April 2004 Morel Mushroom Hunting Club Newsletter

April 2004 Newsletter

Morel Mushroom Hunting Club

"The 2004 Big Ridge State Park Member-Foray"

By: Chris Matherly

Many, many photos on this page, so be patient while they download!

Chris Matherly, Organizer/ Host

Saturday, April 3rd, 2004 Guides: Glenda, left, and Dave, right. (Dave helped with the Feb. 2004 Newsletter)

Scouting Trips/ Sunday Guide: Eddie McMillan

I arrived in Knoxville on Wednesday, and checked into the cabin at Big Ridge State Park. I made a quick 10 minute detour into the woods surrounding the cabin. I spotted Mayapples up, and a few other wildflowers. Redbuds were budded out, and many signs of spring was intact. I later met up with Eddie, and made some plans due to the rain they had been getting. Ivan, from Canada was due in on Thursday and we had to pick him up at the airport. After we picked up Ivan, we went on a scout trip to see if they were up yet. Quickly, Ivan's jet-lag was forgotten, when we harvested a mere 115 nice Black Morels. Friday, we met up with Bob from Tifton, GA, and made plans to do some scouting on Friday at nearby Norris Dam State Park. Friday came, and we looked, searched, hunted, scouted, to no avail. Nothing at all.... We hit many locations, some looked promising, others did not. Eddie later met up with us and also scouted with us in Big Ridge again, with no luck. Ivan was tired, but Bob prevailed with Eddie and I and we went back to Eddie's spots, and Bob found his first Morels in nearly 40 years! He was thrilled to death! We could hardly pull him away from the woods, and the sun was down! We hit about 75 in an hour of hunting. Friday night, many of the members met briefly and welcomed one another, others were still on the road on their way in.

Destin, in red, is a big Morel hunter!

Saturday, we met at the Park Office, everyone quite eager to head to the woods. We had a 45 minute ride to meet up with Dave in Rockwood, and hit his spots. Meeting Dave, and viewing his license plate, we were sure to have a good time!

We didn't find the mother-load, but we did find a wide- variety of Morels!

And a few False Morels also:

The first location, we picked around 50 mushrooms. We decided to Eat some sandwiches, and hit another spot or two. It was clear, that the soil was dry, and it was slim-pickens! We found just a few at a second location, and hit a few other places with no luck. I certainly do thank Dave for his time and hard efforts, and Glenda for being there as well. Dave invites us back for a fall foray for Black Trumpets.

Back to Park to get cleaned up, and then a slide presentation, questions and answers, and view some photos.

Sunday Morning we were off to one of Eddie's locations. Less than 3 minutes into the woods, and we had our first Morel! We managed to find several at this spot, and went on to a second location just a 5 minute ride down the road, and again, it didn't take long to start finding some. It was 1:00 before we knew it, and had to round up the troops and head back to the park for the cook-out featuring Steaks, fried Morels, and Ivan's Chicken with cream-of-morel sauce. It was so delicious! The cook out was fantastic, and we still had enough Morels left over for everyone to take home some Morels! It was an unforgettable experience.