Make sure you use tick protection we have a stellar amount of them already around was in the woods on Saturday came out and had 3 deer ticks and 4 wood ticks on me that i found,not worried because i got the 2 shots to protect me but if you haven't got the shots be real careful it is nothing to play with .. lime disease is no joking matter it will cripple you if gone undetected.

Saw this thread and can't wait Love them Morels just a note saw some using plastic bags and I know we used ice cream buckets when I was a kid. When I was older ran into an old mushroomer that told me shrooms are spread by spores so to use mesh bags to bring them out of the woods and you will seed future picking spots. I use orange and onion bags.              Happy hunting. 

Vernon county - I have a dead elm in my yard that has been producing the last 3 years since I lived here, nothing yet still early. Excited to get out looking this spring.

Morels   can be tricky, can be found in many weird places.  Years ago going out to  the lake in Sturgeon Bay found a ton growing in sand!  Along side my house cpl years ago got lots and lots growing in the leek.  The leek was invaded by some other leafy plant and now I don't find any anymore.  Also weather will play a part-cold this spring so far. I live in N/Central Wisc. and watch for ground cover plants in sunny areas b4 I start looking.  If elms, they must be completely dead without bark falling off.  Apple orchards and wild apple trees are could also.  Good Luck

Shouldn't be long in rock county.. another week or 2

The pic of these are in the morchella classification. (Conica etc.

I refer to them as “lesser morels”. Totally edible without any known side effects or gastro conflicts that I’m aware of..

My experience in cooking them is to either sauté the daylights out of them or sauté the daylights out if them.  Very high water content even if you pick them when they “snap” like a green bean.

Leave them in the woods if the stem is soft  They off-put a decaying ammonia smell when the stems aren’t right.  

Fold them into an egg skillet.    Good mushroom texture is about as much as you can expect. They absorb herbs & spices very nicely

In most cases that I’ve found, dead elms that are down to no bark are a case of “should’ve been here last year or the year before”.

They  are @ the chainsaw dulling firewood stage. Dang morels sucked the life out of their last breaths. So many variables change a morel woods from year-to-year. Moisture/temp soil acidity vs alkali. Growth stage of young trees coming up. 

Don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for a “blow-down-tree”....check it’s stump base & also out to what you figure the overall branch canopy would have been. An elm pretty much won’t anchor it’s feet less than it’s head & shoulders width. 

Pretty much like an offensive lineman if that helps at all. 

Wanna shoot me the coordinates to the ones you left behind? Haha...

I've been out looking about a half dozen times now in Dunn and Eau Claire counties with no luck. I've never found one or even tried one so I had a co-worker buy me some at the farmers market this weekend. Tonight's the night for my first taste! Been finding plenty of dead elms both standing and lying but just haven't had any luck. One of these years my morell mushroom cherry will pop.

Picked these in Pepin county. Left twice as much behind for other people to find and pick.