Ginseng hunting can be profitable

Squirrel season will open on Sept. 1, which means a lot of hunters, old, young, male and female will be hitting the forests and woodlots all over Ohio hunting for a good dinner.

But it’s easy to kill two birds with one stone and make some fairly serious money in process if, that is, you look at the ground as often as you look into the trees. I’m talking about hunting for ginseng as well as squirrels, a plant that grows all over Ohio, and is called by some “green gold."

I talked to a friend a couple of years ago and he told me that his three-day hunting trip produced a good haul of ginseng as well as over a dozen squirrels, enough to cover his stay in a mom and pop motel, gas and food. With some left over. A good reason to keep an eye on the ground.

Hunters and even non-outdoorsmen have been seeking this medicinal plant since 1860 and selling it mostly to China, a country with an insatiable appetite for its roots. The Chinese have been using ginseng for various purposes for well over 2,000 years, so it must have very useful medicinal properties. What properties?

They believe, as do folks in some other Asian countries, that it gives energy, lowers cholesterol, strengthens the body and reduces stress. But most important, elderly Chinese with young wives consider it a powerful aphrodisiac, especially roots shaped like a man. They’ll pay a rather amazing price for such, and even roots not man shaped should sell this year dried for $300 to $400 per pound. You’ll need to know what it looks like on those squirrel hunting outings, but that’s easy enough. You’ll probably find a book with pictures at your local library, and if not Google “Books on ginseng” to find a good number.

But before you head for the woods, keep in mind that there are a lot of regulations on harvesting the plant. Check page 42 of your current Ohio Hunting & Trapping Regulations and you’ll find that ginseng has a season running from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31 each year. And that plants with unripened berries or who have less that three leaf stems cannot be harvested.

Seeds from the wild plants must be immediately replanted at the place where the plants were collected, too, and hunters are required to keep accurate records showing the number of pounds and ounces collected in each Ohio county. The total list of regulations is far too long to report here, but you’d best read them carefully.

The next question is where can you find some, and the answer is almost anywhere. But you’ll find more on hilly land than flat, especially on north and east facing slopes. Ginseng loves moist hardwood forests and woodlots, places where mature timber shades the ground and cuts down on shrubs and thick understories of smaller plants.

They can be found best among “companion plants” like trillium, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, bloodroot and Solomon’s Seal which equally love shaded, dark rich soil covered with leaf mold. Once you know what ginseng looks like from your booklet or library book, then start looking for red berries as you hunt bushytails. There are other forest plants that have red berries, too, but the red stands out among the green and if you check enough berries you’ll probably find some ginseng.

Dig the roots very carefully if it’s a mature plant, replant the berries a half to one inch deep in loose soil, wash them carefully, and dry the lot on a wooden rack or screen in a well ventilated room of 70-100 degrees for 1 to 2 weeks. And when you take the plants to one of about 40 Ohio ginseng dealers (Google for these) save out one or two and chew them yourself. They’ll definitely put a spring in your step.

Dick Martin is a retired biology teacher who has been writing outdoor columns for 30 years. You can reach him at richmart@neo.rr.com.