As our journey into spring accelerates we should, hopefully, be seeing morels in about a week or so. What's the best way to get them home basket or a mesh bag? My preference goes to the mesh bag. My logic is that when I go into the woods I carry a walking stick, wear a fanny pack which holds, among other things, a GPS to mark the good spots, a sharp knife to cut mushrooms and cell phone so my wife won't worry about me when I'm gone for hours at a time. Loaded down this all of this stuff and perhaps a water bottle I don't want to carry a basket. If the morels are nonexistent then you may not even need the basket so a mesh bag can stay rolled up in the fanny pack. Now you can buy mesh bags at some sporting goods stores but I suggest that you stop by your friendly and helpful local hardware store and purchase an onion bag. They are usually orange, red or purple so it's easy to keep track of. in the woods.
I have, at home, an unfailing indicator of when the April cold snap will occur. My magnolia tree is a reliable predictor of the destroying frost, freeze, ice storm and onion snow. As soon as the buds swell and the blossoms open they get zapped.
When my apple trees blossom then it time to get serious about searching for morels.
When will I see my first morels? I like to see asparagus spears poking out of the ground in my garden and blossoms on the apple trees. I think we have adequate soil moisture this year. Now I'm waiting for the ground to warm up a bit. Check out these two maps. http://morelmushroomhunting.com/morel_progression_sightings_map.htm and http://www.witmersfeed3.com/index.cfm?show=1&map=soiltemperatures
