I finally got some free time on Sunday and had a chance to get out in the woods and look for a little ginseng. I had went out on opening day for a few hours but was only finding small stuff and left 95% of it in the ground and hadn't had much desire to get out much since. Dang poachers are so bad here that they'll wipe out everything you've got, they'll even dig the 3 leafers I guess to transplant somewhere closer to them. It's discouraging going on your own land and finding a bunch of dug up tops and holes in the ground. I swear I'd love to catch one of 'em one day!!!
Anyways, I got in the woods sunday morning about 10 and headed up a real deep hollow on the side of the mountain I hadn't been dug in probably 25 years(with my dad since I was only 8 years old). It's steeper than a billy goat could climb, and rocky as can be but it's good 'seng country. I started finding some good 3's as soon as the mountain started getting steep and it only got better the further I went up. I ended up taking half the hollow/ridge side as I went up and just made my way back and forth every 20 yards or so until I got to the top and then got the other half on the way back down. I dug pretty consistent all day on both sides of the hollow and found a good bit of big 'seng. A lot of big 3's and 4's and even found a small patch that had 5 big 4 prongs, 11 big 3's and probably 40 small 3's, 2's and one leafers in about a 20'x 20' area. I was in heaven!!! It was one of my better days ever digging, especially for the area I covered. I probably only covered an area of about 200 yards x 200 yards in 8 hours and found 'seng all day. It was slow digging though, it's a real rocky hollow and takes forever to get the roots out intact, but well worth the time in the end by saving all those feeder roots. Sure makes for a nice looking pile of seng at the end of the day. I only damaged one root bad and it, unluckily, was the biggest root of the day. I just happened to come across it when I was digging a big 4 out from between a couple of rocks. It must have been dormant and was growing between two big rocks that I couldn't pry up and I damaged some of the small feeder roots trying to get it out but it was a heck of a root nonetheless! It was one of the best days I've had in the woods in a while. Only thing missing was having my dad there beside me to enjoy it. He taught me all about digging ginseng and other roots and had me finding my own 'seng at probably 5 years old. He's gotten to the point he can't hardly get through the woods now, but is like a little kid when I bring out a big bag of 'seng to show him. It was great, wish he coulda been there but I dug it all on my own land and replanted a pile of berries, and left a LOT of smaller 'seng so hopefully I'll have good digging for years to come and can pass the tradition down to my son!! Here's some pics from my day of digging:
Here's the big one I had a hard time getting out:
Here's a long one that was buried down about 14" in a bunch of rock...tough get'n this one out!:
Nice chunky one:
Good 4 prong:
Probably one of the best "man-roots" I've ever dug:
Gnarly root, I think it was a 4:
Here's most of it after I finished spraying it off, I had one more box-top full that I didn't get a pic of:
