Wild truffle land surveys · Harvest partnerships · Pacific Northwest
Do wild truffles grow on your land?
If you own woodland, a Douglas fir stand or a tree farm in the Pacific Northwest, a trained truffle dog and an experienced handler can tell you in an afternoon what no amount of reading about habitat will. We survey the ground, tell you honestly what is there, and if it is worth harvesting we will talk about working together.
What this is
A working visit
A wild truffle survey is a scheduled visit to your property by a Truffle Dog Company team: at least one handler and at least one trained truffle dog. We walk the areas you are curious about, read the habitat, and put a dog on the ground to check whether native truffles are actually fruiting there.
Native truffles grow underground and produce no visible fruiting body. There is no way to know what your property holds by looking at it. Habitat tells you whether truffles are possible; a dog tells you whether they are present. That is the whole reason this service exists.
At the end of the visit you will know what we found, what we did not find, what species are plausible on your ground, and whether the stand is worth returning to in a different month or a different season. If it looks commercially productive, we will talk about the arrangements below.
- Service
- On-site wild truffle survey
- Fee
- $350
- Length
- About 2 hours on site
- Who comes
- Handler and trained truffle dog
- Travel
- May apply by distance
- If we work together
- Fee refunded in full
- Region
- Pacific Northwest, USA
- Booking
- By email
Before you book
Is a survey right for your property?
Below are examples of productive truffle habitat from around the Pacific Northwest. If parts of your property look like one or more of these photos, a survey may well be worth your time.
Ground that looks like the photos
Resemblance is a reason to ask the question. It is not an answer. Plenty of ground that looks exactly right produces nothing, and we have found truffles in stands that looked unremarkable.
Seasonal animal activity
If you notice rodents and other wildlife digging in those same areas at particular times of year, that can indicate hypogeous fungi below ground. It does not confirm that the species are commercial ones.
A stand you already manage
Tree farms, thinned timber and managed Douglas fir are common survey ground in the Pacific Northwest, and the work fits alongside what you are already doing with the land.
What it costs
$350, and you get it back if we go into business.
Our standard wild survey is $350. That covers a team coming out to your property for roughly two hours to walk the ground with a dog and sit down with you about what your land needs and what it could do. Travel charges occasionally apply on top, depending on how far you are from the nearest team, and we will always tell you that number before you commit to anything.
If we end up working together on a harvest arrangement, the survey fee is refunded in full. It comes back to you through the business deal. We would rather the fee filter out the merely curious than act as a revenue stream.
The numbers
How a survey runs
Three steps, start to finish.
We ask about your land
Email, then scheduling
Write to us with where you are, roughly how much ground you are curious about, what is growing on it and how old the stand is. Photos help enormously. We will tell you honestly whether a survey is worth booking, quote any travel charge, and suggest a month to come out if timing would make a real difference to what we find.
Dog and handler walk the ground
About two hours on site
- We walk the areas you are most curious about, and any others that look promising once we are there
- A trained truffle dog searches the stand while we read habitat, host trees, ground cover, aspect and drainage
- Anything the dog indicates is dug carefully, identified, and shown to you
- We sit down with you about the land itself, what you want from it, and what is realistic
You get a straight answer
Findings and what comes next
You will know what we found, what species are plausible on your ground, and whether the stand is worth a return visit in a different season. If it looks productive enough to harvest commercially, we move into a conversation about the arrangements below. If it does not, we will say so plainly, and you can decide what you want to do with that.
If your land produces
Then we talk about working together.
We aim to build mutually beneficial arrangements with each landowner, and they are not one size fits all. What is right depends on the size of the stand, how productive it looks, what access is like and how involved you want to be. These are the usual shapes a deal takes.
A share of the harvest
You take an agreed percentage of what comes off the land, in truffles, to keep, cook with or sell yourself.
A permitting agreement
You grant access for harvest over an agreed period and on agreed terms, with a fee structure set up front.
Split of sale proceeds
Truffles harvested from your property are sold and the proceeds are divided on terms agreed before the first harvest.
Harvest services
If you would rather run it yourself, we can harvest on contract or advise you on building your own capability, including training a dog of your own.
Whichever shape it takes, your $350 survey fee comes back to you in full through the deal. Sustainable harvest practice is not negotiable in any arrangement we enter: truffles are dug without damaging the ground or the tree roots that produce them, and immature truffles are left where they are.
Where we work
Regions and what is available in each.
Pacific Northwest
This is our home ground and where surveys are offered as described on this page. If you have a parcel of land, managed woodland or a tree farm in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, we would be glad to talk about the viability of native truffle harvesting on it.
East of the Rockies
If you have a pecan farm or a truffière you suspect holds pecan truffles, write to us. We can connect you with one of our professional teams in the area, or with other local resources such as advanced students of ours nearby, to come and check your property or forest for native species. We are still building out this information and pricing may differ from the PNW survey above.
Everywhere else
We may have teams capable of checking your property elsewhere in the world, but geography, host trees and the whole environment differ enough that it becomes a different conversation. Ask about our Global Connections Consulting service.
Speaking engagements
Looking for someone to talk to your mycological society, land trust, forestry group or club about truffles, truffle orchards or truffle hunting? Let us know what you have in mind and we will see how we can help.
Related services
If you are somewhere else on this road.
- Planted truffière
- If you have an inoculated orchard rather than a wild stand, see Truffle Harvesting Services.
- Orchard advisory
- Ongoing coaching for growers is covered by Orchard Advisory and Coaching.
- Train your own dog
- Many landowners end up wanting to do the searching themselves. Our Foundations Cohort teaches that from scratch, online.
- Growing workshops
- For people considering planting, see our Truffle Growing Workshops.
Questions
Frequently asked
What does the $350 cover?
A team coming to your property for about two hours: walking the areas you are curious about with a trained truffle dog, identifying anything the dog finds, and sitting down with you about what your land could realistically do. Travel charges may apply on top depending on distance from the nearest team, and we quote those before you commit.
Is the fee really refundable?
Yes, in full, if we end up working together on a harvest arrangement. It comes back to you through the business deal rather than as a separate refund. If no arrangement follows, the fee stands as payment for the visit.
What if you do not find anything?
That happens and it is a legitimate outcome. You will know that your stand did not produce on the day we walked it, and we will tell you whether that is likely to be timing, habitat or a genuine absence. Many landowners find that answer worth having before investing further.
How much land can you cover in a visit?
It depends entirely on terrain, undergrowth and how the stand is laid out. Dogs work at walking pace and thick ground slows everything down. Tell us the acreage when you write and we will be realistic about what two hours will and will not reach.
What time of year should I book?
Dogs find what is fruiting on the day. Pacific Northwest species fruit at different times of year, so the best month depends on what your habitat suggests is there. Describe your stand when you write and we will recommend a window.
My property looks just like your photos. Does that mean I have truffles?
No. Habitat that resembles productive ground is a reason to investigate, not evidence of truffles. The same goes for rodent digging. Those signals are why the survey exists rather than a substitute for it.
Do I have to enter a harvest agreement?
Not at all. Plenty of landowners want to know what is on their land and nothing more. The survey stands on its own and you are under no obligation afterward.
Can you survey my pecan orchard in the Southeast?
Write to us. Pecan truffle work east of the Rockies runs through partner teams and advanced students rather than out of our Pacific Northwest schedule, and the arrangements differ. We will tell you what is possible in your area.
Start here
About two hours on site · Refunded in full if we work together
Tell us where your land is, what is growing on it and what you have noticed. We will tell you honestly whether a survey is worth your money before we take any of it.
Email info@truffledogcompany.com Surveys and harvesting services are available for both wild stands and truffières.Fine print
- The $350 survey fee applies to Pacific Northwest wild stand surveys. Pricing outside that region is quoted case by case.
- Travel charges are quoted before booking and depend on distance from the nearest available team.
- The survey fee is refunded in full through the terms of any harvest arrangement we subsequently enter together.
- A survey reports what a trained dog finds on the day of the visit. It is not a guarantee of truffle presence, productivity or commercial yield.
- All harvesting is carried out using sustainable practice: careful digging, no damage to host root systems, and immature truffles left in the ground.
- Surveys are scheduled subject to team availability and weather.
