Got mushrooms?

[NM_Shooter]

We were up at our ranch this weekend, and after building bunk beds went out goofing off.  I was struck by the huge amount of mushrooms in the woods.  Way, way more than I had ever seen.

We have several edible mushrooms out there.  The prize are chanterelles.  We picked a gallon and a half in about an hour.  Note... beware that chanterelles look a lot like jack-o-lanterns, which can make you sick. :



But also some hawk's wing, aka chocolate chip :



And a ton of these... I can't remember the name... Grand "something".  We could have picked a pickup truck load of them.  They slice like portobellas. 



Beware these bad boys.  You will come to an end seeing really pretty colors.

[MushCreek]

All mushrooms are edible- once! I've never had the nerve to try wild shrooms.

I found out our woods in SC are ideal for growing shitakes, so I'm going to try getting some started once we move up there.

[MountainDon]

We have great pickings too every monsoon season. The squirrels, rabbits, etc. won't even eat most of them.

[glenn kangiser]

I have wanted to get a mushroom kit for growing them here - haven't done it yet.

I am also a bit worried about IDing the wild ones. Seems every few years we lose a few Asians that get it mixed up.

[NM_Shooter]

Whoops... can a moderator please move this to the off topic area?

[MountainDon]

I never even noticed.        

[peternap]

Great find Shooter!

I used to pick them and I guess I got it right since I'm still here, but I was never certain.

[Sassy]

Last year we thought we'd found the chanterelles & were excited about it until we did more research & decided they were Jack-o-lanterns    We have lots of different mushrooms here, too, but like Glenn said, never had enough nerve to eat any of them.

[NM_Shooter]

Sometimes eating the wrong mushrooms can impair your judgement, and people find themselves crawling under heavy equipment without proper bracing.  I have heard stories about this.

[NM_Shooter]

Last year we thought we'd found the chanterelles & were excited about it until we did more research & decided they were Jack-o-lanterns    We have lots of different mushrooms here, too, but like Glenn said, never had enough nerve to eat any of them.

From what I can tell :
Jack o lanterns grow in large clumps, usually on trees.  They also have real gill structures underneath, and tend to be smooth around the edges.  Chanterelles are distributed on the ground (they grow tight to the earth), they have ridges underneath but not real gills structures, and the edges are pretty wavy and the tops look like "brains". 

Always best to start out slow!

[MountainDon]

Sometimes eating the wrong mushrooms can impair your judgement, and people find themselves crawling under heavy equipment without proper bracing.  I have heard stories about this.

[peternap]

Sometimes eating the wrong mushrooms can impair your judgement, and people find themselves crawling under heavy equipment without proper bracing.  I have heard stories about this.

[Squirl]

One of the things I have found in the various mushroom hunting books was that there were no known poisonous shelf mushrooms.  Many are considered non edible, but not poisonous.  Mind you many of these books were for mushroom hunting in the northeast U.S..  One of the most common mushroom from my area is oyster.  There is no other known similar variety that it can be commonly mistaken with.  I have had great luck with these.

[glenn kangiser]

The Jack-o-lantern we found was at the base of an oak tree in the grass but still coming from the wood.