Filed under: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, Uncategorized | Tags: giant morel mushroom, Nebraska morel mushroom hunting, Nebraska morel mushrooms
Robert (Bob) Meinecke of Omaha, NE shares this pic of himself holding a giant morel mushroom found along the Elkhorn River bottoms in western Douglas County yesterday on Sunday, May 9th. WHEW! That’s a biggie! Robert says it is the largest morel mushroom he has ever found. He estimates that it was just over a foot long and the cap was big as his elbow! It’s one of the larger ones that I have personally seen. Congrats Robert, and thanks for sharing the pic with everyone! That’ll be a meal in and of itself, won’t it? Dinner, what time?
See you out there, trying to convince Robert to take me morel mushroom hunting in his secret spots, ha!
Filed under: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, Uncategorized | Tags: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, Nebraska morel mushroom hunting
My deer hunting partner and landowner friend Mark found over 16 pounds of morel mushrooms in about 5-6 hours of hunting on his land along the Platte River corridor south of my hometown of Gretna, NE today. He shared nearly half of that bounty with me and my family this evening. WOW! What a treat for us! Thanks so much, Mark!
The moment I got home from his place earlier tonight, I cooked up some of the morels for the family. Look at these beauties!
Thanks again, Mark! Some smoked wild tom turkey being done by Stoysich House of Sausage in southeast Omaha will be coming your way soon, buddy!
Mark says get out there, get landowner permission, go morel mushroom hunting and share some of what you pick with friends!
See you out there!
Filed under: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms | Tags: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, Nebraska morel mushroom hunting
Today, Greg’s blog has been taken over! (Insert evil laughter here.) I’m Katie Stacey.
I work with Greg and, as I am an avid morel hunter, I decided to steal his blog for a day to give an update on the season. I like to fish, too!
Two of my springtime favorites, morels and lilacs.
Yesterday I spent most of the day in the woods and found several pounds of morels. Many of the morels I found were eight inches and taller, but a bit drier and older than I like to find them. (Greg should have given me Monday off work!) I have been hunting along the Missouri River south of Omaha. The river bottoms are still a little dry. Hopefully, the rain in the forecast tomorrow and Friday along with high temperatures will mean great hunting this weekend.
An interesting, gnarly tree I came across just after finding my first morel yesterday.
I have had the most success in the grass among willow thickets. Many of the larger mushrooms were mostly hidden by brown tufts of last year’s grass.
In my woods there are several trees that have fallen in recent years. I make sure to check the dirt around the root balls and have seldom been disappointed.
See you out there, where I’ll be spending the majority of the next few weeks in pursuit of morels!
Filed under: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, outdoor adventures, outdoor recreation, Rivers | Tags: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, Nebraska morel mushroom hunting, Nebraska rivers
Here’s a brief photo essay of what normally comes with a hunt for morel mushrooms in the woodlands along an eastern Nebraska river like the Elkhorn. Every morel mushroom hunt is an adventure with the flora and fauna living in that riverine habitat! What a fun outdoor experience, especially for kids!
Beautiful, undisturbed Elkhorn River bottom woodlands.
Apple tree blossoms around the old homestead in the woods.
A northern water snake encountered provides some excitement.
Even more excitement, a morel amid the leaf matter near the snake!
Abundant Woodhouse's toads offer plenty of amusement.
Pack your poles, take a break from hunting morels and fish sandpits, ponds or perhaps backwater areas along rivers such as this one along the Elkhorn.
Couple other things to note.
Yep, the ticks are prevalent, mosquitoes, too! Don't forget your insect repellent!
This is poison ivy and it is part of the landscape. Remember: "Leaflets of three, let it be!"
In the end, the succulent morel mushrooms are worth it!
A plate full of morels await a hungry hunter.
See you out there, searching for morel mushrooms and enjoying your outdoor experience with kids in river bottom woodlands!
Filed under: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms | Tags: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, Nebraska morel mushroom hunting
We’ve been out morel mushroom hunting today. Did you get an opportunity to go out and look for morels this morning, afternoon or evening? I hope so. Share your report with us, we’d sure appreciate it!
We hunted for morels in the beautiful, moist woods along the Elkhorn River near Waterloo on a gorgeous afternoon! We were out in the woods for about two hours from 2-4 p.m. Four of us (my buddy/landowner Andre, son Noah along with his young friend Joe and I) found around 160 morels. A nice haul. They were of various sizes.
Here’s the largest one we found.
My tip to you: Look closely for morels in that river bottom grass in the woods. Surprisingly, we found a number of them there!
We shared our bounty with the landowner and his family. We even fried some up at their house with a little butter, a little olive oil and a little garlic. Great stuff!
The morel mushroom hunting season appears to be just fully getting underway. Keep checking your spots. Respect private property, get landowner permission and know your boundaries. We’ll see you out there! Oh, and tomorrow on my blog, the interesting things that come with morel mushroom hunting in Nebraska, you won’t wanna miss that!
Filed under: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms | Tags: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, Nebraska morel mushroom hunting
We’re receiving some nice rain here in the Omaha-metro and surrounding area this morning and additional rainfall is in the forecast which should help more morel mushrooms and larger-sized ones to pop up! Time to go hunt, check your spots for morels!
Look at the water sitting in the Game and Parks office parking lot here in southeast Omaha.
I’m pretty much stuck in the office today doing my radio shows over the phone, but perhaps on my lunch hour I’ll get a chance to sneak out and look for morels!
Might see you out there!
Filed under: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, Uncategorized | Tags: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, Nebraska morel mushroom hunting
A pic of a morel mushroom found today along the east side of the Elkhorn River in western Sarpy County. Picked a few smaller morels. It’s pretty darn dry in the woods, need rain for more and larger morels! Enjoy the pic! See you out there, with permission from the landowner, of course!
Filed under: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, Uncategorized | Tags: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, Nebraska morel mushroom hunting
A quick note to let you know that folks are finding a few patches of smaller morel mushrooms along the Elkhorn, Platte and Missouri River bottom woodlands near Omaha. It appears that we need moisture – some good rainfall – for the morels to really pop up in greater number and size.
Here are a couple photos of morels picked from the area just this past week courtesy of morel mushroom hunting expert Mark Davis of the Omaha World-Herald. See more at his blog: http://mineolamark.blogspot.com/
See you out there!
Filed under: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, Uncategorized | Tags: morel mushroom hunting, morel mushrooms, Nebraska morel mushroom hunting
Waiting for morel mushrooms to appear in nature is torture, pure torture! Me and my staff have been checking our moist, wooded eastern Nebraska river bottom haunts daily in hopes of finding some of those golden sponges on a stem for the frying pan. No luck, yet.
Mark Davis, Photojournalist at the Omaha World-Herald and an ardent, dedicated morel mushroom hunter, says the ground temperature for morels to pop up needs to be 50 degrees 4-6 inches below the soil surface and we’re now approaching that. “We should have ground temps reaching 50 degrees in the next 7-10 days, if not sooner,” he emphasizes. “So, mushroom hunters should be checking their spots daily.” Davis will soon be blogging daily about his own morel mushroom hunting adventures, at: http://mineolamark.blogspot.com/ You can also catch Mark and his friend Morgan talking “morels” with me on The Great Outdoor Radio Show airing on Omaha’s ESPN Radio/1620 AM or online at www.1620thezone.com Saturday, April 24th from 9-10 a.m.
Davis says one of his favorite spots to find early season morels is along south-facing slopes of Missouri River tributaries.
He says morel seekers need to look for places with sun exposure (where the sun can get through the trees) along the edges of moist woodlands close to river banks.
Jo Momsen of Game and Parks in Omaha, an avid morel mushroom hunter herself, reminds people to get permission before going on to private land. “Most landowners don’t seem to mind morel mushroom hunters as long as they have acquired permission in advance.”
Momsen adds that it’s always a good idea to offer some of your bounty of morels to the landowner as a kind gesture for allowing access.
We’ll see you out there with friends and family, searching the woods for morels! Now, what time will dinner be served?
In the Wild with Greg Wagner 