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As we wind down from our six month winter here in Nebraska, and things begin to green up.....you hear the whispers in the air.

"All this snow and rain, we should find a ton of 'em this year." "Yep just gotta watch for the lilacs to bloom, or the ground violets to start showing up".

What is all this talk about?; well any seasoned veteran of woods knows MORELS are coming, that elusive fungus that drives people to the briar patches and plum thickets, downed cottonwood trees, elm trees,.........and any of various 'so-called' signs that these little pillars of gold are emerging from the long winters nap, trying to stay hidden from all manner of seekers.

I have personally found some merit in the cottonwood tree theory, yet there is a catch since temperature is the main ingredient to this equation.

 I've found that you need good ground moisture (no shortage of that this year), the ground is perfect right now in this second week of April, but Ma Nature is keep us at bay and not giving us the warmth we need to find our quarry we have waited 10 months to seek.

My usual cast of suspects and I have brainstormed on more than one occasion, and here is what we have compiled in from our own personal trials.

1. Do look for ground violets to start emerging in your area, drive the country side and look in the short grass of drainage ditches for small bluish-purple flowers.

2. If you are fortunate enough to have a lilac bush watch it carefully when the buds begin to pop open, hit the woods.

3. Most importantly though keep track of the weather, if there are 3 to 4 nights where is does not get below 50 degrees and the moisture is right, the bounty has begun.

Now finding these is something I don't think I can really explain, sometimes they pop right out in front of you and are easy to spot, but there are also the gray colored variety (in my opinion the best) which are more meaty and just have more flavor to me, but are much more camouflaged than the more common yellow mushroom.

The best advice I can give is ask around see if anyone can tell you of places to 'hunt' and look for downed logs and tree bark and scan the ground carefully,.........once you find the first one (the hardest part) stop and begin  search all around you there are always usually more to be found.

I have been fortunate enough to find a few antler sheds while searching for my 'fungal riches' which makes for double the fun, so if the temperature is right, and the ground is moist.........hit the timber for some of this backwoods delicacy.........and happy hunting.