Spring turkey hunting is almost over but within those later seasons is another crossover season that provides the chance for some multi-tasking, if you’re paying attention. Yep, I’m talking about the morel mushroom hunting season. Between chasing turkeys and foraging ‘shrooms, those are two pretty good reasons to hang out in the woods.

The morel mushroom hunting season is a fickle one. You can never look at the calendar and announce: “Tomorrow is the season opener!” No, no, no, it’s Mother Nature who is responsible for picking the dates. The cool days and chilly nights that we have experienced all spring have made the morel mushroom pickings pretty slim. but that hasn’t stopped me and my fellow ‘shroomers from looking.  

Fortunately, Mother Nature also provides clues as to when it’s time to start looking for morels. The most popular and well-known signal is blooming lilacs.  Most people know that old adage but there are other signs, like when Mayapples break into full blown umbrella mode.  If you know what Mayapples look like you know that is a pretty good description.  Blooming trilliums are another signal as are dandelions going to seed. Put all those things in order and it’s time to hunt.

I also came across another interesting signal that it’s morel time and the more I thought about it the more it made sense. When it’s time to mow your grass for the third time, it’s time to look for morels. This year at my house that should be right around May 22. I’ll let you know how that works out.

So now it’s time to tell you about my morel mushroom hunt that turned into a turkey hunt. Actually, I was on a time budget with a meeting scheduled at noon and it was a can’t miss kind of commitment.

I headed out with morels being the number one item on the agenda. Along the way I heard a long-distance gobble that was about three zip codes from me. It was so far away that I kept foraging for shrooms and minutes later I was looking at some fungi. The bad news: it was pheasant’s back mushrooms. Pheasant’s back mushrooms are okay but on the edible mushrooms scale they score poorly. I also ran into some fiddleheads, but they were a little past optimum picking size, so I ignored them as well.

Just when I thought that the morning was going to be a washout, a turkey gobbled and he was in my area code. I threw some hen yelps at him and he fired a gobble right back at me. The mushroom hunt was officially over and the turkey hunt was on.

For the next 20 minutes the tom gobbled and I stared at my watch, willing the minute hand to slow down. It seemed as if the closer the tom got the faster my watch ticked away. I couldn’t see the tom, but I heard him clear as day. I was guessing he was within range, but I couldn’t pick him out because of a brush pile separating us.

From that point on everything went downhill. Putting a time limit on an advancing tom turkey is equal parts excitement and frustration. I forced the issue by standing to look over the brush pile. While I was trying to sneak a peek at him, he was doing the same and that’s when the hunt was officially over. I ended up with no morel mushrooms, no turkey, and I was late for my appointment making it the perfect reverse trifecta. I do have a couple of more days to hunt so, double or nothing.

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