TOPIC: newbie hunting guide?

my family has a lot of hillside forest land here in eastern ky and i am wanting to get into hunting ginseng but i could really use a good guide...

you wouldn't think it would be hard to find a certain plant until you really go out and look for it...

People say \"nothing in the woods looks like ginseng and nothing else in the woods has red berries. Don't believe it. An oak sapling looks a lot like 'seng. Look at the stem...if it's woody/bark looking....keep looking.

I carried a top with me when I was learning. An old man showed me 'seng. If that won't work, I also carried a good, color picture that I had laminated. Or...go to a dealer and ask to buy a whole plant or stem and top to carry as a guide.

The stuff does not grow everywhere ! Also, forget the crap about only looking on the north facing hills. I've found it facing all directions. Too much undergrowth is not good, but I've not found it much in a bare, clean, state park type forest either. Here, in S.E. IN. there is just enough \"weeds\" in the woods that you have to look closely, but not have to claw your way through. You'll learn the basics in a good afternoon of looking once you find a few plants.

Then, it's like riding a bicycle.

Also, don't be looking for a big plant. Look BELOW most of the other plants growing in the woods. Here, 'seng is small, dainty plants. A 12\" stalk,,,a foot tall is almost unheard of in my area. I did find a stalk 3' tall once, but only once. And even 2' tall stalks are rare. Looks just inches off the forest floor and for stalks not even as thick as a pencil. Maybe 30% of what you find will have the red berries.
They say pine forests are no good, but, there is a video of a \"farm\" in Korea,on You Tube, where the seng is planted in a pine forest.

Justin,

It is not easy to teach yourself to find seng - I doubt many have much luck with that.

It would be ideal is you could hook up with a experienced seng hunter and have him train you up.

If you were over in Middle TN - I would be glad to help with that.

I have been hunting seng since the mid 70's and well with that kind of experience you get to where you can smell it, sense it, just know by scanning a area or looking at a hollow on a topo map where it's going to be. You can read the companion plants and know if you need to be higher on the hill or lower or if it will be growing on both sides of the hollow or on just one hillside. Sometimes I just get a feeling that I need to take a swing a little higher on the hill and sure enough when I get up there I find some nice ones up there.

You don't get like that without putting in your time at it.

Below is a link to my youtube channel - think I have 27 videos on ginseng - most are footage of actual hunts, but some are on planting wild simulated.

www.youtube.com/yttnhunter

Check em out - that should help you with seeing exactly what it looks like in the wild and a bit on location and companion plants too.

Good Luck to you !

TNhunter

i hunt in eastern ky what county are you from

when i first started diggin for sang, i couldnt find them. saw all the companion plants n stuff, still couldnt find them, you need to see them in the wild personally. the pics you see here are good examples but dont expect big leaves....the average three prongers in the wild are small and laid down low on ground