I just trained my puppy in February and it was so easy to get her hunting for Oregon truffles. She is a rescue puppy, pit bull mix and I had no idea that she would be so great at hunting for truffles. We got almost a pound of Oregon blacks today.
That is so good to hear! Many people are stuck in the idea that you have t o spend s fortune on a truffle dog or that it has to be a particular breed! I'd love it if we could arrange a chat some time to hear about your experience! Let me know if you would be up for that! julie@pelagaggia.com
@@meganmclaughlin9056 my 1st pup had 45 minutes of oil training indoors, 45 of oil training in the woods, and then was finding truffles in the woods after that. However, that is extremely unusual. I got lucky and adopted a dog who is a natural truffler. My other dog is still clueless about truffling after a month of training…
I absolutely love you videos! I have been hunting mushrooms my whole life. Back in my younger days I would skip school like a naughty boy and go with my Newfoundland to search for a particular type of mushroom that grew in cow pastures. When I found one my dog would notice that I was very happy and excited, so she ended up sniffing them out for me! That was 40 years ago. More recently my dog, Fresca, has been my companion when hunting a variety of edible mushrooms in the woods here in the Pacific Northwest (she didn't sniff them out, just loved being with me in the woods). Fresca is 15 now and sadly cannot safely bound around in the woods anymore. This last spring I got Eddy. He is now 10 months old and a complete nut! Lagottos certainly have personality. He absulutely loves the woods; so much so that he is still pretty distracted. In our back yard he is focussed and finds the truffles I bury very quickly , but so far out in the woods he quickly forgets what he is doing when he hears something or smells something interesting (and everything is interesting to this puppy!). I may have made a mistake having him go with me and just run around while hunting for chanterelles and boletes because he now seems to see the woods as really fun playground. I have been trying having him on a long line a reminding him to go back to work, but I mostly have to bring him to the general area for him to sniff out the truffles I have hidden. I know he is quite young, so i am patient with him and keep our sessions short while making the session as fun as possible. Any advice for training from this stage forward?
Thanks for getting in touch and I am glad you enjoy the videos. I have a lot of fun making them but I don't really know what I am doing so it's always a surprise that people watch them. The main advice I can give you is keep going back, the more you frequent the same forest, the less excited the dog will be. It can get frustrating but he will get there eventually, keep exercise separate from truffling and always have the scent with you when you go to work to make it clear to Eddy what the purpose of the expedition is. Not sure if you have seen this video but it deals with this very common problem and might help th-cam.com/video/spcAxRj-dus/w-d-xo.html
I just purchased truffle training equipment for my Wirehaired pointer and we are super excited to get out into the woods of Oregon together. We already harvest mushrooms for most of the season so adding truffles is a dream! Thank you for your videos
Great choice of dog, our WHP, Betty started out tricky but two years on she has the most reliable nose and she is an absolute workaholic. Good luck going forward!
You have me intrigued. I have a yellow Labrador that’s high energy and extremely intelligent. I will begin training and see where it takes us. Thank you for the videos. I have watched your training videos and will begin with the oil on cotton wrapped in foil. Happy hunting!
You can't go wrong with a labrador - they have everything you need in a workmate and they thrive on learning these skills. Let me know how the training goes!
It's been awhile, nice to see a new video. I was hoping your truffling this time of year was keeping you busy. Although I was getting concerned for you. After all we live in a crazy world. Where do you get those truffle verities maps? Of course I intend to truffle hunt here in the Pacific Northwest ( I have 10 acres, damm it would be both wonderful and funny if I have some truffles already on my land) but knowledge is so helpful. I might look elsewhere when I finally find and train my first dog. Travel the US as the peak seasons move across the land. Besides I used to do long haul trucking and I have been to every state in our lower 48, every Canadian Province and Alaska. So I'm very familiar with most of North America. Anyway happy to see you're alright. Be safe, and have a great day 🌤.
What a lovely message to wake up to on a Monday morning. Thanks Victor! Yes it's been a busy time of the year we have been hunting tuber brumale and it has been a poor season so lots of running around. We have a break now until the tuber aestivum season starts so I am planning to make a few videos in the next couple of months. I am looking forward to when you get your lab and can start exploring your land. The types of tree and the age of them are important factors. I get various maps online, there is quite a bit of information on researchgate. Oregon State University has done a lot of important research too. Check out James Trappe and his son to start with I can send you any stuff/links you might need - just let me know. Have a great day!
@@TheRealTruffleHunters thanks for the reply. Despite Labrador retrievers popularity in the US for several decades now,far to many are show or just "family pet" verities. I'm actually having problems finding good reliable hunting dogs. Especially the British type. This is Important to me because I want a good hunting partner. Not just truffles, but bird hunting also. Of course it will be fun to have my favorite " buddy" around the home. Or take him out in the boat while salmon fishing. Anyway I'm sorry to hear it's been difficult hunting. I didn't know there were so many different types of truffles. Do you have a book to recommend of the different types. Names,identification, regions,etc. ? Last year I started a catering business, it's currently a side business but it's growing. Anyway it's mostly BBQ but besides being able to use truffles for myself it would be great being able to include some into my menu. So thank you for taking your time to make your TH-cam videos.
@@victorbenner539 www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr772.pdf. This is a PDF file by the US Dept of Agriculture entitled Diversity, Ecology and Conservation of Truffle Fungi in the Forests of the PNW, it's pretty academic and a lot of irrelevant lists of 100s of non-commercial truffles but there are maps and lots of intersting details!
I have found white truffles growing by my friends house the first with three big fat ones the largest being 3 ounces,,, I am a forager and a Chef, I have found when I harvested the last one I had scraped some of the outside of the mushroom in the dirt back into the hole and covered it trying to keep continuity and not destroy the soil. We had a lot of rain and tomorrow truffles are coming up. That’s this year last year we had three harvests doing the same thing I would love to talk please contact me
Moved to Louisiana, from New Mexico, from Germany, from Southern California. Sadly these are not great truffle areas! Having a beagle-mix dog I’m wondering why more beagles aren’t used to find truffles.
Beagles can do an excellent job. Indeed most breeds can. It seems to be more to do with the individual dog! As for truffles, I think you might be good for tuber lyonii...any pecan trees in your area?
Sounds wonderful. I don't know if the same holds true in PNW but in Europe you will find morels in the same areas where truffles grow, but at different times of the year!
@@TheRealTruffleHunters I pick morels from burn areas.where it burned the year before. 30 to 50 lbs a day.natural morels are different and don't produce such quantities. A company I pick for buys Thousands of lbs of burn morels every spring. Foods in season ..is the company.
@@TheRealTruffleHunters it's fun but really physically demanding. To hard for most people. Some times you hike and hike for days or weeks and make no money.it takes super human patience. And you need to get to know all the people in this industry .it's complicated. I see new people try and most give up in a few weeks.
@@meganmclaughlin9056 That sounds very much like truffle hunting - very physical, financially erratic, requires tons of patience but incredibly enjoyable if you can get past all that and stick it out!
I am sorry to say that I don't have a great deal of knowledge about the US truffle species. At a push I'd say the tuber canaliculatum would be your best bet!
I started training my dog about a week ago, he is learning fast but he doesent really run around looking for them, if the truffle ball isnt within a few meter of him he will give up so i have to keep giving him the command, is this something that will get better as training progresses or am i doing something wrong?
Sounds like he is doing fine for a week of training. It sounds as if he is starting to learn the associations but it is all still very new! Two things will have the greatest effect on him, treats - good quality and given when he is rather hungry- and your reaction, try to be as enthusiastic as possible...the dog needs to feel that truffling is really exciting. And give him time, be patient and affectionate and make the whole process lots of fun
I just trained my puppy in February and it was so easy to get her hunting for Oregon truffles. She is a rescue puppy, pit bull mix and I had no idea that she would be so great at hunting for truffles. We got almost a pound of Oregon blacks today.
That is so good to hear! Many people are stuck in the idea that you have t o spend s fortune on a truffle dog or that it has to be a particular breed! I'd love it if we could arrange a chat some time to hear about your experience! Let me know if you would be up for that! julie@pelagaggia.com
How many months of training
@@meganmclaughlin9056 my 1st pup had 45 minutes of oil training indoors, 45 of oil training in the woods, and then was finding truffles in the woods after that. However, that is extremely unusual. I got lucky and adopted a dog who is a natural truffler. My other dog is still clueless about truffling after a month of training…
@@phamhuyvinh thanks for info.i have a border collie pup I want to train.
I absolutely love you videos! I have been hunting mushrooms my whole life. Back in my younger days I would skip school like a naughty boy and go with my Newfoundland to search for a particular type of mushroom that grew in cow pastures. When I found one my dog would notice that I was very happy and excited, so she ended up sniffing them out for me! That was 40 years ago. More recently my dog, Fresca, has been my companion when hunting a variety of edible mushrooms in the woods here in the Pacific Northwest (she didn't sniff them out, just loved being with me in the woods). Fresca is 15 now and sadly cannot safely bound around in the woods anymore.
This last spring I got Eddy. He is now 10 months old and a complete nut! Lagottos certainly have personality. He absulutely loves the woods; so much so that he is still pretty distracted. In our back yard he is focussed and finds the truffles I bury very quickly , but so far out in the woods he quickly forgets what he is doing when he hears something or smells something interesting (and everything is interesting to this puppy!). I may have made a mistake having him go with me and just run around while hunting for chanterelles and boletes because he now seems to see the woods as really fun playground. I have been trying having him on a long line a reminding him to go back to work, but I mostly have to bring him to the general area for him to sniff out the truffles I have hidden. I know he is quite young, so i am patient with him and keep our sessions short while making the session as fun as possible. Any advice for training from this stage forward?
Thanks for getting in touch and I am glad you enjoy the videos. I have a lot of fun making them but I don't really know what I am doing so it's always a surprise that people watch them. The main advice I can give you is keep going back, the more you frequent the same forest, the less excited the dog will be. It can get frustrating but he will get there eventually, keep exercise separate from truffling and always have the scent with you when you go to work to make it clear to Eddy what the purpose of the expedition is. Not sure if you have seen this video but it deals with this very common problem and might help
th-cam.com/video/spcAxRj-dus/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for your knowledge.. and your hair looks good
Thanks Michael. My hair is usually full of twigs so I like your comment about my head!
I just purchased truffle training equipment for my Wirehaired pointer and we are super excited to get out into the woods of Oregon together. We already harvest mushrooms for most of the season so adding truffles is a dream! Thank you for your videos
Great choice of dog, our WHP, Betty started out tricky but two years on she has the most reliable nose and she is an absolute workaholic. Good luck going forward!
You have me intrigued. I have a yellow Labrador that’s high energy and extremely intelligent. I will begin training and see where it takes us. Thank you for the videos. I have watched your training videos and will begin with the oil on cotton wrapped in foil. Happy hunting!
You can't go wrong with a labrador - they have everything you need in a workmate and they thrive on learning these skills. Let me know how the training goes!
@@TheRealTruffleHunters will do. Waiting on the truffle oil to train with to be delivered.
It's been awhile, nice to see a new video. I was hoping your truffling this time of year was keeping you busy. Although I was getting concerned for you. After all we live in a crazy world. Where do you get those truffle verities maps? Of course I intend to truffle hunt here in the Pacific Northwest ( I have 10 acres, damm it would be both wonderful and funny if I have some truffles already on my land) but knowledge is so helpful. I might look elsewhere when I finally find and train my first dog. Travel the US as the peak seasons move across the land. Besides I used to do long haul trucking and I have been to every state in our lower 48, every Canadian Province and Alaska. So I'm very familiar with most of North America. Anyway happy to see you're alright. Be safe, and have a great day 🌤.
What a lovely message to wake up to on a Monday morning. Thanks Victor! Yes it's been a busy time of the year we have been hunting tuber brumale and it has been a poor season so lots of running around. We have a break now until the tuber aestivum season starts so I am planning to make a few videos in the next couple of months. I am looking forward to when you get your lab and can start exploring your land. The types of tree and the age of them are important factors. I get various maps online, there is quite a bit of information on researchgate. Oregon State University has done a lot of important research too. Check out James Trappe and his son to start with I can send you any stuff/links you might need - just let me know. Have a great day!
@@TheRealTruffleHunters thanks for the reply. Despite Labrador retrievers popularity in the US for several decades now,far to many are show or just "family pet" verities. I'm actually having problems finding good reliable hunting dogs. Especially the British type. This is Important to me because I want a good hunting partner. Not just truffles, but bird hunting also. Of course it will be fun to have my favorite " buddy" around the home. Or take him out in the boat while salmon fishing. Anyway I'm sorry to hear it's been difficult hunting. I didn't know there were so many different types of truffles. Do you have a book to recommend of the different types. Names,identification, regions,etc. ? Last year I started a catering business, it's currently a side business but it's growing. Anyway it's mostly BBQ but besides being able to use truffles for myself it would be great being able to include some into my menu. So thank you for taking your time to make your TH-cam videos.
@@victorbenner539 Sounds like your buddy will have a great life. hunting, fishing and BBQ meat!
@@victorbenner539 www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-North-American-Truffles/dp/1580088627.
..this is the U.S. Truffle bible I believe
@@victorbenner539 www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr772.pdf. This is a PDF file by the US Dept of Agriculture entitled Diversity, Ecology and Conservation of Truffle Fungi in the Forests of the PNW, it's pretty academic and a lot of irrelevant lists of 100s of non-commercial truffles but there are maps and lots of intersting details!
Anybody picking burn morels next spring.
I'm on training. I just want to start
Go for it!
I have found white truffles growing by my friends house the first with three big fat ones the largest being 3 ounces,,, I am a forager and a Chef, I have found when I harvested the last one I had scraped some of the outside of the mushroom in the dirt back into the hole and covered it trying to keep continuity and not destroy the soil. We had a lot of rain and tomorrow truffles are coming up. That’s this year last year we had three harvests doing the same thing I would love to talk please contact me
I am located in southern Indiana about an hour outside of Cincinnati
This is my email julie@realtrufflehunters.com would love to talk to you
Moved to Louisiana, from New Mexico, from Germany, from Southern California. Sadly these are not great truffle areas!
Having a beagle-mix dog I’m wondering why more beagles aren’t used to find truffles.
Beagles can do an excellent job. Indeed most breeds can. It seems to be more to do with the individual dog! As for truffles, I think you might be good for tuber lyonii...any pecan trees in your area?
@@TheRealTruffleHunters no, it’s all loblolly pines. But we’ll be moving to Livorno, so hopefully!
@@myinnermagpie Nice, I lived in Livorno many years ago - fantastic place!
I've picked morels, lobsters, pines,and many other edible mushrooms, but not truffles .I Been picking commercially in Washington and Oregon.
Sounds wonderful. I don't know if the same holds true in PNW but in Europe you will find morels in the same areas where truffles grow, but at different times of the year!
@@TheRealTruffleHunters I pick morels from burn areas.where it burned the year before. 30 to 50 lbs a day.natural morels are different and don't produce such quantities. A company I pick for buys Thousands of lbs of burn morels every spring. Foods in season ..is the company.
@@meganmclaughlin9056 That must be a fun job!
@@TheRealTruffleHunters it's fun but really physically demanding. To hard for most people. Some times you hike and hike for days or weeks and make no money.it takes super human patience. And you need to get to know all the people in this industry .it's complicated. I see new people try and most give up in a few weeks.
@@meganmclaughlin9056 That sounds very much like truffle hunting - very physical, financially erratic, requires tons of patience but incredibly enjoyable if you can get past all that and stick it out!
Are there no good varieties in the north east forests of the US?
I am sorry to say that I don't have a great deal of knowledge about the US truffle species. At a push I'd say the tuber canaliculatum would be your best bet!
Thanks!
I started training my dog about a week ago, he is learning fast but he doesent really run around looking for them, if the truffle ball isnt within a few meter of him he will give up so i have to keep giving him the command, is this something that will get better as training progresses or am i doing something wrong?
Sounds like he is doing fine for a week of training. It sounds as if he is starting to learn the associations but it is all still very new! Two things will have the greatest effect on him, treats - good quality and given when he is rather hungry- and your reaction, try to be as enthusiastic as possible...the dog needs to feel that truffling is really exciting. And give him time, be patient and affectionate and make the whole process lots of fun
@@TheRealTruffleHunters Thanks for the help 😀
Hello, I hunt truffles without a dog 😊
Any chance of you getting a dog? Seems like it is a more effective way to hunt😍
Thanks for the help, ive sone some math, ill get $8320
That is some nice cash and a really specific number, too,😍 I hope it works out for you!🙏