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I really want to learn how to identify, stalk and pounce on our abundant varieties of mushrooms here in Oregon. Was wondering from those experienced about a recommendation for a book on the subject. Would like to start with a variety that CAN'T be mistaken for a deadly variety. Any suggestions?

Dude, if you are going to Central OR to do it, you might want to be packin'. Those guys are serious and don't like others around. Worse than a hog line. Much safer at Albertson's.

Spike,

I was thinking the same thing until a few years ago when a bunch of "experts" from Portland had a mushroom hunting party and a gourmet meal afterwards.
2 of them died, and 2 needed liver transplants within hours. I'm sworn off wild mushrooms ever since. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />- Sheister

My grandfather tells stories about grabbing a nice mushroom while deer hunting for dinner. It used to be a regular thing for them. I don't trust myself enough. Morells are an easy mushroom to identify but you'll have to fight the crowd trying to sell them. There was a shooting up at Crater Lake a few years ago over mushrooms.

Sheister, IIRC, those folks from Portland were SE Asian immigrants. The reason that is significant is that SE Asia is home to a "safe" mushroom that is widely harvested from the wild, but looks a lot like the deadly amanita. They just didn't know....


One very safe mushroom is the puffball. A quick web search will give you enough info to bag them safely - without ever confusing them with something else.

-FreeMe

You eat puffballs ??? All we ever did was throw them at one another <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Morel spots are more closely kept secrets than where you shot your last 12 pointer here. Only another month and its shroom time <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

The safest ones are in the produce section of the supermarket!!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

try "mushrooms demystified" (the BIG one) or "all the rain promises and more" (the field guide size), both by david arora. there are boletes and hedgehogs that are tasty and unmistakable for deadly varieties. but not worth a gunfight <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Guy's the puffball is great but watch out for the veriety call the pigskin puff ball, bad, bad, bad! Do I need to mention they have to be picked when they are solid and not in the spore state (when you step on them and they make the bluish smoke rise) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Pigskin Puffball

The false Morel is deadly and can be mistaken for the other good Morels. So learn the difference! False Morel

Is a 45-70 enough gun for mushroom hunting?

rick_g, Stopping power its okay but I like fire superiority, sometimes you can get into a big patch and you need all you can get <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Spike, I would recommend you get with someone that knows what they are doing and learn from them also get a book on the mushrooms or fungi and learn from it as well. Learn how to take spore prints to indentify your fungi. Here is something I took from the web:

Other Killers and Potential Killers

Several species of Lepiota contain amatoxins; all of the Lepiotas should be avoided, including the Parasol Mushroom, Macrolepiota procera, until you have years of mushrooming experience under your belt and are very sure of your identification.

The false morels can be fatally poisonous, though it is rare. The poison in false morels is MMH, or monmethylhydrazine (a chemical also found in rocket fuel). Though MMH is not understood completely by scientists, there is no question about whether it is poisonous or not. It appears that MMH may occur in different quantities in different false morels (even members of the same species), that its presence may vary according to geography, that its affect on people may vary between individuals, and that its toxicity may be cumulative (raising the possibility of eating false morels safely for years and then, one day, croaking after one bite). Clearly, MMH is not to be messed with. See the pages on Gyromitras for more information--also the page on False Morel Toxicity.

One frequent cause of mushroom poisoning involves people who move from one part of the world to another, then search for the mushrooms they've always eaten. What they find may look like the mushroom they're used to, but it may not be the same thing! This kind of tragic poisoning sometimes occurs when people move from an area where wild mushrooms are more commonly eaten--like Korea, or Eastern Europe--to the United States and Canada.
Check out this site: Great Mushroom Place

I have already picked a few Morels this year and probably will go out tomorrow if it rains. Maybe if I get time I'll take some pics...

Spike, I have hunted the elusive schroom for many years. There is only two varieties that I will eat those are Chantrell and oyster. I usually pick only the chantrell unless I just happen on to an especially fine example of an Oyster. In the fall during grouse season just before our deer season is the best time to pick. Chantrells are very distinctive. they come in two edible varieties and one bad boy. The bad chantrell can not be confused with the good ones unless you happen to be color blind...in which case stay out of the wood period. Chantrells come in two flavors, (colors) white and yellow. The really cool thing about these schrooms is that they are the best eating you will find in the fall around these parts. In eastern Oregon and wash. There is also a variety know as Oregon Truffel I do pick these with abandon when I happen upon them, but I said they are east of the Cascades and I live on the wet side. So Spike if you are interested in fall mushroom get in touch and I will happy to guide you on a mushroom adventure.

Bullwnkl.

Spikey
Be careful with old Boily... he thinks oysters require boiling! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> Take a look at Clitocybes in a good book. Hard to mistake and very good, especially when hunting with a Browning Clitori.

The one mushroom I feel is mistake-proof and truly among the best is the shaggy mane. It is a fall 'shroom and difficult to use in the quantities available then, but a number of years ago my wife figured the secret to keeping them and it really works.

If left for any length of time they turn to inky slime, but fried they are incredible with a hint of bacon and a nice crunch when fried. She found that if they are cooked down quite a bit and then frozen they keep extremely well. The secret is to drop the frozen block of shaggies into a hot skillet and just continue the frying to thaw. They quality is remarkable, even to someone as picky as I get on them...

We have put away hundreds of pounds on a good year and regret the using of the last package. I like them fried a little crisper than most, but they are great either way.

One of the unmistakeable varieties in your area is the Boletus of which there are a number. Avoid the red colored bottoms and you will be fine. Banana mushroom is a common name for some of these and the smell will explain it all.

False morels are extremely easy to identify and should be no cause for concern. Of course the best plan is to invite Shiester over and put the hors dovaries in front of him and if he does not keel over go ahead and chow down <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.

More than once you have expressed a desire to travel and the right mushrooms can give you that, without a need to leave the farm!

Actually, about '79, a group of college students from CWU went to the San Juan Islands and while one group spent time in tide pools, another went on a fungus fieldtrip. At the end of a long weekend we made a chowder from our combined finds.

Among the fungi were a number of Coprinus atramentarius, which were originally distilled for the drug "anabuse" and otherwise quite edible. The problem with Alcohol Inky, the common name for the aforementioned fungus, is the reaction one has when consuming the 'shroom with alcohol. Actually, it is the alcohol that enters the bloodstream after the 'shroom.

GI upset does not begin to describe the explosive nature of the event. In a small "cottage" with about 40 students and one potty, it was icky!!! Some simply chose to go outside and come in only to writhe in agony on the floor until the next explosive event.

What a party!
'shroom anyone? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
art

ps anabuse, the drug tinctured from Alcohol Inky mushrooms is used for treating alcoholics. They simply are told that they are to take the drug daily and ANY alcohol consumption will be painful. They ain't [bleep]' it is painful!!!

I was aware of the consequences and set-up prior and was not dragged into the fun that particular evening, but it was a near thing! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

The false Morel you posted a link to is far different from what many here refer to a false Morel. We have a mushroom that is very similar to a Morel we call a "cotton top". The tops are fine to eat but the stems are not. The inside of the stem looks like cotton. The skirt of the shroom is not attached at the bottom like a Morel. We also get a nice crop of White Morels a little later than the darkies.

Hmmm - I haven't done any shroom hunting for 20 years or so. But that genus Coprinus sounds familiar. Are you referring to an Inky Cap?

If so, I wasn't aware of it's reactions to alcohol. Or maybe it's just that species, and not the genus.

Regards,
Scott

Capt E
Lots of different species of Coprinus... only the "Alcohol Inky" has the anabuse in natural state... Shaggy manes are a common species of Coprinus for example...
art

how about beefsteaks any one eat them?