What tops a nice walk in the woods? Hiking those woods with a dog that sniffs out Oregon truffles. Evesham Wood winery owners Jordan and Erin Nuccio take that notion to heart by offering their guests a truffle experience unique in all of Oregon. Oregon truffles, black or white, are marble-to-golf ball-sized gems that complement a variety of culinary dishes. My personal favorite is the winter white truffle, Tuber oregonense, which I love slicing up to cover a batch of scrambled eggs. The fact that Oregon’s winter white truffles sell for hundreds of dollars a pound means I don’t get to enjoy those truffle-enhanced scrambled eggs very often. This is why my truffle alarm went off when I heard that Evesham Wood was taking reservations for truffle hunts in the woods adjacent to their Le Puits Sec estate vineyard. There was, however, a snag. The Nuccios don’t allow people to use rakes to tear up their ground in search of truffles. To maintain the integrity of Evesham Wood’s forest floor, you need to bring your own four-legged truffle detector, either a trained dog or pig. A well-trained dog will only detect ripe truffles, indicating their location by gently pawing or sniffing. Humans can then unearth the truffle using a small knife or spade. This process is less damaging and more efficient than indiscriminate raking. Lacking such a four-legged truffle detector, I feared I was out of luck. Then I remembered a truffle hunt I went on 10 years ago, led by Stefan Czarnecki, the owner of Black Tie Tours in Newberg. Stefan is the son of Jack Czarnecki of Joel Palmer House fame, and truffle hunting is in his DNA. “I was probably still in the womb when I went on my first mushroom hunt,” Czarnecki said. I was fortunate that Czarnecki is currently training a 2½-year-old Goldendoodle named August, aka Auggie. I met Czarnecki at Evesham Wood on a snow-tinged day to see what Auggie could sniff out. Auggie was ready for action when he saw Czarnecki strap on a truffle hunting tool belt and stash away a few Auggie treats. A pristine Douglas fir forest floor waited, and Auggie seemed eager to earn those treats. Early February was a great time to scour this patch of woods for Oregon truffles. Czarnecki said that while winter white truffle season covers October through early April, the best hunting months are February and March. Auggie was all over the place like a kid turned loose in a candy store. Czarnecki focused his trainee’s attention by playing a game with him called “Guess which hand holds the truffle.” Soon after, Auggie had his first hit. Sadly, we watched as Czarnecki excavated a hole that once held a ripe truffle. A puff of truffle particles escaped into the air as Czarnecki explained that a small critter, likely a squirrel, beat us to the punch. These near misses happened a few more times as we began to think unkind thoughts about squirrels. Cheers went up as Auggie finally located a small sliver of a ripe truffle. The tiny truffle fragment wouldn’t cover a scrambled hummingbird’s egg, so it was returned to the earth. Although our snowy morning had turned to clear skies and sunshine, Czarnecki thought the high winds might be interfering with Auggie’s hunting. Either that or the woods were filled with unripe truffles that day. “But they’re here,” Czarnecki said as we shut the hunt down for the day. Coming so close to finding truffles made me want to do it again. Especially after we retired to Evesham Wood’s tasting room to taste wines while enviously admiring a plate of Oregon truffles that Czarnecki brought with him for “show and tell.” The excellent wines were a nice consolation prize. If you would like to go head-to-head with the squirrels in a truffle hunt, head to Evesham Wood’s website to reserve one of the numerous one-hour slots available Wednesday through Sunday. The truffle experience is free but must be paired with a wine tasting, wine club subscription or wine purchase at the tasting room before hunting. If you don’t have a trained truffle dog, inquire with the winery about hiring one. Or do your own online search to find Pacific NW-based companies such as Black Tie Tours or Truffle Dog Co. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday, 3795 Wallace Road N.W., Salem, eveshamwood.com or info@eveshamwood.com. -- Michael Alberty writes about wine for The Oregonian/OregonLive and Wine Enthusiast Magazine. He can be reached at malberty0@gmail.com. To read more of his coverage, go to oregonlive.com/wine