You get about a month. That’s as long as morel mushroom season lasts wherever you live in Illinois, starting from the very first morel somebody shouts they’ve found—the first morel of the season—until the last fresh morels aren’t quite fresh anymore and begin to rot away in the forest. In a good year, a good morel hunter might manage to find a few reasonably fresh morels in the fifth week, barely. It’s a stretch. But then they’re finally all gone.

It’s now the end of fresh morel season in southern Illinois where I live. The first morels were picked in late March, and it’s been a very good year. There was plenty of rain with moderate, cool temperatures and, until the last days of April, there hadn’t been any hot, windy days in southern Illinois. Morel hunters are now satisfied, and that’s a mood that happens only once every ten or fifteen years during these great morel seasons.

In a few days I will be in northern Illinois, like a groupie, following the morel season north, reveling in the once-a-year party that is morel season. Not everybody finds morels on their first hunt. Even in good years, it requires a bit of guidance and education—and good luck—to spot that first morel. Of course, everybody wants to know exactly where morels grow.

The thing is, everybody knows morel hunters never reveal their secrets. Among all of mankind’s treasures, there is no greater possession than knowledge of a good morel patch. People will try to coax information from knowledgeable hunters, but always in vain. On their deathbeds, morel hunters offer no clues, unwilling to part with their last possession. They might raise a weak hand, waving closer a particular loved one… a spouse, perhaps, or a favored child, and they will whisper certain secrets held for a lifetime. Secrets of infidelity. Hidden cash. War crimes. Then, with a final determination, they will relax and stare ahead.

“I’m still not going to tell you where I found morels.”

And that’s how it ends. Enjoy the party while it lasts. Summer is coming.

*****

Joe McFarland is a staff writer for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources magazine Outdoor Illinois and co-author of the new book Edible Wild Mushrooms of Illinois and Surrounding States. He lives in Makanda, Illinois.