The wariness of hunting morel mushrooms

John Moore took a wonderful photo of his first morels, then played coy on where.

John Moore’s first morel mushrooms of the season, with a nicely photographed time and day stamp.

John Moore’s first morel mushrooms of the season, with a nicely photographed time and day stamp.

Provided

John Moore emailed a wonderful photo, showing another way to do a time and day stamp, with his first four morel mushrooms of the season on April 22.

When I asked roughly where, he emailed back, “About 43 degrees north.”

Take that with much skepticism. That retort fits in the same space of an angler saying his fish was caught in the water.

Reminder:Mushroom picking and foraging in general is prohibited at area forest preserves, park districts and dedicated nature preserves. It is allowed at many IDNR sites (state parks, etc.), but restricted until after 1 p.m. at sites with spring turkey hunting.

MOTW, the celebration of hunting for morel mushrooms around Chicago outdoors and their stories (the stories matter, as this one shows), runs Wednesdays in the paper Sun-Times as warranted.

To make submissions, email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com) or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or Instagram (@BowmanOutside).

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