Sunday, April 21st 2013 at noon, will be the 1st annual Indiana State Championship Morel Hunt.
Sign ups end at 11:00 am. Rules given 11:00. Bus Departs 11:30. Championship Hunt will begin at Noon & it will be a 2 hour hunt. After hunt is completed, we will board the bus & head back to festival grounds and begin counting!!! The Winners will be announced after counting has finished.
The entry fee for the State Championship Hunt is $25 and sign ups will be at the registration booth under the main pavilion until 10:30 A.M. on Sunday Morning.
There will be cash prizes for 1st-3rd place which will vary depending upon # of entrants.
The top 3 places will also win lots of other great prizes including most importantly Bragging Rights, a very nice plaque, Backpacks, coolers, gift cards from Big Woods Brewing Company, t-shirts, koozies, and more!!!
Official Rules:
Rules of the Hunt
All Hunters will be given a numbered mesh bag upon check-in at the registration table will turn the same bag back in before departing from championship hunting site.
Hunters must only hunt within the designated area on their map.
Only morel species (Morchella sp.) will be counted towards your total.
All mushrooms must be cut or pinched off at the surface. They cannot be pulled from the ground. Any mushrooms with a root will be disqualified.
Hunters must turn in their bags to a judge within 10 minutes of end of event. Late entries will forfeit chance of prizes and will be penalized 1 mushroom from total count per minute late.
Hunters are not allowed to pool their mushrooms. If you harvest it, it must go into your bag.
Contestants can pick up their mushrooms after all counting is completed and winners are announced.
Hunters can not request a recount of their mushrooms after the bag has been removed from the judging area.
A series of horns will tell the hunters how much time is left for the event.
One blast at the beginning of the event will signal the start.
Two short (2 second) blasts will signal the halfway point of the hunt.
One long (5 second) blast will signal 15 minutes left to the hunt.
One final blast will signal the end of the hunt.
The winner will be determined by the total number of morels found, not by weight. If there is a tie between number found, then weight will be the determining factor.
