel Mushrooms This Spring

Morel mushrooms are a mystery, a miracle, and a gift of the spring woods. Their arrival of mushroom hunting season often coincides with turkey season. Wild mushrooms can appear overnight and remain maddeningly elusive. Veteran morel mushroom hunters covet their secret spots with a possessive fervor equal to that of any bass fishermen or deer hunter.

Why are wild mushrooms more common in spring?

Morel mushrooms remain a mystery to researchers and foragers alike. Where and why they grow is often the subject of woods-lore. But one thing is certain, there are conditions that cause morels to flush in the spring more than any other time of year. Once you know what to look for in your environment, you’ll be racing to find the next hotspot.

Temperature and moisture are by far the most important factors for fungi growth. Morels will not grow if the soil is too warm or cold. They also tend to like moist soil, so snowy winters and rainy springs are ideal. It’s good to pay attention to snowpack and snowmelt especially in the mountains. Snow not only moistens the soil but also keeps the soil cooler. Be prepared to move up and down the mountain to adjust for temperature and snowmelt. In early spring, morels tend to pop up at lower elevations first and work their way up as temperatures rise.

Disturbed ground, clear cuts and wildfire burns all tend to precede a boom in morel growth. So it’s important to know how morels and other mushrooms relate to their environment.

“One of the hypotheses is that the disturbance disrupts the connection between the fungus and the roots of the host trees that are feeding the fungus sugars and carbohydrates,” says Andrew Larson, a forest ecology professor for the University of Montana.

Simply put, living plant roots provide food to fungus that produce morels. This all takes place under the soil. While it’s hard to say that morels have an exclusive relationship to specific plants, this would explain why we tend to find them near certain kinds of trees. When the trees are gone, due to chainsaws or fire, the food supply for the fungus goes with them. “The response then, of the fungus, is to produce the fruiting body and the spores that are associated so that it can disperse and reproduce,” Larson says. The more “fruiting bodies” (morels) means more spores (think mushroom seeds), and that’s a good thing for both foragers and fungus. Stick to recent burn scars where the trees are dead, but there is still foliage. Partial and clear-cut forests are also great places to look.

Lastly, when you’re in the woods, try to find a place where morels are already growing. That’s right, morels lead to more morels. It sounds pretty obvious, but think back to what’s going on under the surface. Morels are part of a larger more expansive fungus that’s probably all around you, right under the soil.

“Any mushroom hunter can tell you this. If you find one, you need to freeze and look around. You’re much more likely to find more within 20 feet,” Larson says.

Now that you know the right conditions, here are some practical tips to help you find these wild delicacies in the field.

Timing is everything. Start with the leaves

“The old timers say that when the oak leaves are the size of a mouse’s ear then that’s the time to look for morels,” says Rick Hill, a wildlife artist and dedicated mushroom hunter. “And that’s usually about right.”

Know your trees to find morel mushrooms

Morels are often found near trees, but not just any tree, explains Joe Lacefield. He is a wildlife biologist who primarily works with private landowners. Lacefield knows mushrooms. If you want to find morels, he says start by learning to identify trees: sycamore, hickory, ash, and elm are four to focus on first. Morels favor fruit trees, too. “An old apple orchard is often a productive area,” he says. Here are some tips for identifying them.

The mystery factor: Where to find morel mushrooms

Why morels favor some tree species and not others is unclear. “There’s a mystery about them,” Lacefield says. “Are they a symbiotic species that basically is tied into a root system of a tree? Or are they just in the soil? I don’t know. I don’t know if anyone knows for sure. But they’re usually always associated with trees.”

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