Morel Mushroom Hunting Club
Newsletter April 2008
"2008 Georgia Motherlode Foray"
By: Chris Matherly
This I will have to say turned out to be the best Foray that I have ever guided! The weather was perfect, so perfect, that I had one rain drop hit me as I got in my truck to drive home after our huge Mushroom and Steak Feast! The rain held off just for us! It poured on the way home! The weather was perfect!
Thursday, Roger Reynolds and I scoped out one new spot, walked many miles and found (2).
Friday evening, we had our usual meet and greet at the Hotel, and I had been out the previous 2 days scouting, and also picking a few locations that I was not to lead the group on, so I had a fair "stash" of fresh Morels to get everyone hyped up about the hunt.
Saturday Morning came, and we left right on time, arriving at a new spot this year that I located, and 2 minutes into the woods, we had our first finds!
Everyone was searching the woods even harder, and many were yelling out "twins over here", "Here's 5", Here's one"! We hit it good, then moved further back in, and continued very good luck until lunch. Marcus, an Army man from Fort Benning, GA crossed a creek, and yelled "I hit the motherlode over here. They are everywhere"! We returned back to the truck, laid out our finds, and counted 225!
Roger was to lead us to the original "Motherlode" spot, and was delayed about 45 minutes as we were eating our lunch. A few brave members decided to try the other side of the road, which I had not even looked there, as this was a brand new spot, since we were waiting anyway.... Immediately, they were finding them! This would not have happened, if we had not been waiting on Roger to get his _utt over here and take us to the Motherlode. Thank you Roger, so much, for being an hour late! We found another 201 Morels on the other side of the road!
We are already at record numbers, and we haven't even made it to THE spot yet! We head on to the prime location, and head into the woods. This year's motherlode, was just that. Everyone was picking and grinning, then the most amazing thing happened. We crossed the creek, and hit a clump of Morels. This was no ordinary clump. There were so many in a 10 foot circle, we couldn't even walk or move. I have never ever seen anything like it. We decided to put all of these from the giant clump into one bag to later count them. Turns out there were a total of 222 Morels in one single giant clump. Ripley's believe it or not! Just ask any of the members who attended if you don't believe me!
They were this thick in a ten foot circle!
The best was yet to come, no kidding! We went to the final spot in the motherlode area, the place that holds the giants! They were there! If we had left them to grow another week, the biggest would have topped 13 inches! It was about 10" and pre-mature!
We made it back, everyone just exhausted not from walking, but from picking all day! Poor us!
The yellow bag contained the giant clump! -222 total!
The entire haul, just from the motherlode, not the two previous. I hate it now that I didn't take a few minutes to heap all three harvests into one giant overflowing mound of Morels! The one-day total- 975 Morels!
This is truly a beauty!
Here are those who attended:
I crowned Marcus the "Mushroom King" as he pulled two huge bags out of the woods himself. way outdoing everyone else!
We finished it off with Grilled Steaks, Salad, Fettuccini Alfredo with Grilled Chicken and MOREL Sauce!, and oh yes, almost forgot... Fried Morels!
The Kentucky Foray is next, and I do still have about (2) spots open! April 11th/ 12th/ 13th.
Enjoy!
Happy Shroomin!
-Chris M
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