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winter scouting


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Im thinking about doing some winter scouting for morels in a new area I will be frequenting. Obviously I'll be looking for yellow poplar and white ash and preferably southern facing slopes. Dead elms are always welcome :) and I think bottoms laced with hickory or sycamore will be added to the list. This is a good time to keep an eye out for birch trees and chaga too.

Anyone else winter scout? High on my list this year are black morels, king boletes and lobster mushrooms the three mushrooms that have eluded me.

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Yep, I'm doing some scouting myself. I'm actually looking for areas to hunt chanterelles, black trumpets, and hopefully hens next year. I hope to purchase a canoe to help with the scouting. It's nice to get out and walk in the open leafless woods where you can get an idea of the lay of the land. Hope your scouting pays off for you.

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During the winter I do a lot of scouting for morels using Google Earth. I just look for terrain that matches known morel spots, and this method has been quite successful. The best morel spots are a long drive from home; so I would use up a lot of gas if I did the scouting by hiking. After noting good-looking morel spots during the winter, especially ones near known locations, I check them out in the spring when I'm pretty sure that morels will be up in that area. Timing is determined by doing degree-day calculations as discussed in a previous posting: http://www.wildmushroomhunting.org/index.php/topic/326-figuring-out-when-to-look-for-morels/?hl=degree-day.

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A canoe would be a nice way to scout and get you into less populated areas. I have some great chantetelle spots if i could figure how to get to them before the bugs. Have some nice trumpet spots too, but havent quite figured out what makes them better than similar spots.

Ive been planning on scouting google earth if at least to identify the southern facing poplar runs i visit. I havent been able to compare spots well enough to id forest types yet. Well other than cuts !!

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I try to find good looking spots on google earth and then hike through like most others on here. I have a hard time recognizing spots i've found in winter, but as long as it looks good in winter I'll probably stumble onto something good at the right time

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A GPS unit makes it easy to go back to any interesting location that you've found earlier. I have hundreds of natural morel and other mushroom spots that I check out every year using GPS. I'd never be able to remember all of these without some help. GPS also allows you to go directly to any interesting locations that you've found on Google Earth. And you can plot the exact locations of mushroom finds on GE to look for patterns.

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I've used gps successfully more than once to go back to a particular tree, but have to admit there's something about my pile of topo maps with chekcks and Xs thats comforting.

I was wondering about dropping pins on google earth and then using my gps to find spots. I suppose I'll need to download google earth on my phone too.

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