# Anyone Mushroom Hunt?



## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

While I was on Orcas Island I found some Morel mushrooms, this is a mushroom I have hunted as a kid in the Spokane area and love them. I was so happy to find them and no one in my group would try them so I had them all to myself, yum yum









The Morel is the only wild mushroom I know about and feel safe eating. I know there are other edible mushrooms but I can only identify the Morel Mushroom. The are so good and expensive, at Pikes market in Seattle they wanted $25 a pound for them.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

I'm anxiously awaiting the morel season here, in central Illinois! In a week or two (if it ever warms back up) we should begin finding the small gray morels. They taste the best, in my opinion, but it could just be that they taste so good because they are the first since last spring.

We find them around here from early-mid April until mid-late May. The later morels are yellow, but can sometimes get pretty big. A local pub has a contest for the biggest morel mushroom each year and the winners are usually in the 20+ ounce range!

My DD and I found these little grays in about 20 minutes on our first trip out last April 18 - all in one small area. They were scrumptious! We dip them in beaten egg, then roll in cracker crumbs and saute in butter or margarine.

(They sell for about $25 per pound around here, too - but I don't sell them. I enjoy hunting them and then give them away to family and friends, which makes me quite popular about this time of year!)



















Come on, warm weather!

Mike


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## RizFam (Feb 25, 2006)

Oh my, I have never seen or heard of them. They look very interesting.


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## mountainlady56 (Feb 13, 2006)

I'd be scared I'd get some that were poisonous or something. Those that you have pictured must just be up north, as I've never seen any like that down south, before. The only mushrooms that I know of anybody hunting for, down here, is to make mushroom tea (which is illegal). They had an outbreak of that, last summer, and arrested about 10 adults, ranging from early 20s to late 40s!! Some people never learn!!
Darlene


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## Lady Di (Oct 28, 2005)

I vaguely remember hunting mushrooms as a kid. Now I don't remember enough to be sure I'd get the right kind.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

I grew up in Olney, ILL. Till I was 13, then my Dad got transferred out here to colorado with his job..

Anyhow, my gramps loved Morel mushrooms.. Every year we spent every saturday collecting them.. We filled many gunie sacks full.. He was a trapper, and avid hunter, so he knew where all the morel carpets were..

He would give bunches to all the old timers around, as they werent able to pick them thereselves..

Then about every middle of may we would have a neighborhood feast.. All the catfish, squirrel, rabbit, and morel's everyone could eat! Oh yea! All the goats milk homemade ice cream we could eat also! Several hundred people would show up.. It was fun for eveyone.

Now that Ive grown up, I miss those days.. Maybe its an Illinois thing, but neighborhoods were just that.. Everyone took care of eachother and helped eachother.. Everyone knew everyone.. Here in Colorado I dont even know my neighbors.. Its just so fast paced here, comparred to there.. Illinios was a really great place to grow up at..

I can tell you I have many, many fond memories as a kid picking and eating morel's.. They are GREAT! I miss em..

Carey


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

Morels are picked here in Michigan too and are a real delicacy. Just be sure you don't get any false morels. Those are poisonous and can make you sick or dead. Here's a link:

http://www.mushroomexpert.com/morels/false.html

Bill


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

cookie9933 said:


> Morels are picked here in Michigan too and are a real delicacy. Just be sure you don't get any false morels. Those are poisonous and can make you sick or dead. Here's a link:
> 
> http://www.mushroomexpert.com/morels/false.html
> 
> Bill


Thats why I don't eat them 
My luck I would eat the wrong one

Don


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## Scott and Jamie (Aug 27, 2006)

We pick them every year on our property. We found two very small ones on Saturday and should find a bunch by the end of the week.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

I see kids out in the fields around here picking mushrooms, but for some reason I don't think they are for the dinner table.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

Scoutr2 said:


> I'm anxiously awaiting the morel season here, in central Illinois! In a week or two (if it ever warms back up) we should begin finding the small gray morels. They taste the best, in my opinion, but it could just be that they taste so good because they are the first since last spring.
> 
> We find them around here from early-mid April until mid-late May. The later morels are yellow, but can sometimes get pretty big. A local pub has a contest for the biggest morel mushroom each year and the winners are usually in the 20+ ounce range!
> 
> ...


Just an update since there were a few others who seemed interested or leery of picking morels:

The only thing that even remotely resembles a morel is the false morel, and Bill (cookie9933) provided a link to a photo and description. Thanks Bill!

I've never ever found a false morel. They may grow around central Illinois, but I've never seen one. But the photo doesn't resemble any morel I've ever seen.

I love hunting morels more than I do eating them. It gets me out walking in the woods at one of the prettiest times of the year. May Apples, Trilliums, Phlox, Dames Rockets and Dutchman's Breeches are just a sample of the flowers that are in full bloom at the same time. And even better - the poison ivy is not so thick that you can't follow the deer paths and other trails without wading waist deep in it!

A good friend has found them as far south as northern Arkansas, and I know that they are found in Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, and most states north and east of Illinois.

Here's a link to more information: Morel Mushrooms

And just so you didn't think I was kidding about how large they can get in the latter part of the season, I've posted another photo from a good hunt a couple years ago. And realize that these mushrooms were not even close to being in contention for 3rd place!










Give morel mushrooming a try - you'll get hooked on hunting AND eating them!

Mike


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## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

Scoutr2 said:


> I'm anxiously awaiting the morel season here, in central Illinois! In a week or two (if it ever warms back up) we should begin finding the small gray morels. They taste the best, in my opinion, but it could just be that they taste so good because they are the first since last spring.
> 
> We find them around here from early-mid April until mid-late May. The later morels are yellow, but can sometimes get pretty big. A local pub has a contest for the biggest morel mushroom each year and the winners are usually in the 20+ ounce range!
> 
> ...


Just an update since there were a few others who seemed interested or leery of picking morels:

The only thing that even remotely resembles a morel is the false morel, and Bill (cookie9933) provided a link to a photo and description. Thanks Bill!

I've never ever found a false morel. They may grow around central Illinois, but I've never seen one. But the photo doesn't resemble any morel I've ever seen.

I love hunting morels more than I do eating them. It gets me out walking in the woods at one of the prettiest times of the year. May Apples, Trilliums, Phlox, Dames Rockets and Dutchman's Breeches are just a sample of the flowers that are in full bloom at the same time. And even better - the poison ivy is not so thick that you can't follow the deer paths and other trails without wading waist deep in it!

A good friend has found them as far south as northern Arkansas, and I know that they are found in Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, and most states north and east of Illinois.

Here's a link to more information: Morel Mushrooms

And just so you didn't think I was kidding about how large they can get in the latter part of the season, I've posted another photo from a good hunt a couple years ago. And realize that these mushrooms were not even close to being in contention for 3rd place!










Give morel mushrooming a try - you'll get hooked on hunting AND eating them!

Mike
[/quote]

Wow those are some huge Morels







I'm getting hungry looking at them. I might have to heat to the mountains this weekend to look for some here in California. Thanks for the pictures


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Cool shrooms Mike!

Carey


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## Calvin&Hobbes (May 24, 2006)

I tried hunting them years ago, but I sat in my blind for hours and none came by.


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## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

Calvin&Hobbes said:


> I tried hunting them years ago, but I sat in my blind for hours and none came by.


Well did you put out the decoys and use a mushroom call?


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## Rubrhammer (Nov 27, 2006)

The wife of a friend of mine picked wild mushrooms also. I played my violin at her funeral. Cause of death..........liver failure after eating poisonous wild mushrooms she had picked. So PLEASE be carefull guys!Bob


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