Whitetail Wizard

We have a generous mix of ash, aspen and maple trees here, and those spots can be good for white morels. The black morels are wherever you find them but choice spots can be near pine trees, near fruit trees and in the opens hardwoods.

Both pastimes require more looking than walking. I know people who have exceptional vision, and can walk along at a steady pace and spot mushrooms 30 feet away. That sometimes is possible with white morels, but the black variety is much more difficult for me and most people to spot.

I walk slowly, stop, look ahead and to both sides for morels, and then turn and look behind me. Sometimes a change of viewing angler will reveal mushrooms that couldn’t be seen any other way.

Black morels sometimes grow to huge sizes as do whites, but more often they are smaller. Their coloration makes spotting them much more difficult.

Mushrooms are popping here, near Cadillac and Traverse City, and within a few days should be coming out up near Boyne City and Petoskey.

Hunting shed antlers is much the same as hunting morel mushrooms. The trick is to spot them, and it can be easy or difficult, depending on the terrain and the ground cover.

One tip is to check the edges of fields, near funnels that deer often use when traveling from one area to another, and near thick bedding areas. Many shed antlers are found near food sites. Standing corn, and the edges around such areas, often produce sheds.

Heavy or thick bedding cover is difficult to hunt for shed antlers but it does produce some good antlers. It’s always difficult to find a matched set because one side may stay on the buck’s head for a day or two longer before it is cast off (falls off).

If you hunt heavy cover, approach it from upwind and allow your scent to drift downwind through the cover. Make as little noise as possible, and move through it quietly.

Does are soon to have their fawns, and there is no reason to unduly frighten the animals. Fawns are expected any day, and it’s best for the does to drift away from the shed hunters instead of being frightened by loud noises.

If the shed hunter should spot a young fawn, leave it alone. Don’t touch it and don’t gather around it. Stay away from the tiny creature, and after you pass through the doe will return to her tiny fawn. Stop nearby or pick up the fawn, and it’s possible you’ve given the fawn a death sentence. Some does will reject the fawn if it smells any human odor on it.

Morels and sheds are seldom found in the same areas although it does happen if the antlers are cast near field edges and other little pockets of cover suitable for growing mushrooms.