Morel Mushroom Hunting Tips in Missouri

Identifying Missouri Morel Mushrooms

• While searching for morel mushrooms, you’ll notice the distinctive pits and ridges on the cap first. Hunters must look for hollow stemmed mushrooms with cone shaped caps. The caps’ characteristic pits and ridges resemble a honeycomb or a sponge. The bottom edge of the cap attaches directly to the stem. Morels can grow to heights of 2 to 12 inches tall. There are three general species of morel mushrooms. The ridges of the common morel are white and the pits are dark brown. As the mushroom ages, the pits and ridges will turn yellow brown in color. The black or smoky morel has tan or gray ridges when young. As the mushroom matures the ridges darken until they are almost black. Half free morels have smaller caps and long bulging stems.

Time Frame

• April is the peak season to hunt morel mushrooms in Missouri. The season will generally last four to six weeks. However morels do not go by a clock, so the weather and temperature have more to do with the best time to seek the morels than anything. Depending on the climate conditions, morels can be found from February until June if the temperatures are right. Morels begin to sprout when the daily temperature is above 40 degrees Fahrenheit. They are ready to be hunted when daily temperature averages 50 degrees or above. The first morels of the season will be small and as the season progresses they will grow bigger. Early in the spring as the ground warms up, they can be found on slopes that face south in areas that are fairly open. As the season progresses, hunting is better deep in the woods where the temperature remains cooler later in the year. On north facing slopes, you’ll find them on the sides of elevated valleys or in areas where there is rich underbrush or a thick layer of leaves protected from the sun. In these cooler areas morels have a tendency to mature later than the main crop.

Location

• Missouri morel mushrooms are most commonly found in and around the edges of forests or in creek bottoms that have well-drained sandy soil. Morels most often grow around apple, cherry, basswood, elm, aspen, ash and oak trees. Another good place for hunting is around dead or dying trees that have bark starting to fall off of the trunks. Old apple orchards are another preferred spot. Other popular hideouts for morel mushrooms are areas that have been recently logged or previously consumed by forest fires. Morels seldom grow singly. Where there is one there will be others in close proximity.