Mother's Day is regarded as the prime time for pickers to find their favorite fungi.

Morel hunting is as much a tradition to some people as hunting deer, fishing early bluegills or making horseradish condiment.

There are few forecasts provided, however, by die-hard pickers — at least not until the season is over.

No one wants anyone else to slip into those secret spots and leave with a bag of mushrooms.

The picking season opens when there are enough morels to justify burning a tank of gasoline. For some people, that translates to only enough for a single meal — making morels a gastronomic luxury akin to truffle fungi.

It is commonly thought that Mother's Day — that's today! — is prime time for hunting morels, although not everyone is willing to pencil trips around a calendar date or the notion that it's time to go hunting when oak leaves are the size of a squirrel's ears.

Tom Volk, a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse mycologist, is well versed on the morel's sexual life cycle. He's not averse to stating his opinions on everything morel.

"I think this will be a good year," Volk said when quizzed on the matter. "Morels do much of their growing (underground) the previous fall, and we had a wet fall, so growing conditions should have been good.

"This spring has been wet, too, which is good for fungi. And the winter was cold enough, even though there wasn't much frost under many inches of snow."

Volk is unsure if morel fungi require a cold treatment, as many plants do, to stimulate growth the following spring. But if so, consider the edible plenty stimulated.

What else is necessary for a good morel season, other than normal temperatures?

Elms, more specifically dead elms, but not elms that have been dead longer than four or five years, are needed, Volk said. The morel forms a symbiotic connection with elm tree roots, hence the first place to look is near dead elm trees.

Even though elms do not need the morel fungus to cloak their roots, both organisms grow better when this connection is established. The fungus gets sugars from the elm and the elm is better able to absorb water and compounds from soils.

When an elm dies, it's time for the morel to pick up and find a new elm, a living elm.

The fungus accomplishes this need by growing above ground, forming spores in a sponge-like fruiting body, and waiting for breezes to carry those spores to another tree.

• Morel pickers should be cautious when going to orchards, cemeteries, roadsides, lawns and golf courses in search of fungi.

Don't spread invasive plants about. Garlic mustard, in particular, is destroying many forests with its rampant growth. Morel pickers, their boots caked with mud, pick up all types of seeds and drop some off at each stop thereafter.

To avoid spreading garlic mustard, and other invasive plants, thoroughly clean the mud from hiking boots before entering a second location.

• Do any of spring's poisonous fungi resemble morels? Yes — the false morel (see photo above).