It's getting close to that time now.  I hope this season will be much better than last years, at least for us Wake County hunters.  Happy hunting!

Woo hoo! Thanks for the reminder Dave. I have to get to my spot and see if any are starting up. Spring is here according to the robins and the daffodils. Oh glorious Spring! 

It is going to be a bumper crop this year! 

Sounds like a bear. Are you near the mountains?

ok, ok, ok....against my better judgment, I've decided to leak out a few of my "secrets"

http://www.morelmushroomhunting.com/morel_progression_sightings_map.htm

two things to take note of here...
1) For you Rebecca, they always start earlier in the Tennessee and Ohio River valley. I think some of that is b/c there's another variety, the black morel, that sprouts earlier than the others, we don't have those around here.
2) These marks are for the "first" morels found, and usually its a week or so after the first one that they're really in full force.

Another resource for NC folks

http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/dynamic_scripts/cronos/map/index.php

step 1: click "Soil Temperature" on the left
step2: re-zoom to the extent you want.

To read this, the assumption is the soil has to hold around 53 degrees for the morels to sprout. That's a sustained temp, not a sporadic one. That's why i think last year when we went from high temps in the 50s to the 80s we broke right on through the threshold without many sprouts. An optimum situation would be the soils hit 53 degrees and then you have a gray cool moist week with high temps in the 60s, low temps in the 40s.

Also take the temperature measurements with a grain of salt, you can click on info and see the location of the sensor. Sometimes they read way or way low, what your looking for is the average, which right now i'd say is 48 for our area, and with cool/cold temps forecasted out next week and beyond, i'm thinking the season may be delayed.

-Dave

I always used to find morels while hiking around in the woods in the Midwest, where I grew up.  They were gigantic yellow morels. Gigantic compared to what I have found here, anyway.  Anyway, I have the mushroom hunting bug too, and yes, as it warms up, I've had my eyes on the ground a lot, just looking... waiting...