This is the time of year when you may see individuals taking small purposeful steps through the woods. Unlike hunters, they are not carrying firearms and their eyes are not looking ahead or up, they are concentrated on the forest floor. The individuals are spring time foragers, and they are here to gather mushrooms!

With the up-and-down yo-yo like weather, the annual mushroom appearance has been varied everywhere. First, foragers should find snakeheads, then black morels and finally, the Holy Grail and most prized of the fungus world… the yellow morels.

If you’re interested in learning how to hunt mushrooms, my advice is to ask, beg or bribe an experienced hunter to take you along and show you the ropes. Mushroom hunting is not a sport of stamina and exertion, but one of sharpening one’s eye to pick out the fungi hidden among the litter of the forest floor. A pro can help point mushrooms out for you, and show you the edible ones.

When I have been asked where is a good place to hunt mushrooms, my answer is, “Just about anywhere.” Woods having hillsides facing south are the first areas to warm and bring forth the fungi. But, I have a good friend who lives surrounded by beautiful forest and just waits until the mushrooms pop up in his driveway!

The foraging has already started, and will continue right up to Mother’s Day when the giant yellow morels will break through. 

Mushroom specialist and biologists are requesting mushroom hunters use fine mesh bags for holding their mushrooms during a hunt. The mesh allows mushroom spores to fall to the forest floor and insure future harvests.

New Chinook Stocking Strategy 

After conducting two public meetings and a public survey, Indiana DNR is implementing a new stocking strategy for Chinook salmon in Lake Michigan this month, stocking 75,000 Chinook salmon in East Chicago, 100,000 in the Little Calumet River, and 100,000 in Trail Creek. 

The stocking strategy was suggested at public meetings on the subject and added to the DNR’s public survey on the issue.

More than 3,100 Lake Michigan trout and salmon anglers responded to the survey, which included questions about potential management options for stocking Chinook salmon in Lake Michigan. 

To inform its selection of the new stocking strategy, the Indiana DNR considered the results of the public survey as well as data it collected on angler use of stocking sites, angler catch rates, available access to fishing sites, and Chinook salmon survival rates. 

“In addition to having broad public support, the selected option best balances the factors we consider when stocking, such as maximizing the survival and return of the salmon, fishing opportunities, and the number of stocking locations,” said Ben Dickinson, Indiana DNR’s Lake Michigan fisheries research biologist.

More information about Lake Michigan fishing, including the summary report of the public survey process and results is at on.IN.gov/lake-michigan-fishing.

‘till next time,Jack

Readers can contact the author by writing to this publication, or e-mail to jackspaulding@hughes.net.

Spaulding’s books, “The Best of Spaulding Outdoors,” and his latest, “The Coon Hunter And The Kid” are available from Amazon.com in paperback or as a Kindle download.