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"Ginseng Huntin"

A

antiqucycle

Junior Member
506
36
East Ohio
:pickle: Another controversy brewing at the DOW besides whitetail regulations are changes to ginseng hunting. It appears the reality TV show, "Appalachian Outlaws" is stirring things up as to permits and an influx of non resident "diggers" hunting "sang"
Average price for Ohio sang was $1000 a pound in 2013 and $800 in 2014.

I have never dug any but I do know of 3 places where it has grown. One place is on a Public Hunting Area near the Ohio River, the second being a Metropolitan park. Its illegal to dig in either place. I noticed the one dug up area while morel hunting during turkey season. Actually found a broken garden shovel real close to a parking spot on the public hunting area. I spotted the same type of shovel in a Park, thinking at first somebody was digging flowers since it was summer. Now I know better. The place I deer hunt has ginseng but none of it is old enough to dig. The property owner showed me what to look for and where. He knows I am very good locating morels on his property.
Anybody else seeing shovels on public hunt areas? I wonder if anybody is leasing deer hunting land just to get at the ginseng?:smiley_confused_vra
 
Always wanted to try but don't know if it grows in NW Ohio? Its a fall season to dig it isn't it? Or before the leaves fall off?
 
My dad has dug the stuff his whole life and at 80 still gets out and digs some,yes it is a fall season and not hard to find once you know what to look for and start finding a few plants.
Lot of competition out there anymore so kinda sucks that show is on tv now.
 
There are two shows on TV. App outlaws on the History Channel right after Swamp People another on National Geographic.
It takes 30 years or more to be worth digging the roots. Yes its difficult to id unless it has red berries. Otherwise the young plants vaguely resemble raspberry leaves. Tends to grow on wooded hillsides. Season starts Sept 1 and lasts till the first frost kills off the leaves. The idea is to bury the ripe berries as you remove the roots. The tv shows depict a lot of violence, most diggers carrying guns and supposedly shooting at each other.

My reason for posting is to ask squirrel hunters on public areas to keep an eye open for people digging it illegally. Look for small areas that look like turkey scratchings or people running around with shovels on public areas, or even shovels left in the woods.
 
Got into a good batch on a job back in 08. Got a little over $400 dollars for a little less than half a pound. Never really looked for it after that.
 
A few of the hillbilly kids I went to HS with dug it, blood root and yellow root too. They also grew a lot of pot and showed me how they altered shotgun shells to kill deer when they were squirrel hunting. World class rednecks right there, and I liked them a lot. Sadly, a couple of them moved on to bigger and better drugs and are no longer among the living. To say the only gingseng hunters I knew were wild would be an understatement...
 
I actually know one of the cast of App outlaws. The one called Ewok. He is a friend from when i was a whitewster raft guide.
 
I used to dig it a lot before I became seriously involved with deer. Then in the late 90s the bottom fell out of it and it went down to $300 a lb.... so I stopped digging. Used to really enjoy it...
 
Use to dig it back in our youth but haven't since the mid to late 80's to very early 90's. Lots of those who don't work do it all the time! Matter of fact they do a lot of the outdoor activities we wished we had more time to do! Damn welfare!!!! Lol
 
Sang was another fun hobby back in the day. Ric and I used to hunt ginseng back in the 80's. Now it's a very competitive hobby. It's hard to find time to hunt it anymore. The woods is full of sang hunters these days. As much as the price has gone up, more and more people are cashing in its value.
 
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