Collecting Wild Mushrooms while you Hunt

[Chefofthewoods]

Hello,

Newly joined but excited to start sharing about the other thing I'm hunting anytime I'm in the woods: mushrooms.

There are several common easy to identify varieties that are great by themselves or as perfect complement to game and fish you've harvested. I will start adding to this thread pictures and descriptions of what I find and when, but also how I like to use them. I hope you learn something from me but more importantly, I look forward to hearing what each of you likewise harvest in your hunt areas and how you prepare/cook/store them. Please include other wild eats - ramps, wild garlic and fiddleheads are almost in season on my home state of Michigan.

Morel season is on in the southern US, good luck Turkey hunters while you're out there!

@Chefofthewoods

 

[chasenr]

Nice, just getting into them myself.. Collected hericium americanum a couple times last fall in the PNW.

 

[Chefofthewoods]

Thanks! I've not found any hericium species yet. At different times besides morels it's usually one of the following six I consider easiest to identify:

Chicken of the woods
Hen of the woods (Maitake - a favorite)
Lobster mushrooms
Chanterelles
Black trumpets
Oyster mushrooms

I'm not comfortable trying boletes like Kings or others, I really want more experience and help along this path but I do find them. I'll get there eventually.

I want to get pics and short videos of season and conditions preceding their eruptions, I hope encourages others to try it. I'll share a few resources as Rokslide permits me.

Thanks!

 

[manitou1]

Morels and chicken of the woods are the ones I feel most safe consuming. I do come across quite a few chanterelles at times... need to give them a go. We have tried corel mushrooms in the past, but were not impressed.

 

[Chefofthewoods]

Chickens go so far, too. When I find them it's not like a half a pound of mushrooms unless they're young. I can cut the tender ends off of several pounds and leave so much untouched.

For visibility it's also a good one. Orange and yellow, on fallen dead trees or stumps.

Favorite preparation of mine is for use in other things. Olive oil, salt and pepper then grilled like a chicken breast. Sliced on to of anything like that is great. That makes a great "chicken parmesan" pizza topping too.

 

[fish impaler]

Rarely anything going on here during deer season, but stumbled across these recently while looking for turkeys

 

[Chefofthewoods]

I cannot find chanterelles that big in Michigan! Those are tremendous. My finds tend to be smaller and often are cinnabar chanterelles - tiny little orange ones with a peppery kick.

I just got a new phone 2 weeks back and dont have access to my last couple years worth of finds, at least not yet. I'll post a few of those soon.

 

[Read1t48]

Chantrelles...
Cook them fresh and freeze. Last season was good and they came early.

 

[Pgidley]

 

[Mo muleskinner]

Morels are coming on in mid Missouri but last two nights has been below freezing. Found some Friday we’re drying out.

 

[Chefofthewoods]

That second pic looks like a gyromitra to me. Do you see both growing together often, if at all? I definitely get overlap of season and range with Gyromitra and morels. My first morel picking I didn't know the difference, an experienced hunter looked over my basket and pronounced, "you can eat those big reddish brown ones but the toxins will build up in your system until you have a problem."

Gyromitra Esculenta can contain hydrazine compounds that are toxic. I avoid them but for sure during travel for my work in Europe I've seen them on markets and once on a menu. Directions were to par boil repeatedly and discard water between cookings to drain the toxin. If a mushroom is that much work, it doesn't want to be food.

Check out pics online comparing the two, I didnt want to repost any but when I get my picture trove back I will post a couple.

 

[Wrench]

I picked a bunch the day I killed this boar.

 

[Mo muleskinner]

That second pic looks like a gyromitra to me. Do you see both growing together often, if at all? I definitely get overlap of season and range with Gyromitra and morels. My first morel picking I didn't know the difference, an experienced hunter looked over my basket and pronounced, "you can eat those big reddish brown ones but the toxins will build up in your system until you have a problem."

Gyromitra Esculenta can contain hydrazine compounds that are toxic. I avoid them but for sure during travel for my work in Europe I've seen them on markets and once on a menu. Directions were to par boil repeatedly and discard water between cookings to drain the toxin. If a mushroom is that much work, it doesn't want to be food.

Check out pics online comparing the two, I didnt want to repost any but when I get my picture trove back I will post a couple.

It’s a red morel. I was watching it to see if it would grow. Have found them the size of a basketball. The frost burned it up. We batter and fry them. Before pic

 

[Chefofthewoods]

Great bear and a great haul on the morels. That's the kind of two-fer that makes spring hunts great.

 

[MThuntr]

I pick morels while turkey and bear hunting. I don't know the other mushrooms so I'm sure I walked by some delicious treats because I wasn't sure. I should get some field books

 

[Chefofthewoods]

It’s a red morel. I was watching it to see if it would grow. Have found them the size of a basketball. The frost burned it up. We batter and fry them. View attachment 171010 Before pic

Yes that's the gyromitra esculenta. They do get big. That's why I thought I'd found the biggest morels ever. Softball size+. Tend to grow bit later in the season for morels that I've noticed.

 

[NoWiser]

It’s a red morel. I was watching it to see if it would grow. Have found them the size of a basketball. The frost burned it up. We batter and fry them. View attachment 171010 Before pic

Man, you are playing with fire if you are eating those. That is absolutely a toxic false morel. I'm not sure why someone would risk frying them up when there are so many good, safe mushrooms to eat.

 

[NoWiser]

I love picking mushrooms almost as much as hunting. Morel season is special, but summer shrooming is more interesting with a wider variety of edible fungus and less competition. Chanterelles are typically what fill the freezer for the winter months, but I enjoy eating them all, with the exception of puffballs. In a typical year I'll find morels, pheasantbacks, chanterelles, hedgehog, yellowfoot, black trumpet, aborted entoloma, old man of the woods, chicken of the woods, hen of the woods, lobsters, a variety of boletes, oysters, honey mushrooms, lions mane, and a few others that I'm sure are escaping my mind. I typically hunt after mushroom season is over, but grouse hunting and lobster mushrooms align pretty well.

Another few weeks and things will start to pick up here. First, I have to shoot a turkey, though.

 

[Wrench]

The Audubon society field guide to North American mushrooms has great color, shape, spore and family plates to really make identification easier.

I suggest it.....and agree, looks exactly like a false morel.

 

[Chefofthewoods]

I need to try puffballs. Found this with several others with my 4yo son last Oct. 19th. Boy that was a fun walk in the woods. Picking up Turkey feathers, leaves and acorns.

But yes Puffballs I need to try. Like making a puffball parmesan, grilled like eggplant or something similar.