# Mushroom Hunting 2013



## catfishrod69

This is one of my passions. Hunting Morel mushrooms. They only come out once a year for about two weeks. Right now they are just starting to pop up. They taste extremely good when battered with flour/salt/pepper, and fried in butter. They will blow your mind. Its extremely peaceful hunting these too. So here are some pics of today's trip. This was my first day this year, and I plan to go next weekend again. Im always on the lookout for snakes, turtles, or anything else to photogragh, so its hard to say what pics will pop up in this thread. Here are todays pics!






Try and get these leaves wet 


My favorite giant Beach tree was killed in the massive storm we had last fall 


Can you spot the hen turkey?


---------- Post added 04-14-2013 at 03:54 PM ----------




First one of the year!




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Total of 6 morels today. 


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## Meezerkoko

I really wish you lived closer so I had someone to go with.  I am planning on going this year and this will only be my second time.  Any suggestions?


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## poisoned

Wow, nice pics, but this forest looks really messy. Doesn't anybody clean out the fallen trees over there?


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## catfishrod69

Yeah too bad. Best tips I can give, is hills that are facing north. They seem to like them. And never expect them to be where you think it looks like they will. I actually found one last year growing out of the crack of a rock! Good luck, and let me know how you do. I usually find about 200 each year. 





Meezerkoko said:


> I really wish you lived closer so I had someone to go with.  I am planning on going this year and this will only be my second time.  Any suggestions?




---------- Post added 04-14-2013 at 05:50 PM ----------

Thanks. Nope this is completely natural. I wouldn't have it any other way. If people were out there, that would mean I wouldn't want to be. I prefer to be in the deep woods by myself. The fallen trees eventually rot away, and add nutrients to the new growth. 





poisoned said:


> Wow, nice pics, but this forest looks really messy. Doesn't anybody clean out the fallen trees over there?


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## poisoned

catfishrod69 said:


> Thanks. Nope this is completely natural. I wouldn't have it any other way. If people were out there, that would mean I wouldn't want to be. I prefer to be in the deep woods by myself. The fallen trees eventually rot away, and add nutrients to the new growth.


I understand that, just seemed unusual to me, since forests over here are all cleaned up of any fallen trees and broken twigs quickly.


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## Meezerkoko

That doesn't sound like a very natural forest Poisoned.  But hey at least whoever is doing it is keeping the forest clear which also means its likely free of people debris as well which is a plus.

At Catfishrod, I hope I have your luck.  How was your bounty by the way?


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## catfishrod69

That is actually akward to me lol. I mean if someone owned it and lived there, then it would be different. But the places in the pictures are old strip pit mines. Its where they strip mined for coal years ago. There is some very nice largemouth bass in those ponds too. I prefer to be around places like that, which are completely untouched. 





poisoned said:


> I understand that, just seemed unusual to me, since forests over here are all cleaned up of any fallen trees and broken twigs quickly.




---------- Post added 04-14-2013 at 07:01 PM ----------

You mean how much money I made? Or how many mushrooms I found today?





Meezerkoko said:


> At Catfishrod, I hope I have your luck.  How was your bounty by the way?


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## Meezerkoko

Didn't know you made money with them.  I was referring to your delicious meal


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## catfishrod69

Only 6 that day. Going again this weekend. Supposed to rain here soon, I hope so. I have heard that these sell in NY for like $300 a 1/4 pound! I don't know how true it is, but they taste too good to go selling .


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## poisoned

Meezerkoko said:


> That doesn't sound like a very natural forest Poisoned.  But hey at least whoever is doing it is keeping the forest clear which also means its likely free of people debris as well which is a plus.
> 
> At Catfishrod, I hope I have your luck.  How was your bounty by the way?


It still seems very natural, full of wildlife, because there are still smaller twigs lying around. Anything of bigger size gets blended and pressed into pellets, which are the most eco-friendly burning material.

Due to our sustainable forest management, forested area of Slovenia has grown from 30% to 60% in last hundred years without any massive artificial planting of trees.


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## cj5y

This is very cool. I want to hunt morels now. I hope Louisiana has them!


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## catfishrod69

I would bet they do. Maybe most of the US does, but im not sure. Look them up online so you know what your looking for. Don't want to accidentily mistake them for the wrong ones. 





cj5y said:


> This is very cool. I want to hunt morels now. I hope Louisiana has them!


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## Mike41793

This is very cool but I'd be afraid that i'd accidentally collect poisonous ones lol.


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## catfishrod69

Well they don't really look like any other mushrooms. Basically a pine tree shape with pits everywhere. 





Mike41793 said:


> This is very cool but I'd be afraid that i'd accidentally collect poisonous ones lol.


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## nepenthes

I think the best way to determine poisonous ones vs non poisoning is if the stems are hollow right? Other than a spore sample right?


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## catfishrod69

I wouldn't have a clue there. But the stems on these ones are hollow. But the stems on ones you buy at the store, or eat in a restaurant are not hollow. 





nepenthes said:


> I think the best way to determine poisonous ones vs non poisoning is if the stems are hollow right? Other than a spore sample right?


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## Oreo

Nice! Always heard you talking about these shrooms...do you ever eat em raw?


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## nepenthes

maybe its just one of those myths about collecting them in the wild. never had store bought so I wouldnt know. I do know their have been isolated cases of cultivating morels, which is hard to do, maybe im thinking of a different species of rare edible mushroom, not so much rare but sought after. Your lucky to have a nice isolated place to hunt catfish.


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## jthorntonwillis

Excellent pix!! thanx 4 sharing


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## carlson

Have you tried growing them yourself? Idk how difficult this species is but I've had luck growing many different types of mushrooms when I was younger. Not to difficult of a process, if their anything like the ones I had.


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## The Snark

poisoned said:


> Wow, nice pics, but this forest looks really messy. Doesn't anybody clean out the fallen trees over there?


I do not mean to deride you but I have heard this comment hundreds of times over the years. The dead leaf and tree debris is that natural habitat and base of environment system. Without it the food chain and entire ecology of an area suffers. When they do slash and burn logging, extremely common, they cause incalculable destruction to these habitats that can cause species loss tens or even hundreds of years down the road. In the case of theis forest, the leaf and tree debris is the food and habitat of the morel.

By the way, since our fungus fanatics often forget to mention, when out shrooming, always cut the fungi off, never pull it out as that damages the 'roots' (mycorrhiza).

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## catfishrod69

Never have, but im sure you could. They have a lot of little bugs that live in/on them, so you have to soak them in saltwater overnight to draw them all out. 





Oreo said:


> Nice! Always heard you talking about these shrooms...do you ever eat em raw?




---------- Post added 04-20-2013 at 07:05 PM ----------

Im not really sure. I have seen ads for buying a bunch of spores, and growing them in your own yard. Always wanted to try it, but never have. Yeah I am lucky man. There is thousands of acres all over here where I could look for them, but unfortunately don't have the time to anymore. 





nepenthes said:


> maybe its just one of those myths about collecting them in the wild. never had store bought so I wouldnt know. I do know their have been isolated cases of cultivating morels, which is hard to do, maybe im thinking of a different species of rare edible mushroom, not so much rare but sought after. Your lucky to have a nice isolated place to hunt catfish.




---------- Post added 04-20-2013 at 07:05 PM ----------

Your welcome!





jthorntonwillis said:


> Excellent pix!! thanx 4 sharing




---------- Post added 04-20-2013 at 07:06 PM ----------

Never have man. I thought about it. I did take the water I soak them overnight in and sprinkle it in a spot by my yard. The next couple years I checked it, but never found anything. 





carlson said:


> Have you tried growing them yourself? Idk how difficult this species is but I've had luck growing many different types of mushrooms when I was younger. Not to difficult of a process, if their anything like the ones I had.


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## The Snark

Up on the north coast of Calif just after a light rain  at the correct temperature for maybe a week the chantrelle shrooms come up near the base of certain trees. They are rare and our rough equivalent of the morel. One certain variety was going for $600 a pound. The actual fruit only lasts for 24 hours so you have to be there, often with a flashlight, to get them.


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## catfishrod69

That's pretty cool! Thanks for sharing. The morels last longer. They will be up for a week or two before they start to dry up and die off.





The Snark said:


> Up on the north coast of Calif just after a light rain  at the correct temperature for maybe a week the chantrelle shrooms come up near the base of certain trees. They are rare and our rough equivalent of the morel. One certain variety was going for $600 a pound. The actual fruit only lasts for 24 hours so you have to be there, often with a flashlight, to get them.


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## poisoned

The Snark said:


> I do not mean to deride you but I have heard this comment hundreds of times over the years. The dead leaf and tree debris is that natural habitat and base of environment system. Without it the food chain and entire ecology of an area suffers. When they do slash and burn logging, extremely common, they cause incalculable destruction to these habitats that can cause species loss tens or even hundreds of years down the road. In the case of theis forest, the leaf and tree debris is the food and habitat of the morel.
> 
> By the way, since our fungus fanatics often forget to mention, when out shrooming, always cut the fungi off, never pull it out as that damages the 'roots' (mycorrhiza).


I think you imagined "cleaned out" forest over here wrong  hell, got to make some pics  the whole point is that big trunks are removed especially if they are retarding other tree growth.

Mycelium actually recovers really quickly and you often damage it only by stepping near mushroom. More important is to carry them in baskets and not in plastic bags, to allow spores to fall on ground.


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## catfishrod69

I always pinch them off at the base, leaving the 'roots' in the ground. Im unsure wether the main plant comes back, or just the spores. I could probably transporting some roots to my yard and see what happens next year. Although one year I did see 3 morels growing out of the exact same 'root', then the next year in the exact same spot, there was 4 growing out of it. I have pics somewhere. 





The Snark said:


> By the way, since our fungus fanatics often forget to mention, when out shrooming, always cut the fungi off, never pull it out as that damages the 'roots' (mycorrhiza).


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## Tgrip77

hey john/mushroom lovers

years ago i rented a house in nothern illinois and my backyard was a small forest. one day i was sitting on my porch watching the cars go by when a van stop next to the woods. out jumped an old man and quickly assembled a 30-35' pole. i watched this guy drag it into the forest thinking "what the hell is he doing"?...from what i could tell, he was poking it up into the trees. about 30 minutes later he came out with a stuffed walmart bag...later i learned it was mushrooms he knocked down from high up on the trunks. i imagine they are the kind you eat as food, otherwise i probably would have heard about them back in my teens


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## catfishrod69

That's some crazy stuff. Ive never heard of that. Are you sure he wasn't collecting Paw Paws? Or something else?





Tgrip77 said:


> hey john/mushroom lovers
> 
> years ago i rented a house in nothern illinois and my backyard was a small forest. one day i was sitting on my porch watching the cars go by when a van stop next to the woods. out jumped an old man and quickly assembled a 30-35' pole. i watched this guy drag it into the forest thinking "what the hell is he doing"?...from what i could tell, he was poking it up into the trees. about 30 minutes later he came out with a stuffed walmart bag...later i learned it was mushrooms he knocked down from high up on the trunks. i imagine they are the kind you eat as food, otherwise i probably would have heard about them back in my teens


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## nepenthes

liions main?


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## Tgrip77

lions mane, paw paws...i dont know. but i did go and look up in the trees afterwards and saw a few small groups of shrooms growing high up.


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## catfishrod69

That is pretty weird stuff. I haven't a clue what kind they would be then. Paw paws I have found before. They are a large pear sized fruit that grow on trees near creeks. They taste like a cross between a banana and a pear.


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## catfishrod69

Wow! They say that pictures are worth a 1000 words, so here come the pics! 5-5-13








---------- Post added 05-05-2013 at 04:16 PM ----------

More pics!








Yes that bag was getting pretty heavy, holding it in one hand, and using the other hand to keep myself from falling down the highwall in previous pics. In total I found 137 morels today, and they weigh 8.5 pounds! Happy day! Enjoy!

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## nepenthes

Those look delicious, take a picture of the resulting feast!


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## MSpear

Nomnomnom! Soooooooo good! You've found more in one hunt than I've found in several years! Sweet spot!


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## Shrike

Very nice!  Morels are worth a fortune, but I'd rather eat them.


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## catfishrod69

Lol I probably wont have the time to. Haha





nepenthes said:


> Those look delicious, take a picture of the resulting feast!




---------- Post added 05-06-2013 at 03:47 PM ----------

Well you better get out there and look! Ive got a few good spots, but for some reason the other ones I haven't found anything at this year. The spot I found these at (on the highwall) is the best, and my favorite. I accidentily came across them a long time ago while bass fishing, and have hunted them in that spot ever since. 





MSpear said:


> Nomnomnom! Soooooooo good! You've found more in one hunt than I've found in several years! Sweet spot!




---------- Post added 05-06-2013 at 03:48 PM ----------

From what I have heard New Yorkers will pay $300 a quarter pound! And ive got 35 quarter pounds lol. Looks like $10,500! But for sure, would rather eat them. 





Shrike said:


> Very nice!  Morels are worth a fortune, but I'd rather eat them.


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## paassatt

It had to have been a brave and/or very hungry person who was the very first to say "this fungus looks good, I'm going to eat it."


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## catfishrod69

Lol that is very true man. It seems like that with a lot of the things we eat. 





paassatt said:


> It had to have been a brave and/or very hungry person who was the very first to say "this fungus looks good, I'm going to eat it."


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## Mike41793

Old thread but I'm bumping it bc it's that time of year again. Hey John, any idea of these grow in CT? I would love to find some to try!  

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## catfishrod69

Lol i would have been bumping this thread myself in about 3 or 4 weeks. The best time to start hunting here is the last week of april. But sometimes they pop up a little earlier, so it doesnt hurt to go out once a week beforehand and check. Its really random where you will find them. I can spend hours in a great looking spot and not find a single mushroom. The places i hunt are old strip pit areas. My best place is on a almost vertical highwall that leads into a strip pit pond. The rest of the spots are in areas that have been stripped also. These areas havent been touched in atleast 60 years or so. The sides of hills that are facing north, are the best places to look. But you will also find them on flat ground. Look in those areas, around old orchards, marshy areas, rocky areas. Believe it or not, i find alot of mine growing in very rocky areas, where there is almost no dirt, and one mushroom was growing right out of a crack in a rock! If you happen to spot one, be sure to stop, kneel down, takeing your time to look all around you. Sometimes you wont notice they are all around you until you spot one of them. Good luck!





Mike41793 said:


> Old thread but I'm bumping it bc it's that time of year again. Hey John, any idea of these grow in CT? I would love to find some to try!
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk


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## Mike41793

That's awesome. Yea, I'll have to go looking.  

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## catfishrod69

Well today was my first day out. Did a little pre-mushroom and pre-bass fishing. So far the morels need a little more time and heat. I would guess another 2 weeks. I did find 3 that were pretty small. I didnt see any others, so i left them there. The bass werent biting at all, so still just a little too cold. Here are a few pics of where i hunt, the morels i seen today, and the first bag worms hatching.

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## catfishrod69

Went back out today, ended up finding 8 morels, including the 3 from the other day. Seen a few canadian geese too.

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## just1moreT

Picked up a few today in a hour looking  im thinking season almost over but been kinda dry here and cool maybe this rain we are going get today and night make some more

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## skippydude

4-20-14 at 6000ft, HWY 108 in Cali

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## catfishrod69

Thats awesome guys! Keep em coming!

Eric, it has been kind of dry and cool here too. But this week we are going to get alot of rain, and gonna hit the 70s on wednesday. I would think later this week ill be finding alot more. Our season is just starting.

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## just1moreT

catfishrod69 said:


> Thats awesome guys! Keep em coming!
> 
> Eric, it has been kind of dry and cool here too. But this week we are going to get alot of rain, and gonna hit the 70s on wednesday. I would think later this week ill be finding alot more. Our season is just starting.


Yep john this year has been one to remember here in the sticks for winter , we got all most 2-1/2 inch rain lastnight and temps are in middle 70's but after tuesday highs only in upper 50's so just might make a good mushroom hunt this week in few days  are season is usually over first half of may


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## catfishrod69

Yeah our winter was pretty darn horrible too. Regular -30 windchills was killing us. Sounds good, they should be popping up a little better. We just got alot of rain today, and tomorrow will be even warmer. Ill probably go back out later toward the weekend. Good luck!


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## catfishrod69

Well went out again today. Went pretty good, found 81. I was going to take a picture of every single one, but after about 20, i gave up lol.


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## skippydude

Nice haul

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## catfishrod69

Found 38 today. Looks like the season is dwindling down already.


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## sr20det510

Very nice!!
What's your favorite recipe?

Bet you can find uses for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, since they look amazing.


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## catfishrod69

Only way ive ever cooked them is in a batter. Just mix up some flour, salt, pepper, and fry them in some butter. They taste amazing! Lol its hard to make them last. No matter how many i have, as fast as they are cooked, they get eaten!





sr20det510 said:


> Very nice!!
> What's your favorite recipe?
> 
> Bet you can find uses for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, since they look amazing.


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## catfishrod69

MMMMMMMM......


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## catfishrod69

Uhhh only 2 months to go! Cant wait!


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## Scorpionluva

Maybe even less than 2 months  I've been finding , picking and of course eating morels since I was 4 years old and your method of cooking them is exact way I've always ate them  They range a lot on taste also  sometimes having a wonderful steak flavor to them and the next 1 can taste like a great slice of pizza 
There's a restaurant in downtown Pittsburgh that will pay between $150-200 per pound and I've found over 20 pounds in a year before but I eat all of them smiling knowing that was a tasty $1000 meal for free  
There are fake morels out there also but as the saying goes with morels ... If it's hollow you can swallow !!! 
They do actually come up again in fall but it's an even shorter season of a week or less and they are always smaller and harder to find with all the surrounding vegetation being up 

Good stuff and Great Pics !!!!!


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## catfishrod69

Yeah i usually start going around mid april, and will go every few days. But once i start finding them, i go every single day until they are gone. The flavors are awesome. I have heard that places in NY will pay like $350 for 1/8 pound. That pic of me holding up the bad full is about 16-20 pounds. I can tell them apart from all other mushrooms, and can spot them a good distance off. But as you know on some occassions you can be standing right on top of them and not see any, until you spot that first one. I have heard about them coming back up in the fall, but never knew exactly when. I wish they were up all spring-fall! Thanks!


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## Biollantefan54

Sorry to bump your thread but I was out hunting for some spiders and came across this mushroom. I KNEW it looked familiar and grabbed it. Is this shroom the thread is about? I know nothing about these by the way lol
View attachment 135687

View attachment 135688


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## catfishrod69

Yes that is a Morel! Find more and fry them up! Congrats. I wish they were up here now. But itll be about another 3 to 4 weeks.





Biollantefan54 said:


> Sorry to bump your thread but I was out hunting for some spiders and came across this mushroom. I KNEW it looked familiar and grabbed it. Is this shroom the thread is about? I know nothing about these by the way lol

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## catfishrod69

This season wasnt that great. 59 on one day, then 15 on another.


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## awiec

Apparently the season is good in Michigan, a guy my boyfriend works with has been bringing them in and giving them to people (I fortunately got 4) because he has too many. I haven't been mushroom hunting because all the good areas are protected land so I will leave them in peace.


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