What to use for hauling your Morel Mushrooms out of the woods.

Hello my fellow morel enthusiasts! If you're anything like me, and I know that you are, the morel dreams probably began around the end of December, and your every waking moment is consumed with thoughts of hitting that mother load spot that every morel hunter obsesses about! Knowing that, we at Morel Truths want to give you a little food for thought before you hit the woods this upcoming spring.

There are many controversial topics that surround the all elusive morel mushroom. This is one of my favorite topics, what you should use to carry your haul out of the woods. Now this seems like it would be a pretty cut and dry topic, but just try posting something on one of the morel sites about

what you use, and you may be surprised at the public lash back around your personal choice of relocation equipment. You can ask different hunters what they use, and you will likely get a different answer from each, but the interesting thing is the reason that they choose that particular tool. It is my personal belief that each tool had its advantages and disadvantages, and these are the things that I am going to talk about.

When choosing what to use, you should consider a few different factors; how long you are going to stay out, how easy is it to carry your equipment, how many pounds of mushrooms you are going to get, and what kind of terrain you are dealing with. It may sound like overkill to do all of this thinking, but believe me, you don't want to hit the mother load six miles out, and not be able to carry it out with you! I have heard stories about this very thing happening to hunters, and them having to remove their shirts, hats, and pants to carry all of the shrooms out with them! Not my idea of a good time, although, it makes for a good campfire story. Now I do not consider myself to be a professional mushroom hunter by a long shot, but I do believe that I have obtained a little bit of knowledge by being in the woods since I was a small child.

The first item that I want to talk about is the all controversial plastic grocery sack. Now I know that some people are reading this right now are rolling their eyes and thinking things like, "You can't use those because the morels won't be able to reproduce since the spores aren't able to escape the bag!", but I will explain my reasoning. I'm not getting into the controversial topic of morels sporing out and making more morels the next year. I feel that the plastic bag is a good tool in the right circumstances. If you're not going to stay out for very

long, I think that they work well enough. They are

very easy to carry, and you can stuff your pockets

full of them, feeling very light while trekking though

the woods. You can carry several pounds in

each bag, and carry a lot of shrooms out of the woods

with you. The bags don't breathe at all, so they work

best for quick trips because morels begin to rot very

quickly if left in a hot, unbreathable container. Now as

far as terrain goes, I can't use them where I hunt.

The reason is that my terrain is full of these nasty

green vines that have very sharp thorns, and wrap

around you and whatever you are carrying quite easily.

The vines are extremely tough, and will destroy the

bag quickly. The bags don't do well with blackberry

bushes either, for my Midwestern friends. Since the

bags are just thin, cheap plastic, they could leave you

in a bad position, torn bags, and shrooms spilled all

over the forest floor, stranded with nothing to carry

your prizes home in. This is not my personal favorite,

but they get the job done.

The next tool is the mesh bag. This is the tool of choice for many morel hunters. These work very well in most areas. If you are staying out all day, or just going on a quick thirty minute hunt, these will work great. They are very light weight, and you can carry four or five easily without becoming over encumbered. You can carry four or five pounds easily in each, but be careful because overloading your bag will damage the outer layer of shrooms. Picture a cheese grater if you will. These are awesome as far as breathability goes. You will never have a rotted mushroom because there was no air flow. Now as far terrain goes, these are better for lighter ground cover. You'll find that like the plastic bag, these will also snag on the underbrush. Once snagged, the mushrooms can get damaged easily if you aren't careful. I do like them personally, but I only use them when I know that I'm going into light cover areas. I do however always carry at least two with me just in case I'm out deep, and find the proverbial field of dreams,

and run out of room in my other containers!

The next item that I would like to discuss is the basket. I love baskets, and find they fit almost every situation very well. No matter how long you are going out, these will hold up great. They are very easy to carry because they have a comfortable handle to hold on to. The amount of weight you can carry obviously depends on the size of your basket. I own several baskets that I like to use while hunting chanterelles in the summer. I have a medium sized one, a large one, and a Moses basket which I could carry a ridiculous amount of mushrooms in. Keep in mind the terrain you're in because that huge Moses basket wouldn't be good in thick stuff, which is why I don't hunt morels with it.

They are hard to beat as far as breathability goes. I do like to use them for hunting in areas that I know well because it's just fun to come out of the woods with a basket overflowing with morels. It makes for quite a picture! The only downfall that I see in baskets is that the open top design allows a lot of debris to fall in while you are hunting. It's not a huge deal, just a little extra work once you get them home.

And that brings us to the last item that I'm going to talk about. This is a new thing to me, but it has quickly became my very favorite. It is the five gallon bucket. "Five gallon bucket?", you say. You heard me correctly! Now I make some minor modifications to it, such as drilling sixteen 3/4 inch holes in it, four in the bottom, and three rows of four going up the sides. I also modify the lid by cutting it in half, and making a duct tape hinge. The purpose of this is so you can fully attach one half of the lid, leaving the other side free to open easily. I love this because when you're in the deep, thick stuff, you're knocking a lot of leaves and twigs loose, which can fall into your basket of shrooms.

With a full lid, there's very little chance of your morels getting contaminated with such things. The only way debris will get in is possibly though the ventilation holes in the sides. If you're going to be out all day, these can get a little heavy, but I feel that the benefits far out weigh this negative aspect. I fit a lot of shrooms in each bucket, probably up to eight pounds or so, and since there's no give like there is in a bag, the mushrooms don't fall victim to crushing or being grated by constant shifting.

They are very easy to carry because they are five gallon buckets, they were designed to be carried! Now as far as terrain goes, these things are the most durable. If you're in the thick stuff, you can just put your bucket in front of you, and bulldoze your way through! Try doing that with a mesh bag and you won't be happy with the outcome, I promise! They also makes great seats if you need a break, or you can use them like a table top if you brought lunch with you.

So I hope that this helps you make decisions as to what you are going to use this season,

and I also hope that whatever you choose to

use comes out of the woods full!

Happy hunting from your friends at Morel Truths!