Author Topic: MUSHROOMS & TICKS. (Read 1090 times)

powderman · « **on:** April 17, 2005, 08:35:43 AM »

I only found 8 today, not finished counting the ticks. I went last Monday, found 3 mushrooms, and got 6 ticks. Lots of turkey scratchings every where. I believe the turkeys are getting what few shrooms there are. This woods has been getting worse every year for producing mushrooms. Last year I only got one good mess and it took 6 or 7 trips. Biggest find last year in oneday was only about 35. I don't know what has happened to this woods over the years, it has about quit producing. I tap each shroom to release spoor, and carry them in a mesh bag so spoor will be released. I don't believe it's just the turkeys, something is wrong with the woods, I just don't know what it is. I used to find hundreds in a day, one year I found over 8,000. Any ideas??? POWDERMAN.

Graybeard · « **Reply #1 on:** April 17, 2005, 07:00:45 PM »

I have two thoughts to share with you. First you need to teach those turkeys to eat ticks. :-D

But secondly it seems you've depleted the supply. Mushrooms reproduce thru spores shot out from mature mushrooms left to "go to seed" so to speak. If you pick all of them then you're not leaving any to spread their spores to make new ones for the future. Maybe you need to let the area rest a year and produce lots of new spores for a better crop the following year.

grizzy57 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 17, 2005, 10:20:00 PM »

I used to pick them like that Year after year in the same place then they got hard to get!! So I stopped for a few years and they came back seems like You can over Harvest them!!
grizzy57

powderman · « **Reply #3 on:** April 18, 2005, 05:00:04 PM »

I'm hunting morels. I know they reproduce from the spoors, thats why I tap them on a stick and carry a mesh bag to help release and spread them. I used to park my tractor down the hill when hunting, and noticed mushrooms on the trail out of the woods and where I parked the tractor the next year, so I know I was releasing some of the spoors. Several folks are having the same luck. If we get a shower Wed, I'm off work Thurs, and may try again. It would be a blessing if the woods would burn. Mature trees would be OK, and billions of ticks would be toast. Controlled burns are no longer allowed. POWDERMAN.

bullet maker · « **Reply #4 on:** April 19, 2005, 02:07:34 AM »

Quote from: powderman

I only found 8 today, not finished counting the ticks. I went last Monday, found 3 mushrooms, and got 6 ticks. Lots of turkey scratchings every where. I believe the turkeys are getting what few shrooms there are. This woods has been getting worse every year for producing mushrooms. Last year I only got one good mess and it took 6 or 7 trips. Biggest find last year in oneday was only about 35. I don't know what has happened to this woods over the years, it has about quit producing. I tap each shroom to release spoor, and carry them in a mesh bag so spoor will be released. I don't believe it's just the turkeys, something is wrong with the woods, I just don't know what it is. I used to find hundreds in a day, one year I found over 8,000. Any ideas??? POWDERMAN.

Hi powderman

Here in my neck of the woods, the wild hogs eat them. Might check to see if there are any hog tracks around where you pick mushrooms. Dont know if deer eat them are not. But do and have seen the hogs eat them.

bullet maker

powderman · « **Reply #5 on:** April 21, 2005, 04:36:26 PM »

BULLETMAKER. No wild hogs here. I've found where deer have bedded among, or right close to mushrooms so don't believe the deer are a real problem. The turkeys are another story. Almost every where I hunt there are a lot of turkey sign. Lots of ticks, few mushrooms. The area is pretty dry, no rain since my last trip to the woods, so I didn't even try today. POWDERMAN.

S.B. · « **Reply #6 on:** April 30, 2005, 04:53:07 PM »

Here in central Illinois they haven't quite started yet. Last weekend down in Mt Sterling Illinois about 12-15 pounds were found in short order? Have you gotten rain and then a mildly warm day yet, in your area? A bit too cool around here right now.

powderman · « **Reply #7 on:** May 03, 2005, 09:15:06 AM »

SB. I talked to my sister Sunday and she said the mushrooms were about done up there. She lives in Effingham county in ILL. I didn't even go to the woods after my last post, I just gave up on them. Instead of selling turkey licenses, I wish they'd put a bounty on them, maybe they'd leave my mushrooms alone then. :-D . I'll try another spot next year that I purposely haven't hunted in 4 or 5 years, we'll see if they have come back. Good luck. POWDERMAN.

S.B. · « **Reply #8 on:** May 03, 2005, 10:21:39 AM »

Effingham is way south of my area. Those fortunate people have had more warm weather than we have. Froze here last night and prediction is for another tonight. Sponges are just starting to show up, here in Livingston county?