TOPIC: New area was a bust

Hey guys went to a new area Saturday that I Turkey hunt a lot and thought it looked like a good area to look for ginseng. Well it wasn't, terrain was incredibly steep once I dropped down further into the hollow. I never saw the first plant, I did see some yellow root,or golden seal, black cohosh, blue cohosh wasn't sure until I got home and looked up pictures and saw it online. The ones I found had lots of berries on them looked similar to blueberries I thought.

So I decided to climb back out of there and hit another area. On my way there I spotted another area a large bowl and had lots of buckeyes, and poplars, so I had to give it a try. A little better results but not that good either. Found one two prong as I was dropping down into the bowl, and a few seedlings. Got a little excited being as I was only 100 yards into to my descent. Long story short I ended up finding one 3 prong and 2 prongs and 4 more seedlings. They were all scattered none closer that 100 yards to the other one.

The thing that strikes me as strange and again I am a NEWB but i would think that when you find one you would find at least a few more right in the general area. I covered the bowl pretty thoroughly and dropped down from about 1400 feet to 900 feet and that was all that I found. I have noticed this a lot so far this season. Could it be from being dug last few years? The property is old abandoned coal mining property that I have permission to hunt. I appreciate all of you guys taking time to read my ramblings and any comments will be appreciated.

Could be that a bird droped a berries in those spots and thats all the seng there.....Or I would say in my opinion (and by no means am I an expert) that someone has hunted that area. Either stewarding the area and pulling tops having missed a few or a poacher has rapped the land and dug most of it out. I would be lookin around for signs and tracks. tops,holes,broken branches, or just general signs of disturbance

Your first mistake is you looked for ginseng in a area you know theres turkeys around, they will eat the heck out them seng. and in a area where you suspect deer and turkey had eatn seng, if you find little seedlings always look above it for stem of a mother plant.
This season where i dig, them deers and turkeys had eatn most of the big tops.

Predation is sure a problem...

I suspect that this is also due to the near extinction of naturally occurring ginseng as well. Poor husbandry, planting practices, etc....

thanks for the comments i appreciate you guys. yeah anytime i find any plants i always look up the hill from them. I didn't realize that turkeys were that hard on them. Most of the places i have been looking hasn't been overly abundant with deer.