{"id":670,"date":"2018-03-11T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2018-03-11T15:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ikedabarry.com\/gomakedo\/?p=670"},"modified":"2023-06-11T16:33:34","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T23:33:34","slug":"west-coast-truffle-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ikedabarry.com\/gomakedo\/2018\/03\/11\/west-coast-truffle-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"West Coast Truffle Hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winter is truffle season in Oregon, so the weather can be tricky to plan around. We have been trying to arrange a hunt for a few years but have been foiled by soaking wet or snow-covered ground. This year things came together and we hired a wonderful guide, James, and his lovely truffle dog, Augie (click for larger images).<\/p>\n

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Hunting grounds: a 20 year-old Douglas Fir plantation in North West Oregon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Hunting grounds: a 20 year-old Douglas Fir plantation in North West Oregon.<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Our guide, James, and his truffle dog, Augie.<\/div><\/div>
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As Augie digs we gather round to intercept.<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Augie gets a treat…<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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and we get…<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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truffles!<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

Because the fruiting bodies of truffles are all underground, it was quite a different style of mushroom hunting than what we’re used to. Rather than looking around for splashes of colour or tell-tale signs of mushrooms, we just followed Augie and watched as he bashed around happily in the woods. Augie is a\u00a0Lagotto Romagnolo,\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0so he’s born to hunt, swim, and retrieve, but he has also been trained from a young age to find truffles, and he’s really good at it. Never mind that they’re all 20-30 cm underground, he can smell them out and is quick to dig.\u00a0 As the dirt flies, James gets ready to distract Augie with a treat in one hand and to snatch up the truffle with the other. Although he prefers treats to truffles, Augie still managed to gobble a few of\u00a0the precious things.<\/p>\n

You can hire James and Augie for your own truffle hunt via their website: Terra-Fleurs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch Augie do his thing:
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