Thursday, April 15, 2010

Give and Ye Shall Receive - The Morel Hunters Retirement Plan

Look what the kids brought home today! !!

Don't I wish. I have been waiting to take photos like these, and although these are staged, someday this may indeed be true. I call it my (MRA) morel retirement account. Every good hunter should have one. Now before you ask, I only found 60 today though that 60 was well over two pounds. Actually, I have been saving much of my finds for the past week to accumulate such a basket. It is hard not to gobble them up but I have had pretty good luck despite the odd nature of the season.

Tomorrow many of them will get prepared for winter by frying and freezing and some will be dried, so I can eat morels all year long. About 1/3 will go to friends I have shared the woods with in the past who are no longer able to get out there.

If you find a good share it is always nice to share the bounty with the old timers. The joy and nostalgia they bring is quite worth it. Couple that with some good hunting stories from the heights of the Dutch Elm Disease invasion and it is more than worth it. Also, every now and then they may even give up an old tried and true spot to add to your arsenal.

The only thing more satisfying is perhaps finding the morels in the first place. I think I even enjoy watching other people eat the morels I pick, more than I do eating them myself and I absolutely LOVE them. Yet nothing is more satisfying than watching their faces light up when you hand them that paper sack. If you don't believe me just ask Camoshroomer to share the photo of Charlie Hirth's dad on his second breakfast of eggs and morels after Camo stopped by and gave up an afternoon's harvest. Some of you may recognize Charlie's name from the Begginer in Jefferson City post on Morelhunters.com.

So, give now when the giving is good and perhaps someday, you will be rewarded for all that good karma from the next generation of mushroomers.

And speaking of old timers, here is one last parting shot of Jon eying his prize finds from yesterday's hunt. Seriously, he is hardly an old timer, especially when he hits the woods.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

So...is Jon actually going to eat them? ;)

Jim Briggs said...

Wow! I am drooling with jealousy!

Anonymous said...

Actually, I don't think he eats mushrooms.

-- Feral boy

ahistory said...

I have never seen Jon eat a mushroom, but he swears that last year he tried and even liked morels. Being from the Show-Me state and not having seen him do it, I am not sure if I buy it.
Now his relatives do love them, so if he doesn't do it, they surely do get eaten and fairly fast from what I hear.

Unknown said...

I say the next time we all go out looking this summer, we tie him down, fry up a few we find and plop 'em in his mouth! Muahahaha!