TOPIC: Hello Everybody

Wow! Figured they would be up there by now. The blacks are starting to get some good size to them here, greys I have been finding are still small.

Congrats on the sh shrooms,shroomy,we finally have some coming up and it will be a couple more days but I am about to get to eat the 1st mess this season,looking forward to it.

Found these this morning

This is what I found one week ago. What a differance one week can make.

Congrats on the finds! I've been picking a few here as well.

Here in eastern Ohio we found 25 black Morels this year on April 16th. This is the earliest we have ever found them. Unbeleiveable for the wide swings in temp here.

This past weekend my wife & son found 2 little tiny yellows that were not worth pickin.

This has been the worst eason for me ever we have only found 12 shrooms in areas where I usaly find over a100 any year jsut nothing I dont know exactly whats wrong.Many good hunters here report the same to me,but have herd of a couple guys finding 30 to 40,but very few and I havent seen those...

Congrats Buckeye! Billy I'll tell you what the problem is/was. The weather!! Temps raised too quick and no rain, ground temps raised and then the rains came too late. I have still been finding them, but not in the numbers I normally do. The black morels were very poor in numbers, half-free (peckerhead/spikes/etc) were pretty much non-existent, believe I found 4 when most years I could pick 100's each trip out, the Deliciosa.... well I have yet to find one. Which is SUPER strange. I have been picking quite a few Esculenta though. I believe I'm going to try to get out again tomorrow. Here are a few shots for you. Billy if you are interested in swapping some woodsman type info just let me know man. I may be able to help you a bit on the morels, and would imagine you would help me out as well.

Those are some good pics SHROOMY. Nice lookin bird there,how long was its beard?Looks like you had plenty of shroom messes to eat.Billy it hasn't been a very good year for mushrooms this year but I did find over 100.I may go out one last time to look for big yellow ones. With the rain there might be some late big ones out there. Worth one last look. good luck to you fellers.

Thanks man, I enjoy taking photos if you couldnt tell. I have 1000's of them, missed a few good chances at some mink photos already this year, which sucks. I picked a fair share of mushrooms this spring, but what normally takes me one trip ended up taking me 3-5. Two years ago I would pick up to 600 on a single 4 hrs hunt. The weather killed us here as well as in many locations. If you are in southern Ohio I'm sure there are still some BIG yellows out there to be picked. But you may have to go through a bunch of spoiled ones to get to a few good ones. BUT, the more you hunt the more you will learn about the areas you pick and will help you out later in life. As far as the turkey it was a dandy! That is my younger brother in the photo and his first turkey ever. I have been after him to get into the outdoors for many, many years and he is finally getting into it, WOO HOO! The bird weighed 27 lbs, and had an 11 1/2\" beard, I can't remember the spur length exactly, but I do know they were over an inch. Had a bird come in earlier that morning but he was super spooky. I believe it had to do with all the fog. He appeared in front of us about 70 yrds out through the fog. Would half-ass strut then throw his head up looking around acting very nervous. He ended up turning around and leaving. So after a few minutes I chose to move and we set up along a field. The fog started to break and I spotted the one in the photo cutting across the field and KNEW it was a big bird. He started making his way to us gobbling, spitting, drumming, and strutting. Putting a great show on for my brother and you could tell he was getting excited. First He started asking questions, then his breath got heavier, then the shakes kicked in. I do have to admit it was pretty intense, we got to watch him dance his way in from over 200 yrds. and he was in no big hurry as he displayed and took his time expecting the hen to come to him. So he gets to right at 34 yrds, and I tell my brother to let him come and once he passed a small puddle of water he would be in gun range but we wanted him within 20 yrds if possible and I would tell him when to \"take him\". Right at the puddle the bird cut right and got directly behind a huge Ash tree. Where he stayed for over 5 minutes spitting and drumming with only a glimpse of a tail feather or two. There was a time when his head was visable and I would have taken the shot but he held off for a perfect shot. Which really impressed me and made me proud. Out he stepped, I whispered the go ahead and he dumped him. I patted him on the back gave him a congratulations and a high five, and we hopped up to check out his bird. I could go on and on about this hunt as I have taken out NUMEROUS people on hunts for various animals, young and old. But this is by far the happiest I have been so far on any of them. I believe he will make one hell of a hunter if he sticks with it! Yep, you shouldn't have asked about that turkey. LOL