# PA 2018 SUMMER MUSHROOM FINDS



## trahn008

A place to post your pictures of your finds. Also include state and county and type of environment mushrooms where found. Happy Hunting!


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## PrimordialDecay

Found these underneath a piece of cardboard the other day. Venango County. Anyone know what they are? Extremely pretty.


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## beagleboy

I guess anything I find now will be summer mushrooms. Here are some I found this morning.


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## beagleboy

Found in Snyder co. Pa Mixed oak, maple and hemlock on the side of a small ridge.


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## Barnacle

PrimordialDecay said:


> View attachment 8262
> Found these underneath a piece of cardboard the other day. Venango County. Anyone know what they are? Extremely pretty.


I have not been able to “like” this pic since it was posted. Finally seems to be working again. They look like cocktail umbrellas. Beagle I’ve been seeing lots of those gilled mushrooms lately no clue what they are. 
I may have spotted a couple trumpets today?


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## beagleboy

Yes everything was down for awhile but they have it fixed now. jack said it was a glitz in the software.


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## steelernation

Okay, since a couple of people have been posting photos of reishi, WHERE IS IT in PA??? My two big producing areas in the upper Mon Forest in WV and in the Allegheny National Forest netted me FOUR. With all of the good damp weather and reasonable temps this year, I expected something, but nothing from nothing leaves nothin'...


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## celticcurl

Barnacle said:


> View attachment 8532
> View attachment 8534
> 
> I have not been able to “like” this pic since it was posted. Finally seems to be working again. They look like cocktail umbrellas. Beagle I’ve been seeing lots of those gilled mushrooms lately no clue what they are.
> I may have spotted a couple trumpets today?


Barnacle that picture kinda sucked but that sure looks like a black trumpet. Get some better pictures and post them please. I'm so jealous! 

I found some chanterelle buttons the other day up here in southern MI so it won't be too long I'll hopefully find some trumpets.


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## trahn008

https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddr...hrooms-are-missing/ar-AAw43PQ?ocid=spartanntp


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## trahn008

Steeler, what tree's are you looking around? Hemlock is the key for me, find an area where the hemlock died off about 5 years ago and you'll be knee deep in them. Happy Hunting!


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## beagleboy

I don't think that this is chaga but would like a verification on that. It is on a grey birch.


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## trahn008

Not Chaga.


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## Barnacle

celticcurl said:


> Barnacle that picture kinda sucked but that sure looks like a black trumpet. Get some better pictures and post them please. I'm so jealous!
> 
> I found some chanterelle buttons the other day up here in southern MI so it won't be too long I'll hopefully find some trumpets.


Celticcurl, it’s been a long day and the “that picture kinda sucked” line hit me just right. Had me laughing! It did suck , sorry I was literally on my knees getting assaulted by bugs and those things were tiny. The pine needles dwarfed them. I’ll recheck in a week if we get rain. My chant patch is due for another inspection. These pics are from last Sunday I think.


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## steelernation

Barnacle - IF you get rain...you must not be in the western half of the state, huh 

Trahn - you know me, hemlock forests are my best friend, right along with oak. In addition to our two biggies, we checked a few lesser spots when in WV, and only the one had any, and just like my two big spots, they were tiny and underdeveloped. My good spots are on public lands, and get picked a little before me sometimes, but not the case this year. They just aren't there in our region. At least we have a lot left over from last year...


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## beagleboy

Found in Snyder co. on oak stump in mainly oak forest today





















. Jack-o-lantern mushroom


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## Gibz




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## Gibz

Gibz said:


> View attachment 8684


Anybody know what these might be? The petals were translucent and the flower had done smell even though not fully open


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## PAtrapper37

My buddy just found these...any ideas?


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## beagleboy

Gibz said:


> Anybody know what these might be? The petals were translucent and the flower had done smell even though not fully open


Gibz, I think they are indian pipes. I see them all over the areas I hunt mushrooms. I saw where they are actually a plant without chlorophyll.


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## PAtrapper37

Here’s the bottom of them...base of big oak


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## PAtrapper37

Berkeley’s polypore maybe?


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## jg010682

Mona trope universe flora I believe is the scientific name they are a parasitic flower with no cloraphile and are a medicinal plant supposed to help with chronic pain and other ailments but better research it it can cause severe upset stomach


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## jg010682

Stupid auto correct monatropa uniflora is what its called


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## jg010682

Not sure about the mushrooms don't have my books with me but I'm pretty sure I have seen it before i think it's an eddible one but i would look into it before harvesting any ill look it up in my books later and let you know what i find


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## steelernation

PA - Yes, Berkeley's Polypore. If you get the very outside edges of the plates when they are young and soft, they are edible, but they fall into our category of "why?". I think we've eaten them once, but they were unremarkable-to-bitter. They quickly hit the shoe-leather stage.

The fun in those is seeing how big they can get!


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## Gibz

beagleboy said:


> Gibz, I think they are indian pipes. I see them all over the areas I hunt mushrooms. I saw where they are actually a plant without chlorophyll.


Beagle Boy Thanks, I believe you nailed it. They are really quite beautiful


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## trahn008

Gibz said:


> Beagle Boy Thanks, I believe you nailed it. They are really quite beautiful


 Area's you find Indian pipes are also goods area's to hunt chants. Happy Hunting!


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## jg010682

PAtrapper37 said:


> View attachment 8696
> View attachment 8694
> Here’s the bottom of them...base of big oak


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## Gibz

trahn008 said:


> Area's you find Indian pipes are also goods area's to hunt chants. Happy Hunting!


Trahn. Thanks for the tip


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## Beatnik88

Gibz said:


> Anybody know what these might be? The petals were translucent and the flower had done smell even though not fully open


Indian Pipe.....It's a cool plant. It functions as a mycoheterotroph in that it forms a symbiotic relationship with russula mushrooms which in turn function mycorrhizally with it's own tree species.


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## Beatnik88

Chants are starting to pop in Cumberland and Perry County by the way.


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## beagleboy

Mifflin co on south facing slope around white oak and jack pine. They are still very small, hope the rain tomorrow and the heat this weekend will really make them grow.


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## beagleboy

I think this is a russula but I don't know which one it was under a white oak growing on ground white spore print.A lot of them around.


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## trahn008

Beagle, Russula Emetica… The sickener mushroom! Happy Hunting!


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## Gibz

beagleboy said:


> I think this is a russula but I don't know which one it was under a white oak growing on ground white spore print.A lot of them around.
> View attachment 8762
> View attachment 8764


From what I read, the Russula is also found where the Indian Pipes grow. I'm going back to that spot tonight and will look for them. Trahn said Chants also grow in same area. This is a patch of mature oaks. Pretty level, not necessarily damp. Somerset count


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## PAtrapper37

Maybe a silly question but are these all red reishi used the same way as the ones with white around edge?


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## beagleboy

Thanks trahn.


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## trahn008

Yes, perfect for harvest for medical purpose.


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## Barnacle

What would be a fair wholesale price per pound for selling my surplus chanterelles to a grocery store? Whole Foods had crappy looking ones from Bolivia or something for $25 lb. last year.


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## trahn008

They sell online mid 30's. I would ask 28 per lb. and settle for 25. Happy Hunting!


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## steelernation

And pick whatever you're going to pick soon. This heat wave will dry out the forests in a hurry, and we're all going to get it.


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## trahn008

Barnacle are you picking chants yet? Surprised they are up already, really haven't been out yet. Going out next week for milk, chants and trumpets. Just hasn't seem warm enough for them yet. Happy Hunting!


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## Barnacle

trahn008 said:


> Barnacle are you picking chants yet? Surprised they are up already, really haven't been out yet. Going out next week for milk, chants and trumpets. Just hasn't seem warm enough for them yet. Happy Hunting!


Thanks Trahn, not picking yet. They have been here for a while now just not growing fast at all. Steelernations probably right though the heat or slugs are going to get them if I don’t. 

I have a spot on a high traffic trail that hundreds of chants come up on and get trampled by kids at a summer camp type place. Question is could I take a flat shovel and skim the top inch of bare soil with all the pins in it and transplant them to a safer spot? It’s such a bummer seeing them get trampled.


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## PAtrapper37

Good roadside find this morning on way to work...good thing I had pointed shovel in truck...really had to reach for them


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## trahn008

Barnacle said:


> Thanks Trahn, not picking yet. They have been here for a while now just not growing fast at all. Steelernations probably right though the heat or slugs are going to get them if I don’t.
> 
> I have a spot on a high traffic trail that hundreds of chants come up on and get trampled by kids at a summer camp type place. Question is could I take a flat shovel and skim the top inch of bare soil with all the pins in it and transplant them to a safer spot? It’s such a bummer seeing them get trampled.


 No, I wouldn't. The myc matrix runs at times 6inches, soil depth. Happy Hunting


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## jack

MERIPILUS SUMSTINEI, black staining polypore is what PAtrapper37 picked.


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## steelernation

Barnacle, I got a real chuckle out of the way your sentence gets separated there...

You say that kids trample the area, but what about taking a flat shovel... I thought it would have been a howl if it was to ward off kids and smack the bad ones with the shovel. Then again, I don't have kids. And grew up long enough ago that I never heard of a timeout corner... 

Just got back from WV with 3 small golden chants and one G. tsugae. Yay rain...?


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## beagleboy

I checked another area today and every thing was small, looks like a lot of heat and humidity coming. Hope it helps.


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## PAtrapper37

jack said:


> MERIPILUS SUMSTINEI, black staining polypore is what PAtrapper37 picked.


Jack...that’s what the white ones are? I assumed they were oysters...same thing? Are they edible?


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## PAtrapper37

Lol so I looked up that name...you were referring to the mushroom we thought was a Berkeley


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## jack

PAtrapper37 said:


> Jack...that’s what the white ones are? I assumed they were oysters...same thing? Are they edible?


Sorry, I was talking about this picture. On a few edges, you can see where it stained black from either touching it or it rubbed against something. They are edible when young, personally I've never tried them.


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## beagleboy

Found this under oaks. Having trouble with id. It was lavender in color. The spore print looked brown to me. It was about 3.5 inches in diameter. I cut the bottom of the stem off it is beside it in the first picture. Thank you for any help.


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## Beatnik88

Hey beagle, that could be a blewit (clitocybe nuda), however that is usually a late fall mushroom. I'm not very familiar with them, so maybe read up on the identifying characteristics. Just be careful, as I know there are some cortinarius lookalikes that are toxic.


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## Barnacle

Found a new spot near an old spot, but really all my spots are new I guess. this is only my second chant season. Did a lot better than I thought I would. Not one single worm hole! I couldn’t believe it! I hope this keeps up last year everything I found had worm holes. How did the rest of you guys do? Any trumpets yet?


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## sb

Hey Barnacle, nice pics and nice finds. While I live in central OH, I was born in NE PA (Susquehanna, Cty) 

That's one really great Red Reishi Tree! (I count 18) Is it still alive? Just this evening I was setting up the 1st stage, alcohol extraction, of my next batch of Red Reishi Extract,

Friday, yesterday, I got my first (small) Chanterelles in Franklin County, OH, which is Central OH.

All is good . . . and then . . . it gets better.


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## beagleboy

Beatnik, that's what I thought too but like you said all my books say it s a fall mushroom. I wasn't planning on eating it anyway. If I am not 100% sure of id there is no way I will eat any mushroom. Nice chanterelles Barnacle, every one I saw so far is too small to pick. Did you pick any of those that you had posted earlier.


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## Barnacle

Thanks guys. The reishi tree was broken in half about 30 ft up. Yes I picked a bunch today. Some small stuff that the heat was going dry up. But plenty of good sized stuff. I’m hoping sell them to a store out here that buys my miatake to fund my new archery habit. Turns out I have competition this season though. The buyer told me there’s another forager “hounding”
Them to buy there stuff. Kinda bummed about that. Oh well, turf war it is then... steelernation get your shovel! Just kidding can’t sweat that stuff it’ll take the fun out of the hunt.


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## PAtrapper37

Found our first Jacks ever...kids wanted to take some home to see if they glowed...no dice


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## celticcurl

beagleboy said:


> Found this under oaks. Having trouble with id. It was lavender in color. The spore print looked brown to me. It was about 3.5 inches in diameter. I cut the bottom of the stem off it is beside it in the first picture. Thank you for any help.
> View attachment 8820
> View attachment 8818


That is a cortinarius. Go back to that spot and look really carefully for black trumpets. I often find those species growing together in southern MI.


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## beagleboy

Thanks celticcurl I will keep checking that area I found chant pins not far from that spot.


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## Barnacle

trahn008 said:


> They sell online mid 30's. I would ask 28 per lb. and settle for 25. Happy Hunting!


The grocery store low balled me only offered $17 per lb. for 5 lbs when they are selling them for $30 per lb. I told them no way it’s not even worth the drive. I hope the other guy doesn’t accept those prices. I’d rather give them away!


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## celticcurl

beagleboy said:


> Thanks celticcurl I will keep checking that area I found chant pins not far from that spot.


Trumpets are so pretty. I keep forgetting to tell Barnacle I found some trumpets last week! I've seen a few more since then but haven't picked any yet.

I might go out to check on them today. I've got to go check a spot for umbrella polypores. I thought they were finished until fall but I found a baby a few days ago so..................... maybe my good oak spot will produce too? It's a long hot walk back to that oak and I'll have to stop and pick black raspberries on the way.

I've picked a few dozen little chants. I noticed yesterday they are getting buggy even if they are only the size of a quarter.

Stay cool everyone and happy hunting!


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## Barnacle

PAtrapper37 said:


> View attachment 8862
> 
> View attachment 8860
> 
> Found our first Jacks ever...kids wanted to take some home to see if they glowed...no dice


I did it last year. You have to take them into a room with zero ambient light and wait for your eyes to adjust. “Constitutive Luciferrin” right beatnik88


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## beagleboy

I picked enough for an omelet even though they were on the small side. They were so dry some of them broke pieces off in the mesh bag. These I found a week ago and they barely doubled in size. There are a lot of smaller ones at this spot yet.


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## beagleboy




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## beagleboy

I found out turkeys like chanterelles. The ones in the picture above were gone when I checked them today. There were some turkey feathers and dropping there so I am blaming them.


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## beagleboy

Still finding platterful mushrooms and some coral.


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## steelernation

Usually when/where those false corals pop up, I'm finding chanterelles...


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## Beatnik88




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## sb

Beatnick - I like your choice for hydration and mushroom size comparison!! Ha, ha!


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## Kicker

I think I found my first chanterelles


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## steelernation

Kicker - yes.

Got out for 5 hours this morning (lost two pounds thanks to the heat...), and pulled in probably 3# of chants and almost 1/2 a plastic grocery bag of black trumpets, plus black raspberries and over 40 species of birds, with a fawn stalking me as I picked some chants. A good day that ended with a bbq, a full belly and a gin and tonic. Cheers!


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## Kicker

Thanks steelernation

I went out after my cookout for about hour. Was in the woods behind my house. Saw some that were tan looking in my yard that looked like chanterelles.


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## beagleboy

A good day today.


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## beagleboy

I never had black trumpets before I guess I will try them.


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## Beatnik88

Awesome haul beagle!


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## beagleboy

Thanks Beatnik, now I have to figure out the best way to try them. Any ideas?


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## PAtrapper37

Awesome beagle...I’ve never seen them here in NEPA


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## beagleboy

These were on a south facing ridge above a small stream in northern Mifflin co. Mostly oak forest, just about every white oak tree that had moss around it had some.


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## steelernation

Beagle - good work there. I haven't found them having a preference for direction, which is good for all involved.

Cooking-wise, sautéd in butter is always a good start. They will make the butter grey or black, but that affects nothing with the taste. They do not make the prettiest meals, but they are flavorful. One thing I've done is take dried ones and powdered them, adding that to fresh pasta dough (grey dough, yeah...). Then, sauté more in butter and maybe some garlic salt and toss that all with the cooked trumpet noodles. Grey noodles with blackish-grey sauce...good for Halloween or some other time when you want a monochromatic meal 

They dehydrate well, but my wife also par-cooks them in butter, then drains them and Food Saver's them, all while freezing the leftover juice-butter in ice cube trays. Makes great sauces, and also is good for risotto.


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## beagleboy

Thanks steeler, I left a lot of smaller ones so if we like them I will have to dry some.


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## beagleboy

I also found this bolete yesterday but I didn't bring it home for a spore print. It was in a grove of Norway spruce. I know a positive id isn't possible with all the information I have but any ideas. In the second picture I cut the bottom of the stem off and cut the pore surface with my knife.


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## sb

beagleboy said:


> Thanks Beatnik, now I have to figure out the best way to try them. Any ideas?


Beagleboy - After cooking them over 4 years, I've liked the most recent use: making the black trumpets into a pate or spread.

https://www.morels.com/threads/pics...e-dinner-plate-page.46662/page-15#post-105238

The above link will take you to the dinner plate page and this post series # 290-293 are about Black Trumpet Pate.

Otherwise, I often combine Black Trumpets with other mushroms and I like to put into scrambled eggs.

Here's a list of the Dinner Plate thread posting #'s that include Black Trumpets.
#8, #52, #66, #94, #155, #'s 290 - 293


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## steelernation

Beagle - might be a Lilac Bolete, but I'd have to get the big book out to make sure. They have that reticulation on the stalk, but get buggy fast.


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## beagleboy

Thanks sb and steeler.


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## Kicker

found what looks like hairy-stalked entoloma from what I read. Not sure how I spotted it.


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## trahn008

PAtrapper37 said:


> Awesome beagle...I’ve never seen them here in NEPA


 PA, you have them.. Was up around Promised Land Park over the holiday and found some. Look around oak woods with moss.. A lot of those type of woods up your way! Happy Hunting!


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## trahn008

Beagle, trumpets are my #1 mushroom, I love them! Very earthy flavor, called the poor mans truffle. I got to get out and do some real hunting in the morning! Happy Hunting!


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## beagleboy

trahn008 said:


> Beagle, trumpets are my #1 mushroom, I love them! Very earthy flavor, called the poor mans truffle. I got to get out and do some real hunting in the morning! Happy Hunting!


Trahn, I really like the flavor not so much the texture. This morning I fried potatoes, onions, eggs and trumpets together it was great! I do the same with morels. Makes a good breakfast. I dried the rest of them. I am going to get some more and try them on pizza.


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## steelernation

Yes, my wife uses the butter-cooked trumpets on pizzas, too, and they are really good that way.

Kicker - that black mushroom looks to be an old Strobilomyces, or Old Man Of The Woods bolete. There are a couple of varieties in our woods. They are technically edible, but when you cook fresh ones, they kind of melt apart into a blackish-grey mush that really isn't great.


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## beagleboy

I found enough for a pizza this morning and that's all. The ones I left on Thursday were all dried up. They are really good on pizza.


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## beagleboy

I am finding jack-o-lanterns everywhere.


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## PAtrapper37

trahn008 said:


> PA, you have them.. Was up around Promised Land Park over the holiday and found some. Look around oak woods with moss.. A lot of those type of woods up your way! Happy Hunting!


Trahn...kids I actually walk promised land a lot...5-10 minute ride for us...that’s where we found huge patch of jacks this year....and our biggest chicken find


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## Barnacle

Great finds beagle! It’s been so dry out my way, I have yet to find any. Can’t wait for them to come in though last year I found dozens of spots that were all dryed up and molded. If I can catch them early this year I’ll be swimming in them. They are my favorite wild shroom so far and I’m getting low on last years supply. Never tried on pizza, sounds great.


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## pchunter1231

Is it normal for Oyster mushrooms to grow 6 inches or more wide? I found some today that were just huge.


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## steelernation

PC - yes, there is a giant type of oyster that we've found a couple of times. Just be sure...


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## steelernation

Woods are drying out in a hurry here in SW PA. Only 1/2 pound of perfect-but-drying chants, a few dried-out trumpets and precious little else. With no rain until later this weekend, it might be time to do yard work or other shopping-type activities until then...


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## beagleboy

Yes steeler here in Snyder co. we got a little shower on the 4th and nothing since. I walk every day and am seeing less and less fungi. I haven't found any chants except for very small ones and very few of them.


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## beagleboy

Looks like something is starting to grow at the base of this red oak tree.


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## beagleboy

I found this on an old oak log it is very moist and soft. The second picture is the picture of the pores. Any ideas. The smell was a very good mushroom smell.


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## beagleboy

I found a hillside of dried up squawroot (bears corn), is this an indication of any type of mushrooms that might come up in the same area.


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## steelernation

Beagle:

1) I've seen that polypore activity on oaks, but it's nothing edible that I've seen
2) That polypore looks birch-polypore-ish, but not on oak. Not sure what that is.
3) I've seen squaw root in lots of places, but never found it to be an indicator of anything particular, and haven't heard of it to be.

Cheers.


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## Beatnik88

If anything beagle, I have noticed that Indian pipe only grows in areas that harbor bear corn, and chanterelles seem to grow only in areas where Indian pipe and their associated russula species are present. So bear corn leads me to believe it may be a good area, but unless i see Indian pipe as well it is never is a positive looking spot.


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## beagleboy

Thanks for the information steeler and Beatnik. Since this dry spell I haven't found any trumpets or chanterelles. In my area we haven't had any rain since the 4th and very little then.


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## beagleboy

We received a rain shower today so I took a long walk with the dog and my grandson today and found this. I think it is a Berkley's polypore because I couldn't get it to stain black when I bruised it. The one thing that has me confused is it has a yellow tint to the pore surface and my books all say that should be white. It was at the base of an old oak stump.


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## beagleboy

I think I was wrong on the id of the polypore, this morning I found another one that was younger and it did stain black. I also found some oysters.


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## PAtrapper37




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## PAtrapper37




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## beagleboy

Reshi were scarce in my area this year. Are those still good trapper.


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## PAtrapper37

I believe so...still white on bottom...no bugs


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## steelernation

Road trip!

Nah, we had tons last year, but are you out in the northeast, PA?


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## trahn008

PA, those are perfect. Going to be up your way this coming weekend, have family that has a place at lake adventure. I'll be hiking/picking at PL on Saturday. Will be interesting to see what the rains will bring! Happy Hunting!


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## trahn008

Beagle your correct they are black staining poly. Happy Hunting!


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## pgh guy

Just want to make sure that these are Chanterelles. If so, what is the best way to clean them?


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## steelernation

PGH, they are indeed chants. With that much dirt, and if you have a lot, a sink full of water is the best bet. They hold their flavor well, so no real flavor loss in water. Otherwise, a fine, soft mushroom brush, but if you have a lot, then that'll take forever. Best to use both. Good luck!


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## jg010682

A soft bristled tooth brush works pretty good for me just hold them under some running water a scrub them with it and should take care of most of that dirt


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## pgh guy

steelernation said:


> PGH, they are indeed chants. With that much dirt, and if you have a lot, a sink full of water is the best bet. They hold their flavor well, so no real flavor loss in water. Otherwise, a fine, soft mushroom brush, but if you have a lot, then that'll take forever. Best to use both. Good luck!


Thanks


steelernation said:


> PGH, they are indeed chants. With that much dirt, and if you have a lot, a sink full of water is the best bet. They hold their flavor well, so no real flavor loss in water. Otherwise, a fine, soft mushroom brush, but if you have a lot, then that'll take forever. Best to use both. Good luck!


Thanks!


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## pgh guy

jg010682 said:


> A soft bristled tooth brush works pretty good for me just hold them under some running water a scrub them with it and should take care of most of that dirt


Thanks


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## Barnacle

pgh guy said:


> Just want to make sure that these are Chanterelles. If so, what is the best way to clean them?
> View attachment 9354


Tooth brushes are great for cleaning mushrooms as jg said. Look into the SUMMIT 509 made by GUM. They are extremely fine bristled brushes so you won’t bruise your shrooms as bad. We give them out at my office. Also if you give them a quick brush off right when you pick them you’ll save yourself a ton of work and grief later on. I have also used a small spray bottle ( think squirt gun) to knock out debris in nooks and crannies of shrooms like morels. Nice haul btw.


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## beagleboy

Found a few more oysters.


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## PAtrapper37

Frustrating walk today...walked a hillside that was logged three years ago...lots of tops laying...found literally hundreds of oysters that were just past prime


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## beagleboy

They don't seem to last long this time of year. I found some I know weren't there 3 days before and they were starting to turn. In the spring I left some go a week and they were still good. It must be the hotter temps.


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## PAtrapper37

Finally found my first chanterelles ever...only about a dozen...didn’t have my knife with me...I’ll cut next time...Trahn I found them in promised land...knew you were headed there so I needed to get a few before you got them all lol


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## PAtrapper37




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## PAtrapper37




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## beagleboy

I haven't found any chanterelles since the small ones in June, but I did find some reishi that still had some weight to it. I am going to cut it up and dry it to make tea. I have eaten the white part when it is still growing but never made tea.


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## trahn008

Lol, PA. Didn’t make it up this weekend. Went up my camp in lycoming for some snake hunting, not much as far as mushrooms but got into some snakes but nothing legal. Congrats on your first chant finds. Finally getting some good rains. Happy Hunting!


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## Barnacle

Went to the pine barrens (Albany pinebush preserve) yesterday. Wasn’t expecting to find much. Kinda just scouting new hunting grounds. Was surprised to find millions of berries, raspberries/blackberries and blueberries growing everywhere all intertwined with each other. Strange flowers to. Knee high oak saplings everywhere. The 3rd pic I wasn’t sure if they were blueberries bc they looked slightly different. I guess they are called barrens due to the supposed lack of nutrients in the sandy soil. But everywhere you look there was food of some kind turkey and deer tracks in the sand everywhere. They do controlled burns here now and then. That’s why I asked you all about morel potential here last season. Trahn I bet this place is full of snakes. So what’s snake hunting all about? I never heard of it. Also found chickens 2 days in a row.


----------



## sb

Berry good pics!

Life is good . . . and then . . . it gets better!


----------



## trahn008

Barnacle. In PA it's legal with a permit to hunt and harvest one rattlesnake and one copperhead per season. The season runs from 2nd week of June to the end of July. The rattlesnake has to be legal which is it must be a male and be over 43inches. Check out some videos on youtube, the boys from leatherwoods outdoor have some great videos on how you tube, sex and measure snakes. Been doing this for a lot of years my largest snake is 58 inches skinned out. Don't really harvest any anymore but still like to hunt them. Happy Hunting!


----------



## PAtrapper37




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## steelernation

Barnacle - great berry spot! I'm planning on hitting my berry game lands one last time this afternoon, if the rain holds off. We don't have blueberries, though. The darker berries could probably be huckleberries. They are just as fine as the blueberries. Just be careful in sandy soil like that; it is usually 'chigger central', and those will make you remember the spot far longer than the berries will.


----------



## tommyjosh

70lbs of chants and 30lbs of blueberries


----------



## steelernation

Jeebus, Tommy! The things we'd do with that many chants and berries... Well done!


----------



## PAtrapper37




----------



## PAtrapper37




----------



## PAtrapper37

What do you guys think this one is? Couldn’t reach it but it was large...like a football...black in color except for like two inches along outside that were red...was fresh


----------



## sb

tommyjosh said:


> View attachment 9454
> 70lbs of chants and 30lbs of blueberries


Wasn't my Haul . . . but it tickled me none the less!

Hey, thanks for sharing. Mother Nature is so abundant!!


----------



## steelernation

PA - those last ones could be Red-belted Polypore. No great redeeming value to them medically.

The chicken you picked, I would have left, but to each their own. The older and more firm it gets, the harder it can be to digest, as it is getting woody. Hope that isn't the case on your end, and that you get enjoyment out of it. I know the feeling super-well on chicken: nearly always 3-5 days late, and a dollar short!

Busy with blackberries here, as the mushrooms haven't been getting enough rain. Picked nearly 16# of blackberries in the last 5 days, plus a couple-few pounds of black raspberries, so today was jelly-making day #1, and juicing evening. Jelly day #2 will soon follow, and then next week, with the remaining berries...blackberry brandy for the first time! It can age with the new batch of black walnut liqueur, and if I stumble into good crabapples...crabapple liqueur to try for the first time. Homemade liqueurs are great! Also made some kick-ass ginger ale syrup from scratch, and when you add a few tablespoons to a pint of seltzer, heaven!


----------



## PAtrapper37

They were tasty...no bugs...I’ll pick those all day...don’t bother me or my family...actually the only mushroom my daughter likes


----------



## celticcurl

steelernation said:


> It can age with the new batch of black walnut liqueur, and if I stumble into good crabapples...crabapple liqueur to try for the first time. Homemade liqueurs are great!


Oh gawd... now you've gone and done it... something new for me to try to make and I don't even drink! 

I have about 2 gallons of baby black walnuts brining on my counter tops at this moment. It tastes like A1 steak sauce when finished! I might have to try the crab apples too. I don't have a single mushroom to pick up here in southern MI at the moment. 

It's been another horrible year just like last year. It actually is a little worse this year because my July 17th chicken of the woods didn't produce at all this year. Last year there was about 100 pounds of which I only picked a few because most were too old.

I see no one has posted on the MI forum for weeks and weeks. That's how dry it's been. I guess the extreme NE LP is producing after getting major rain. Might have to find time for a few days up there!


----------



## sb

Steeler - Tell me about your Black Walnut Liquer.


----------



## beagleboy

All this rain we are getting in Snyder co. has some chants finally popping.


----------



## steelernation

Okay, here is the recipe that I used this time. I tried a more simple recipe last year, and even a year later, I believe it tastes like pink bubble gum... double-yewx3 dot epicurus dot com / beverages/category/liqueurs/liqueur-making is a really great starting point...

2 pounds green English walnuts, 1.5 inches or less in diameter (about 30)
750 milliliters 80-proof vodka
3.5 cups sugar
Zest of 1 lemon, in strips
Zest of 1 orange, in strips
5 cloves
1/4 whole nutmeg
1 heaping teaspoon whole dark-roast coffee beans

Quarter the walnuts and place them in a large glass jar, at least 3-quart capacity. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Don't worry that the sugar won't immediately dissolve. Seal the jar, and place it in a sunny place for 40 days. The liquid will first turn a sinister green, then black. Once every 10 days, agitate the jar by inverting it a time or two. You can taste the alcohol at any stage and add more aromatics if you like.

After 40 days, strain the contents of the jar through a damp jelly bag and catch the liquids in a bowl. Funnel the liqueur into scalded bottles, and seal. Store in a cool, dark place for several months; Lanza suggests opening them on All Saints' Day. Before serving, you may want to strain the liqueur through a coffee filter to remove sediments, but it isn't necessary to do so. The liqueur will keep indefinitely without refrigeration.

Like most liqueurs, nocino is easy but requires patience. You slice the nuts and cover them with strong booze, sugar, and spice, and allow the mixture to infuse for forty days, until it is nearly black. The real test of patience begins after you bottle it. Ten-year-old nocino is said to be the best, and certainly you would never drink this summer's batch before cold weather sets in this fall. Mature nocino has a complex flavor of nutmeg, allspice, coffee, and caramel. Drink it neat as a digestif or use it to flavor desserts. A few tablespoons of nocino lightly whisked into a cup of heavy cream will cause it to seize, as if magically transformed into cooked custard. The thickened cream is called "posset," and can be used as a sauce alongside cakes or other desserts.


----------



## sb

Steeler - In the last year, I've become reacquainted with Black Walnuts (as opposed to English Walnuts). I find the taste enchanting, in small quantities, perhaps like Blue Cheese.

So, question is: have you made the liqueur with Black Walnuts?

Steeler - thanks for the recipe. I'm going to try it with Black Walnuts.


----------



## steelernation

Oh, right...that recipe said English walnuts...well, I've used black, as that is what it should be. Yes, I really like the flavor, but not in everything (as opposed to how I like blue cheese ). Black walnut fudge was very good, but whole grain breakfast cereal with black walnuts was bad.


----------



## PAtrapper37




----------



## sb

Steeler - I use Black Walnuts in my cooked multi grain, multi nut, multi fruit, multi seed cooked cereal and I add them when I raid my wife's health version of cold box-cereal.

I found out that Grocery stores selling bagged, Hammons Black American Walnuts, subtitled: 'A Wild Harvest of Bold Rich Taste' are selling wild harvested Black Walnuts. Hammons is acting as a consolidator, packager, distributor of wild harvested American Black Walnuts.

Hammons has a schedule of places where they stop, throughout the eastern US, for a day or day-part and buy all Black Walnuts that anybody shows up to sell. So people come with pickup trucks loaded with black walnuts and sell them by the 100 lb unit. Last year Mother Nature was so prolific that Hammons added additional "buy locations & dates" to accommodate the bounty.

I even found a local Craigslist offer where an entreprenural person said he/she would clean up the Black Walnuts from a persons property for free -- if they had 3 Black Walnut trees or more!

Me . . . I just buy the Hammons 1/2 lb bags at the grocery, delight in the wonderfully woodsy ambrosia and wonder what mushrooms they would best pair with?

*Anyone got any good mushroom recipes that use Black Walnuts too? Please share.*


----------



## trahn008

Get ready for this weekend and next week should prove to be a banner mushroom week. All the rains that moved thru the state should really get them pushing. If you looking to fill your baskets get out and about! Happy Hunting!


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## steelernation

SB - I utilized Craigslist a few years ago to get walnuts from a number of places, as well as butternuts. I stained my fingers black husking them, and ran the dehydrator finishing them off. Then they sat around forever while I slowly cracked maybe a quart's worth and ignored the rest. I finally donated them to squirrels last fall, and never finished the ones in the fridge. Glad you get good use out of them.

Trahn - yeah, if I knew the eastern portion of the state any better, I'd do a road trip, but I don't. 6-8" of rain should do it.


----------



## beagleboy

I found these boletes today just can't get up the courage to taste them to see if they are bitter. They don't stain at all.


----------



## beagleboy

I also found this chicken and coral today. The chicken was on a white oak which apparently is not normal. It is also one with a white pore surface.


----------



## Beatnik88

A white pore surface is laetiporus Cincinnatus. I prefer them over laetiporus suplhureus.


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## PAtrapper37

I’ve never seen more oysters than I did yesterday...was in an area that was logged a few years back...lots of tops on ground...I couldn’t walk 20 yards without finding more...I literally left thousands lol...I couldn’t pick anymore


----------



## celticcurl

beagleboy said:


> I found these boletes today just can't get up the courage to taste them to see if they are bitter. They don't stain at all.
> View attachment 9518
> View attachment 9520
> View attachment 9522


I'm guessing they are not going to taste bitter. I taste test all the time... just take a little nip and chew it up and spit it out.


----------



## beagleboy

celticcurl said:


> I'm guessing they are not going to taste bitter. I taste test all the time... just take a little nip and chew it up and spit it out.


Do you have an idea what it is. My books show the boletes with a yellow spore surface and that don't stain blue are edible. They were in a mixed forest oak, beech, maple and jack pine growing on soil. There were jack pine and oak the same distance away. I had some chants in my bag so I didn't bring it home for a spore print.


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## beagleboy

PAtrapper37 said:


> View attachment 9554
> View attachment 9552
> View attachment 9550
> View attachment 9548
> I’ve never seen more oysters than I did yesterday...was in an area that was logged a few years back...lots of tops on ground...I couldn’t walk 20 yards without finding more...I literally left thousands lol...I couldn’t pick anymore


WOW! How do you preserve them.


----------



## PAtrapper37

Gave some away...trying my hand at some soup that I could freeze


----------



## beagleboy

PAtrapper37 said:


> Gave some away...trying my hand at some soup that I could freeze


I was wondering if they dehydrated well or if you should freeze them. Thanks.


----------



## Gibz

PAtrapper37 said:


> View attachment 9554
> View attachment 9552
> View attachment 9550
> View attachment 9548
> I’ve never seen more oysters than I did yesterday...was in an area that was logged a few years back...lots of tops on ground...I couldn’t walk 20 yards without finding more...I literally left thousands lol...I couldn’t pick anymore


Wow. That gives me an idea where to go in the morning


----------



## Gibz

Wow that gives me an idea where to go in the morning


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## beagleboy

Some chanterelle pins and a few oysters today, nothing like trapper's though.


----------



## Gibz

We did not get the rain live middle of the state did but manage a few chants and a chicken


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## beagleboy

Is this ginseng, found it on an east facing slope , fair number of plants.


----------



## Gibz

beagleboy said:


> Is this ginseng, found it on an east facing slope , fair number of plants.
> View attachment 9568


Sure is


----------



## beagleboy

Took a walk on a ridge in Mifflin co. this afternoon and found 3 chickens but this was the only one still good.


----------



## Barnacle

Found some perfect young chickens today. Fingers crossed for trumpets by the end of the week!


----------



## beagleboy

Somebody got to this chicken before I did.


----------



## beagleboy

Did find a fair amount of chanterelles in Snyder co. today.














Some were pretty buggy though.


----------



## PAtrapper37




----------



## beagleboy

The woods







behind my house are loaded with black staining polypore.







I heard they are edible but not very good.


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## beagleboy

This chicken feels just a little tough.


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## steelernation

Any chicken that is thin and flat like that will be tough. The best quality chicken is when it is full and rounded, juicy. Unfortunately, what you, PA, Barnacle have there is what I/we find much of the time...a few days late for the good stuff. But at least it provides food for insects and animals.


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## Gibz

This is slightly pale violet. But it is almost translucent. Not finding in my books or googl. Google. Any ideas


----------



## trahn008




----------



## trahn008




----------



## trahn008




----------



## trahn008

Gibz, color can be washed out with heavy rains with some mushrooms. With the pic you posted It would be hard for a positive ID. Type of Cordinarius maybe. Happy Hunting!!


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## trahn008

Smooth Chant


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## steelernation

Nice bicolors!

I've spent so much time out picking berries and now crab apples that I'm spent for now. I wish I had time to go through the Laurel Highlands, as there should be a great flush after all of that rain. Just this time of year in maybe 2013, we picked 35# of boletes, until we were sick of picking. Got lots of other stuff too. Go forth!

For those in the liqueur discussion, I just started crab apple cinnamon liqueur today, as well as juicing the rest for jelly. That makes 3 new liqueurs macerating right now. I'd like to try a couple more, but you have to stop at some point. Next month will be hard cider, anyways, and I want to try to find a way to do an easy pear cider (no carboy, hygrometer, yeast, etc.). Unpasteurized apple cider hardens in the fridge in about a month, and is amazing.


----------



## Gibz

trahn008 said:


> Gibz, color can be washed out with heavy rains with some mushrooms. With the pic you posted It would be hard for a positive ID. Type of Cordinarius maybe. Happy Hunting!!


Thanks


----------



## sb

Trahn - I'm officially jealous! Ha. Nice pics and nice Black Trumpets.

I went to SE Oh Friday and found a paltry half dozen chanterelles and some Boletes. It looked like the rains have yet to have any effect there.

Steeler - I checked out that website link. I'm trying to decide what Liqueur to make. Two days ago I did my 2nd stage on a half gallon of Reishi Extract. That should last me well into next year.

Hmnnn, though not a liqueur, I liked my Black Trumpet flavored Bourbon (in Jim Beam) of several years ago.


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## beagleboy

Found a lot of chanterelles in Mifflin co. today, a lot were too buggy. Left a lot in the woods,





















only ended up with about a pound.


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## Beatnik88

Picked about a pound of chants at my usual spot today. They were all large, fresh, and big free. I think the rains helped with a last flush. The total numbers are much less than a month ago so I feel like it's coming to an end here for chants. Still no black trumpets, but hens should be here in the next month.


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## beagleboy

Beatnik, good that yours are bug free. Last few years I didn't have as much of a problem with bugs as I am this year. This year some have so many tunnels that the stem is completely hollow.


----------



## beagleboy

Everything I have been finding so far has been smooth chants maybe that's the problem.


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## trahn008

My black trumpet spots where about 2 weeks late this year, they are just really starting. I've found black trumpets some years into late Sept. I've picked hens and trumpets together, there is two strains of trumpets and the only way to tell them apart is with a spore print, one is pink and the other is white. Happy Hunting!!


----------



## Barnacle

Great pics trahn! Happy to finally see trumpets are around. 
Took my bow hunters safety course all day Saturday. They had us outside following a fake blood trail as a group. I was totally looking for trumpets instead( no luck). I did however find & pick a bunch of boletes during the tree stand demo. I wasn’t the only one either, spotted an old timer in the class picking as well. Have not identified them yet.


----------



## RAU

Found some chanterelles in Luzerne county


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## beagleboy

I found a large log of turkey tail that is fresh, when is the best time of the year to harvest it or doesn't it matter. I am thinking of drying it.


----------



## PAtrapper37

My 9 year old artist son will be happy


----------



## trahn008

beagleboy said:


> I found a large log of turkey tail that is fresh, when is the best time of the year to harvest it or doesn't it matter. I am thinking of drying it.


 Beagle, they say coming out of winter is the best time to harvest. I harvest them when ever I find them. Happy Hunting!


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## jack

PAtrapper37 said:


> View attachment 9836
> 
> My 9 year old artist son will be happy


Don't forget to show us his wonderful work !!


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## beagleboy

There were hundreds of these on the top of a mtn. in Mifflin co. Not sure what they are.


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## steelernation

Beagle - Orange Coral species, clavulinopsis family. Not edible, but pretty.


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## RAU

More chanterelles!!


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## Barnacle

PAtrapper37 said:


> View attachment 9836
> 
> My 9 year old artist son will be happy


Yes, post pics of what he does with them.


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## Barnacle

My phone got wet a little wet today while shrooming. It’s acting crazy now. I’m thinking of putting it in the Excalibur. Any thoughts from Excalibur users? It barely got wet, just a few rain drops. They must have hit the perfect spots to get inside the housing.


----------



## Kicker

Out for about an hour today. The woods are full of mushrooms. Works been busy and haven't been out much. Brought some home to I'd. Found my first black trumpets.


----------



## Barnacle

Congrats kicker on your first trumpets! They were very difficult for me at first. Looks like you found a yellow foot chanterelle at the top. Lactarius at the left & some kind of amanita with the bumpy cap. some other shroomers I ran into today said they thought the purple ones were either cortinarias? Or blewits? All are just guesses of course. Your right the woods are loaded with mushrooms! The most I've ever seen! Some the size of frisbee's that I think were porcini which has me very excited because I've never found one.


----------



## Kicker

Thanks Barnacle. I knew the top one was a chant. I didn't know what kind. Loads of them but lots are tiny. The one on the right is a two colored bolete.


----------



## Barnacle

The Excalibur worked! I love that thing! So here’s some pics from yesterday. I’m wondering if these big ones could be porcini. There’s a couple of picks with a trumpet next to a bolete and the trumpet is the same color as the bolete like it’s camouflaged. It may be spores that dropped on it though. All the trumpets right near it were completely different colors.


----------



## Barnacle

Jack-o- lanterns, old man of the woods? Yellow foots everywhere yesterday.
































































Trumpets I found were black , grey, and tan. Not sure what what the differences are.


----------



## Kicker

I think the second pic is cinnabae-red chants. Seen a lot of boletes with white mold on them.







last one looks like chicken-fat suillus which is 10 feet from my house under a white pine.


----------



## beagleboy

Barnacle I saved my phone years ago by taking the battery out and using a hair dryer on it (the phone) but never tried a dehydrator.


----------



## beagleboy

Took my grandson out to pick some chants today and he found these old man of the woods. He said they looked like they had chocolate chips in them.


----------



## beagleboy

We also found this today. I think it is














a destroying angel.


----------



## beagleboy

The area we hunted today has just about any kind of mushrooms you want. In the spring I found Morels and dryads, later on I found Reshi. then in June I found chickens and July, black trumpets, now chants and boletes. All in about 1 square mi.


----------



## trahn008

Barnacle, wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it.. That is a crazy color trumpet... crazy!! Learn something new every day. Congrats on a cool find... Happy Hunting!


----------



## trahn008

Beagle that is crazy also, finding all those strains in a square mile, you just don't see that forest diversity very often. Happy Hunting!!


----------



## trahn008

Kicker those are some crazy BIG cinnabarinus chants. When you get crazy rains, you could expect crazy things. Did I say crazy a lot!!!LOL...Happy Hunting!!


----------



## Gibz

trahn008 said:


> Beagle that is crazy also, finding all those strains in a square mile, you just don't see that forest diversity very often. Happy Hunting!!


Trahn, good to keep learning. I was beginning to think some areas were just "mushroomy" I was probably getting into a rut going back to the same spots because I found a lot of variety at them


----------



## steelernation

A LOT has to do with the soil and overall forest quality. The best mushrooming areas we go to also happen to be old growth/mature forests, and places with good soil (not much packed earth/clay). Now, in some cases, like with morels, it just goes with the trees, regardless of age/clay, but where I've gotten the most boletes, hens, chickens, trumpets, reishi, etc., the forest has been more or less left alone to operate as a forest should. In a related rant, people who think they can "manage" a "healthy forest" are delusional, on the whole. The best soil is in good mature forests that are left alone. You can't improve on nature's abilities to integrate!


----------



## PAtrapper37




----------



## PAtrapper37

Are these red chanterelles? Found a spot where they are starting to pop up...they are white inside when cut in half


----------



## Barnacle

I’ve been finding lots of these boletes that are in great shape and think some might be kings and the others queens? The North American guide to boletes says there is some variation in color in them. I haven’t figured out the best way to use the book yet. Is anyone else finding kings or queens or any choice edible boletes? I’d love to see pics. Notice the one pic with the acorn that fell into the bolete and is being engulfed as it grows.


----------



## Barnacle

Sunday’s trumpets. Some random stuff. Anyone have a clue as to what the lady 3 pics of the vibrant blue gilled mushrooms are? I should have took one the spore print.


----------



## trahn008

Barnacle, look into Lactarius Indigo.


----------



## trahn008

PA, Yes red chantrelle also called Cinnabar. Happy Hunting!


----------



## beagleboy

I am finding chanterelles almost every time I go out, but most are buggy. Is anyone else having this problem, or is it just my areas.


----------



## supplyguy1973

Barnacle said:


> View attachment 10100
> View attachment 10102
> View attachment 10104
> View attachment 10106
> View attachment 10108
> View attachment 10110
> View attachment 10114
> 
> Sunday’s trumpets. Some random stuff. Anyone have a clue as to what the lady 3 pics of the vibrant blue gilled mushrooms are? I should have took one the spore print.


The blue one is an Indigo Milky, time to make some green eggs and ham


----------



## trahn008

Yep Beagel have some bug problems also. I just jump around to different area's and try to find the fresh up ones. Happy Hunting!


----------



## Barnacle

Thanks guys on the lactarius ID! Here’s today’s trumpets. Picture 2 & 3 i think are good examples of where I find lots of good stuff “edges” (thanks again trahn). Stuff just seems to nestle into areas like this. I had to pick fast and dirty today, I got caught up in a big thunderstorm. Good thing I had rain gear in my pack. Also pickled some more boletes. I wish the North American bolete book was organized differently. I end up flipping back an fourth to much, it’s so tedious. My mushrooms are going to spoil before I can figure out if they’re edible!


----------



## steelernation

Those look like Lilac Boletes, for the most part, so try there, as there are variations. Is there white/rosy reticulation on the upper parts of the stalks? There are a handful of boletes that share the same locations and fruiting times that we've found, and they are all delicious. I've always tried to 100% ID things I eat, but the few times I haven't are when they are boletes, and they narrowed down to 2-3 species, and all were edible. Luckily, they keep in the fridge very well. The bitter ones are obvious, and the only bad ones around here are Red-mouthed Bolete or the B. pseudosensibilus, the fake Bi-color. What you have there looks like a great few meals! Wish I had time to hit my old bolete spots, but Augusts are really bad for me. It's a shame, as boletes are just about my favorite mushrooms. Enjoy!


----------



## steelernation

This was our best haul from 5-6 years ago...35# of boletes!


----------



## PAtrapper37

I could pick a bunch of those too barnacle


----------



## PAtrapper37

Found a dozen of these...guess I’ll give them a go...you guys enjoy eating them?


----------



## PAtrapper37

Getting into more red chanterelles too...grassy areas in woods on ridge top...mostly shag bark hickory


----------



## Gibz

PAtrapper37 said:


> View attachment 10144
> View attachment 10142
> View attachment 10140
> 
> Getting into more red chanterelles too...grassy areas in woods on ridge top...mostly shag bark hickory


I've been finding these as well, but get confused or cautious between the definition of ridges and when it crosses to gills. I see these, and the ones I find run down the stem and branch somewhat but definitely have more flex than the ridges on Golden Chants. Back to the books for me. I've been letting these in the woods!


----------



## trahn008

PAtrapper37 said:


> View attachment 10138
> Found a dozen of these...guess I’ll give them a go...you guys enjoy eating them?


 PA, I like to eat them.


----------



## beagleboy

Found these today, light green cap. Trees that were close are oak, white pine and maple growing on ground. Any ideas. I thought maybe a type of russula


----------



## beagleboy

Also found this its a russula emetica I think being parasitized by another fungus. Do you think it could turn into a lobster mushroom. I read that is how they form but this doesn't look like the right color.


----------



## Barnacle

I found 2 new trumpet spots today on lunch break. Might be my best spots yet! Have not tried the old mans yet but they looked so perfect I had to pick a couple. Also found a couple lobsters and picked some of the indigo lactarius. Filled half my basket again with trumpets. 

So the bolete book under edibility, says that the lilac brown boletes are poisonous. but then a line or two later says under comments, that many field guides list them as edible. Steeler I’m not sure about the reticulation pattern they’re buried under trumpets in the fridge but I think some did have some reddish starting at the base but got more white towards the top. The new baby keeps me busy it’s a miracle I’ve had time to pick at all. Note the time of day I’m typing this.

PA have you been eating those regular boletes (not the old mans)?


----------



## PAtrapper37

I have not been eating bolettes...if I had someone to walk with me who knew them I’m sure we could pick hundreds...they are everywhere


----------



## steelernation

Barnacle - I see your dilemma there with the book: somehow, N.A. Boletes doesn't list Lilac Bolete as a common name. A huge oversight there, I'm sure. But no matter; Bill Roody has it in his Mushrooms of WV and Central Appalachia (I must-buy, if you don't have it already). You're looking up Lilac-brown Bolete, which is not what you have. Those have brownish pore surfaces and no whitish coloration. What I think you have (check to be 100%) should be Xanthoconium separans, which is in N.A. Boletes. That is the Lilac Bolete. There is a good chance you are finding Xanthoconium affine around them, as we always did. Both are very good to eat.

So check out X. separans, see how you make out.

PA, I'd check your boletes with you, if I had time and if I lived within 30-40 miles of you. There is a lot of good food in that!


----------



## sb

beautiful pics barnacle


----------



## steelernation

P.S. on the Old Man boletes: they usually turn into black mush when cooked, and are definitely unremarkable. If you want to eat them to have them on your wild eaten list, there you go. But in a family of fantastic 'shrooms, they're prettier in the woods than on the plate.


----------



## PAtrapper37

Ate the old man yesterday...definitely not pretty but I enjoyed them


----------



## steelernation

Oh, good. How did you prepare them? It's been so long since we tried them that I don't even remember. Thanks.


----------



## trahn008

This year is the best trumpet year I have ever seen 35 years! Crazy! Happy Hunting!


----------



## pchunter1231

trahn008 said:


> This year is the best trumpet year I have ever seen 35 years! Crazy! Happy Hunting!
> View attachment 10228
> View attachment 10230
> View attachment 10232
> View attachment 10234


You make me jealous with all your mushroom pics lol. Last year i was finding trumpets like that everywhere but slim pickins this year. Actually my spots are just now starting to show some sign. I am not familiar with Biolete mushroom. Which are the best edible ones? Thanks


----------



## steelernation

I think 3-4 years ago, I/we picked just over 30 pounds of black trumpets. Yeah, over a bathtub's worth! We still have plenty of dried ones from that haul.

There are a lot of tasty boletes: king (of course), bicolor, chestnut, different suillus species, birch bolete, lilac and other Xanthoconium species, Frost's, and even more that I'm forgetting. It is a fantastic genus.


----------



## Barnacle

steelernation said:


> Barnacle - I see your dilemma there with the book: somehow, N.A. Boletes doesn't list Lilac Bolete as a common name. A huge oversight there, I'm sure. But no matter; Bill Roody has it in his Mushrooms of WV and Central Appalachia (I must-buy, if you don't have it already). You're looking up Lilac-brown Bolete, which is not what you have. Those have brownish pore surfaces and no whitish coloration. What I think you have (check to be 100%) should be Xanthoconium separans, which is in N.A. Boletes. That is the Lilac Bolete. There is a good chance you are finding Xanthoconium affine around them, as we always did. Both are very good to eat.
> 
> So check out X. separans, see how you make out.
> 
> PA, I'd check your boletes with you, if I had time and if I lived within 30-40 miles of you. There is a lot of good food in that!


Thanks SB. 
Steeler, Appreciate the tip on the Bolete book. 
Trahn, great pics. Your said it, trumpets are nuts right now. I scored huge today! My pics don't do it justice. Filled my creel and then some! Literally had to cram them in the basket and strap the lid shut. This year I am finding that I am better off covering ground at a quicker pace because there have been so many big patches that I have been stumbling upon. Whereas normally I find a couple trumpets on a steep hillside and spend an hour painstakingly scanning it for a few here or there. 
Found a bunch more indigo milkys. Lots of lobsters today many past prime. The way they grow under ground makes them a bit tricky to find. Really have to dig them up.


----------



## trahn008

Love the pics Barnacle.. Lobsters are one mushroom I just don't find many, and I really like to eat them. Yes the pics of the trumpets just don't cover the mass fruiting. Every patch I hit it took over an hour to pick, I ran out of time and rained heavy. Thank god for the rain we need it!!LOL..... Happy Hunting!


----------



## trahn008

My most interesting find yesterday where these. Flammulina velutipes (velvet shank mushroom), I’ve grown these mushrooms and know they look different with growth temp range. I usually find these in late fall sometimes with snow on the ground and they don’t look the same. You could also buy these mushrooms at the market as Enokitake. Not 100 sure this is what they are but i’m 95. Just never saw these grow in this temp range and they look different, what do you all think?


----------



## trahn008

steelernation said:


> There are a lot of tasty boletes: king (of course), bicolor, chestnut, different suillus species, birch bolete, lilac and other Xanthoconium species, Frost's, and even more that I'm forgetting. It is a fantastic genus.


 I agree SN... Bolete's are a life long study group. I'm average with them. We do have a lot of good bolete, you did list in another post the simple keys and are spot on. One just needs to be brave to do some tasting, just little bites. I love to eat kings raw, most never make it out of the woods. Happy Hunting!!


----------



## beagleboy

I found a large area of trumpets in the beginning of july and haven't found any since. Finding loads of boletes but I am not good enough at keys to trust eating any yet. Many chanterelles but buggy.


----------



## sb

trahn008 said:


> View attachment 10256
> View attachment 10258
> My most interesting find yesterday where these. Flammulina velutipes (velvet shank mushroom) what do you all think?


Trahn - Over here in Central OH (Buckeye Nation!) they usually have, or rather, I'm remembering them having, stems that are a consistent width and stem texture that is finer. Also, seems the gill density is greater on the on in your pic, perhaps.

Furry looking stem, huh! Could the stem have gotten parasitized? The first pic has a small patch of the stem covering torn off it looks like.

Interesting mystery. Please share any further insights.

Oh yea . . . I'm jealous of the mega quantities of beautiful Black Trumpets showing up over there in PA (my birth state)!!


----------



## trahn008




----------



## steelernation

Oh yeah, Jelly Babies always lead me to trumpets.


----------



## Barnacle

More pics from yesterday


----------



## sb

great pics, all.


----------



## Barnacle

My 4yr old and I filled another half basket today. He's been wanting to come out with me lately. I new it was only for the snacks though, and that I would have to carry him up every hill on my shoulders. Oh well the more outdoor time with the kid the better and I figured carrying him is good practice for upcoming hunting season. Trahn do you have any opinions on custom string makers?


----------



## trahn008

PA, first time picking trumpets? If so congrats! I freakin love them!!


----------



## trahn008

Barnacle, not sure what is out there as far as bow strings, I just take mine to the local bow shop and they make them.


----------



## steelernation

Barnacle - the bolete with the curved stalk might be a Bitter Bolete. They tend to have a pale cinnamon look to the cap and the pore layer. The smaller purplish ones may or may not be another species of bolete that is bitter. The easy thing is to just slice/pinch off a fingernail sliver of bolete, chew on it for a moment, spit it out and wait to see if it is bitter. Standard Bitter Boletes can be huge and prolific, inciting much swearing. Red-mouths can be similarly common, and always insect-free...

Boy, we had loads of rain here in SW PA, but in the couple of short trips I've taken into our local woods, I've found pretty much nothing.


----------



## trahn008

Yep SN I take a bite out of every bolete that doesn't stain blue or has red spore surface. It drives me crazy when you find a nice flush of perfect boletes and they end up being bitter. Was out today just looking for boletes and most where to far gone from the rain, the perfect ones where bitters. Happy Hunting!!


----------



## trahn008

sb said:


> Furry looking stem, huh! Could the stem have gotten parasitized? The first pic has a small patch of the stem covering torn off it looks like.


 Just don't think it's parasitized, but not sure. The gills do look denser, but do follow that some not attached pattern. This strain is a crazy one, the cooler the temps the less dense it grows. Kind of opposite of most mushroom strains.


----------



## PAtrapper37

Yeah trahn they are my first...been looking hard and found three batches of them yesterday...and man were they delicious


----------



## trahn008

Didn’t show in pic but this chicken had a pink color to it. On hemlock didn’t harvest. Happy Hunting!


----------



## Thor

Been drowning in chanterelles and black trumpets this week. Every short outing bring in another bag full. Found in old, moist beech and oak dominated forests in Montgomery County PA.

Delish.


----------



## Thor

PAtrapper37 said:


> View attachment 8692
> View attachment 8690
> My buddy just found these...any ideas?


Looks like berkeley's polypore. Or possibly black staining pp.


----------



## Thor

Cooked up the edges of this especially thin and tender Berkeley's Polypore. A little tough but made great omelets.


----------



## Thor

sb said:


> Trahn - Over here in Central OH (Buckeye Nation!) they usually have, or rather, I'm remembering them having, stems that are a consistent width and stem texture that is finer. Also, seems the gill density is greater on the on in your pic, perhaps.
> 
> Furry looking stem, huh! Could the stem have gotten parasitized? The first pic has a small patch of the stem covering torn off it looks like.
> 
> Interesting mystery. Please share any further insights.
> 
> Oh yea . . . I'm jealous of the mega quantities of beautiful Black Trumpets showing up over there in PA (my birth state)!!


I'm finding tons that look exactly like this this week. Old beech forest in montco PA. Very furry stems. Oddball mushroom?


----------



## Thor

Thor said:


> I'm finding tons that look exactly like this this week. Old beech forest in montco PA. Very furry stems. Oddball mushroom?


Actually, from further poking around, I'm thinking it might be 
*Tapinella atrotomentosa *(velvet roll-rim or velvet-footed pax) - a gilled bolete.


----------



## Thor

PAtrapper37 said:


> View attachment 10290
> 
> Found some trumpets today


Heads up... you've got your name and address on the mail in this pic. Might want to edit and re-post to avoid ID fraud.


----------



## sb

Thor - from looking at a selection of pics identified as such (*Tapinella atrotomentosa)*, I think you solved the mystery. Thanks for contributing.


----------



## trahn008

Thor said:


> I'm finding tons that look exactly like this this week. Old beech forest in montco PA. Very furry stems. Oddball mushroom?


 Thor, is this the first time you ever found them? Was the first time I've ever seen them. I think you are right with the ID thanks. Happy Hunting!


----------



## Thor

trahn008 said:


> Thor, is this the first time you ever found them? Was the first time I've ever seen them. I think you are right with the ID thanks. Happy Hunting!


Heh. I'm afraid the hard-won experience from my illustrious foraging career of nearly two weeks won't offer much in the way of additional insights about how common these are.


----------



## trahn008

Thor said:


> Heh. I'm afraid the hard-won experience from my illustrious foraging career of nearly two weeks won't offer much in the way of additional insights about how common these are.


 LOL... Your off to a good start!


----------



## PAtrapper37

Getting the hang of finding trumpets


----------



## Barnacle

Welcome aboard Thor! Great pics. 
Guess what I'm doing tonight.
This bolete caught my eye today. It's got two stems and one cap. Filled about 2 more baskets on my way home from work.
Trahn you really don't wash the trumpets first? Do you process them at all prior to going in the Excalibur?


----------



## Barnacle

PA, I have really good luck on trails that follow ravines with hemlock. Right at the edge of the drop offs on either side of the trail trumpets seem to pop up. Even right on the trail especially where the roots of the trees stick up across the trail. Then I follow them into the woods or down the ravine. Good luck!


----------



## trahn008

Barnacle I don't wash them, when I'm picking them I pull the trumpet from the ground and pinch off the bottom they stay clean.


----------



## trahn008

That's a nice haul of trumpets by the way Barnacle!! Happy Hunting!


----------



## trahn008

Barnacle the problem I've been having is with all this rain I'm not able to sun dry any of my trumpets. What I usually do is put some cardboard down on the ground and sun dry them during the day and dehydrate them at night. This helps reduce them so I can fill all trays of Excalibur, but I've been doing every other due to no sun drying and it's taking a long time. I even tried to set up racks and blow a fan across them, but doesn't work as good as sun drying first.


----------



## trahn008

Barnacle, that bolete looks like Tylopilus Ferrugineus, post it in the Bolete Study Thread.


----------



## pchunter1231

What a haul Barnacle. Good grief. LOL you have a lot of work to do now. Hopefully i can get out this week. With us getting pounded with rain and kids sports its been tough to get out. Happy hunting


----------



## PAtrapper37




----------



## Kicker

I believe these might be sharp-scaly pholiota. Neat looking.


----------



## Kicker




----------



## Thor

Kicker said:


> View attachment 10464


Stunning!


----------



## beagleboy

I finally found another area with trumpets. Not as many as Barnacle but enough for a skillet of potatoes, onions, eggs and trumpets for breakfast.


----------



## beagleboy

I also found these today. I will give a guess on them, the first picture I think is a type of lactarius, 3rd picture is jelly babies, 4th picture is old man of the woods, and the last picture I have no idea.


----------



## Barnacle

pchunter1231 said:


> What a haul Barnacle. Good grief. LOL you have a lot of work to do now. Hopefully i can get out this week. With us getting pounded with rain and kids sports its been tough to get out. Happy hunting


Thanks , that’s not all from one outing though. It’s my whole season so far roughly 2 weeks, although the majority is from this week. I was fortunate last year to find dozens of patches. They were dried up and moldy but at least I knew where I could find them!

Trahn, I am working on some submissions to the bolete study. I’m glad you started that thread!

Kicker love those pics. Keep them coming!


----------



## DanCB

trahn008 said:


> View attachment 10256
> View attachment 10258
> My most interesting find yesterday where these. Flammulina velutipes (velvet shank mushroom), I’ve grown these mushrooms and know they look different with growth temp range. I usually find these in late fall sometimes with snow on the ground and they don’t look the same. You could also buy these mushrooms at the market as Enokitake. Not 100 sure this is what they are but i’m 95. Just never saw these grow in this temp range and they look different, what do you all think?


Hi, all.....my first post here. I think these are Fuzzy Foot ( Paxillus atrotomentosus ). Please don't eat them; refer to page 92 of Bill Russell's Field Guide to Wild Mushrooms of PA and the Mid-Atlantic.


----------



## trahn008

Dan thanks 4 the heads up. I don't eat any mushrooms I'm not 100% sure of.


----------



## trahn008

DanCB said:


> Hi, all.....my first post here. I think these are Fuzzy Foot ( Paxillus atrotomentosus ). Please don't eat them; refer to page 92 of Bill Russell's Field Guide to Wild Mushrooms of PA and the Mid-Atlantic.


 http://www.mushroomexpert.com/tapinella_atrotomentosa.html


----------



## steelernation

Perhaps this website wouldn't be spammed so much if they didn't have 1000 ads on here. Those things are portals for idiots...


----------



## beagleboy

Found a large area of chants this morning. Most were buggy but saved enough for a meal.


----------



## Barnacle

Found a few big ones tonight just before dark. Check out this one that has another type of mushroom growing or fused right into it. I didn't notice it until I got home Bc it was so dark. Have to look these suckers over good! Wouldn't want to eat some random mushrooms accidentally.


----------



## Beatnik88

After five years of searching I finally found my trumpets!


----------



## Barnacle

Congrats beat! Must have felt good. I bet you start finding them all over now. That's how it was for me last year. I scored big today, my biggest trumpet haul ever! I had to go back to my car and empty my basket 4 times. I'm only halfway through dehydrating that table full of trumpets from the other day. The glass jars is what I've got done so far. Seems like things are going to slow down soon though many were shriveled up today. Found a few hedgehogs also. Any suggestions on eating the lobster mushrooms?


----------



## beagleboy

Starting to find some fresh oysters again. Chickens and oysters are the only ones my wife likes, but she does drink the reishi tea and we are making some reishi tincture right now. Barnacle I can't find the one in the center of your basket in the top picture above. Is it edible. lol


----------



## steelernation

I guess we are to assume that Morels.com is taking a three-day weekend here and are letting the spam run rampant...

Went out for 20-30 minutes yesterday and found nothing but a few oysters that hadn't gotten chewed up. We haven't had as much rain as out east, but other than oysters here and there, I haven't seen anything in my area in W. PA. Not that I've had much time to look, but even driving by places I've seen stuff this time of year before.


----------



## Barnacle

Another good but tough day on a steep hillside. Some chant and tons of trumpets.


----------



## Kicker

Went for a bike and hike today


----------



## beagleboy

Took the beagle for a walk this evening and found a chicken and these white ones that look like a puffball but they were kind of depressed on the top. The bottom picture is the bottom of the mushroom. Any ideas.


----------



## Barnacle

Went to my golden chanterelles spot that I have ignored for at least a month now. It’s a huge producer of the Golden’s and sure enough they were everywhere. Many had soft stems so I new they were worm riddled. Oh well, I figured I’d take a walk and see if anything else might be around. This is only my second year at this area but I’ve searched the area dozens of times last season never finding anything other than the Golden’s. TODAY HOWEVER, the mother load of mature smooth chants. Patch after patch of them also some really nice lobsters and old man of the forests. I forgot my phone but will get pics tomorrow. I only had time to pick a basket full. They all that I took were worm free. Those 2 jars have 6-7 lbs of trumpets squeezed into them. Unfortunately carrying that much weight in a mesh bag really beat them so I just dried them all to save them. Lesson learned.


----------



## sb

Nice haul, barnacle.

I'm going out tomorrow morning early in Central OH. to the spot that has been producing huge numbers of Chanterelles for me. This is the best year in 4-5 it seems, here.

Hope they (administrators) get the hacker/spam/chinese problem cleared up.


----------



## Barnacle

Yeah, it was a welcome change of pace picking something other than trumpets. I did find a Handful right next to one of my miatake trees. Good luck!


----------



## pchunter1231

I have been checking my Chant and black trumpet spots since last month and was starting to wonder if they were going to pop. This past week has been a big turnaround. Last year i was picking trumpets and chants like crazy in the middle of july but this year they are way late. Picked about 5lbs of trumpets the last 2 days and about 10lbs of chants. Happy hunting


----------



## Beatnik88

beagleboy said:


> Took the beagle for a walk this evening and found a chicken and these white ones that look like a puffball but they were kind of depressed on the top. The bottom picture is the bottom of the mushroom. Any ideas.
> View attachment 10614
> View attachment 10616
> View attachment 10618
> View attachment 10620


Those are aborted entalomas beagle


----------



## beagleboy

Thanks Beatnik, my one book says edible with caution. Hard to find the thread with all this spam.


----------



## Beatnik88

beagleboy said:


> Thanks Beatnik, my one book says edible with caution. Hard to find the thread with all this spam.


Yea, entalomas as a genus contain several poisonous species. The aborted version actually seems to be honey mushrooms that have become parasitized by entaloma mycelium and are edible


----------



## beagleboy

I think this chicken of the woods is the cincinnatius variety because it was growing on the ground and had white pores but the coloring on the top was more like the sulphureus. It was pretty old.


----------



## jg010682

That I would say is lataporus cincinnatus but looks old


----------



## tommyjosh

I’ll just leave this here


----------



## steelernation

Yeah, that's a lot of chicken, but none seems too fresh. For some, that's around the point that it becomes chalky and harder to digest. A respectable amount...

Yes, I thought that was an aborted ent, but it seems surprising to see it so early. I usually don't see them here until the Honeys are ready to come up, Octoberish.


----------



## Beatnik88

steelernation said:


> Yeah, that's a lot of chicken, but none seems too fresh. For some, that's around the point that it becomes chalky and harder to digest. A respectable amount...
> 
> Yes, I thought that was an aborted ent, but it seems surprising to see it so early. I usually don't see them here until the Honeys are ready to come up, Octoberish.


Same here, I usually start to see them mid to late September. Hopefully that means maitake may start early as well.


----------



## steelernation

I checked my one big maitake spot last weekend, and nothing. Damn mushrooms just don't behave like you think they will


----------



## pchunter1231

Went for a walk yesterday in an area i havent stepped foot in yet and found about 3lbs of golden Chants that were just huge and a nice haul of cinnabar chants and some of them were nice sized as well. Also found 10 Ginseng plants with 5 being legal size for harvest Going to another area today. Happy hunting


----------



## jack

Beatnik88 said:


> Yea, entalomas as a genus contain several poisonous species. The aborted version actually seems to be honey mushrooms that have become parasitized by entaloma mycelium and are edible


Both the aborted entoloma and the non-aborted are good to eat. Just make sure of your Id. on the non-aborted. To be safe, just pick the non-aborted when the aborted are in the area.


----------



## beagleboy

Thanks for all the information on the aborted entoloma and the id. I am not going to harvest it though. But can you tell me does it usually appear in the same spot each year.


----------



## steelernation

I've found that it does stay faithful to areas, as honey mushrooms tend to come back year after year. I've noticed that ents lead me to honeys, sometimes a few days before, but a decent indicator. Hope that helps you. Cheers.


----------



## Beatnik88

Last chants of the season


----------



## supplyguy1973

Beatnik88 said:


> Last chants of the season


I got some today, had to leave a lot out because they were too far gone


----------



## beagleboy

Same here, I found 2 large areas filled with chants today but most were too far gone, barely got enough for a meal.





















But I did find a new spot for next year.


----------



## Beatnik88

Anyone spot any hens yet? I just saw a post on Facebook claiming someone found their first batch for the year.


----------



## Beatnik88

Anyone spot any hens yet? I just saw a post on Facebook claiming someone found their first batch for the year.


----------



## trahn008

Some hens show up early, but I’m sure most are black stainers. Have not been out looking yet but will start looking middle to end of Sept. Happy Hunting!


----------



## snowbrdr1220

Well I had a couple extra days off after the holiday today, so went out to look for hens starting at my best spot ahead of the coming rain and cooler temps. Found one tree with three of them and picked two for dinner tonight. Normally I would leave ones this small, but they were only two feet off of a well used bike trail in a western PA park. So almost gauranteed to be gone by this weekend if I didn't take them. They are so tender and clean looking too, I couldnt resist.

Left one other small one on that same tree, found a small one on a nearby tree that I left, and found a baby one just breaking through the ground at a third. I checked many big oak trees that get hens in this area, but that was all I found.

Thought I would find a bunch of fresh chanterelles to eat tonight, but only found two that were a lil dried out. Never works out the way I think it will when mushroom hunting. Good luck hunting, I love to see the pics posted on here!


----------



## PAtrapper37




----------



## trahn008

PA, lions mane.. Love them. Congrats!


----------



## PAtrapper37

I’ll be 40 in a month...getting too old to climb trees lol


----------



## steelernation

Wow, the Hericium hat trick! Is it cooler where you are? It's been in the low 90s in WPA for days, and I don't think anything is growing here right now. Great job there!


----------



## beagleboy

I went out to see if I could find any hen of the woods, none found, must still be too hot in my area. I did find these edibles even though I haven't tried the old man of the woods yet.


----------



## PAtrapper37

It’s been super hot


----------



## PAtrapper37




----------



## Beatnik88

Trahan, I never thought in my life I would correct you, but that's actually bear's head tooth, not lion's mane. Still a hericium, but coralloides, not erinaceum.


----------



## trahn008

Your right Beat. I just group them all in mane title. Happy Hunting!


----------



## trahn008

PA, not sure if you have eaten those Hericium yet but you'll be climbing those trees. To me they have two different tastes, when you eat them hot they have a pork taste and when you let them cool they have a seafood taste. Slice them about 1/4 inch and cook them with butter don't over cook. Great eating mushroom!! Happy Hunting!


----------



## beagleboy

Is this a blewit? The picture doesn't show it but the gills are purple and the cap is a cream color. Spore print was very light, almost white. I found these near oak and hemlock growing on the ground.


----------



## PAtrapper37

I did eat them trahn...they were delicious...my wife’s new favorite...she loves scallops and she said they reminded her of that


----------



## snowbrdr1220

beagleboy said:


> I went out to see if I could find any hen of the woods, none found, must still be too hot in my area.


I found that hen I posted above on a 90+ degree day recently, and have found them at the the end of August before in the heat other years too, surprisingly in excellent condition. That is why I went out looking the other day. I know the cooler temps are more favorable, but they can be found early and in the heat too. I like to look in public parks early (late August / early September), before others are out foraging around for them.

Last year at the same location as that one I posted above; I looked during the first weekend of September, maybe 9/2 or 9/3 2017, and came across freshly cut hen stumps at the base of seven or eight different oak trees. They looked like they were all cut fresh that morning. Then I found one after walking a little ways further. I hope this year is a good one for hens, I plan on preserving some. Good luck hunting!


----------



## trahn008

beagleboy said:


> Is this a blewit? The picture doesn't show it but the gills are purple and the cap is a cream color. Spore print was very light, almost white. I found these near oak and hemlock growing on the ground.
> View attachment 11102
> View attachment 11104
> View attachment 11106


 Beagle, I do think it is a Clitocybe, but not a nuda. The Blewit has a pink spore print and tend to fruit in much cooler temps. Hey PA got me pumped up, think I'm hitting the woods in the am. Happy Hunting!!


----------



## trahn008

Snow, welcome... When posting pics please post them in full image. Looking at your pics which makes it hard with thumbnail pics, looks like what you have is not a Grinfola Frondosa but Meripilus Giganteus. Hen vs black staining polypore. The only reason I think this, it's really hot and look to have some black staining on the bottom of some of the lower parts. Did it darken up as you handled it? Happy Hunting!


----------



## trahn008

PA, did you do the back/ feet climb on that tree?? LOL


----------



## snowbrdr1220

Trahn, thanks... You should be able to click on the thumbnails to see them in full size. Here is a full size pic though.

I don't believe it was a black staining polypore. Possibly a different edible sub species of grifola frondosa? I think its grifola frondosa though. It was grayish on top and very white underneith. When I got home I rinsed it off, tore into a few pieces, and scraped the underside of one a bit, let it sit out for well over an hour before cooking it. It was very good. Sauteed it in garlic butter and added to some baked mac and cheese.

I'm hoping the rain and cooler temps this weekend really make them pop over the next couple of weeks. I like adding them on pizza & burgers or tossing with pastas too. How does everyone else like to cook their hens?


----------



## steelernation

Yeah, that is definitely hen.

Yep, on homemade pizza, sautéed, I've done schnitzel with them (fantastic...) with hen gravy (no chicken).


----------



## trahn008

Yep sure is a hen. I like to break them down into leaflets and flour egg and bread crumb them and deep fry. Congrats!


----------



## trahn008




----------



## PAtrapper37

Trahn I was able to put my back against one and shimmy my feet up other to get up to it...definitely worth it lol


----------



## Kicker

Finally found some chicken. Also saw some puffballs with little mushrooms growing out from under it.


----------



## trahn008




----------



## PAtrapper37




----------



## Beatnik88

the tiniest little maitake possible


----------



## PAtrapper37




----------



## steelernation

Oh for Pete's sake...none of my early trees had anything on them this morning. In fact, almost no shrooms of any kind in our woods, and we had 8" of rain, 50-odd F temps. What more do mushrooms need!!!


----------



## RAU

I hit it fairly hard looking for hens Sunday and really struggled. Not a single 1!! I found a small handful of chanterelles and a smaller handful of black trumpets then savedthe day with a nice chicken.


----------



## Beatnik88

Another baby hen to wait for


----------



## beagleboy

I haven't looked for hens before this year, is this one. It doesn't look the same as the black staining polypores I have found but it looks darker than the pictures I have seen of hens.


----------



## beagleboy

I also found these today. I think they are beefsteak fungus but could be wrong. I didn't harvest them. They were near living oak trees, one was actually on a red oak.The top was really moist and the bottom was kind of white with pores. I pulled the top off of one and it had ridges in the middle.


----------



## Beatnik88

Hey beagle. It's definitely not a hen, and probably an old black staining polypore. Grifola frondosa has a much more grey coloration rather than tan on top, and you can see it has stained black where it was damaged or rotting.


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## steelernation

Yes, that is beefsteak. Grab a flashlight and get back out there!


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## Beatnik88

Plus that looks to be a maple, which I have never found a hen around. Most of my finds are around white oaks, sometimes red oaks, and rarely beach trees. They definitely prefer the fagus genus.


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## Kicker

Heading to ohio this weekend. Hoping with the rain they got I find something good. Maybe some hens.


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## steelernation

Quercus?


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## beagleboy

I also found these today. I think they may be a more mature version of the same mushroom that trahn showed in post 349. Could you tell me what they are.


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## beagleboy

I didn't bring any back for a spore print in case they were a poison type. I had chanterelles in my bag to eat.


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## beagleboy

Beatnik I went back out to check the tree it was a white oak. I downloaded a better picture of the tree and a closer picture of the mushroom, it is the size of a softball. The petals just seem too small to be a black staining polypore, but it does look black where a fungus or something is attacking it. Also trahn I was doing some research on what I said looked like what you had. I don't think they are the same, my mistake.


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## PAtrapper37

After I found that clump, I told my one friend who has great hen spots and he found clump after clump...they are here


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## Beatnik88

Beagle, you're right, that is a white oak.


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## PAtrapper37




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## beagleboy

I found this black staining polypore today, it doesn't look the same as what I found on Tuesday.














I also found a chicken that was too far gone.


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## pchunter1231

Man i thought Chants were done. I live on 3 acres of woods and went for a walk a few minutes ago to see if there was any hens around the oak trees. To my surprise the ground is just completely covered with fresh Chants. First thing tomorrow i am picking. There has to be at least 3 grocery bags worth if not more. No bugs or browning. They just exploded from this rain and humidity. We have gotten 9 inches since Friday. Happy hunting


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## steelernation

We picked chants in September years ago in Clarion County...good for you!

SW Pittsburgh got 8+ inches of rain, but I've yet to see any mushrooms of any type anywhere, even in people's yards.


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## beagleboy

I hiked for 5 hours today looking for hen of the woods today, and didn't find any. I think I might have taken another one off my bucket list though. I think this is a lobster mushroom. I found it under several white pine trees on an oak hillside, in Centre co. Sorry about that second picture. It was of the underside but it got blurry.


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## beagleboy

These are some of the other mushrooms I found today. The chanterelle is the biggest I have ever found. It measured almost 9" high and 5" across. I broke the bottom off when I removed it. It was too old.


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## pchunter1231

Good morning here is Perry County. Almost filled a 5 gallon bucket with fresh chants. Never picked them this late. Good luck everyone happy hunting


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## Beatnik88

beagleboy said:


> I hiked for 5 hours today looking for hen of the woods today, and didn't find any. I think I might have taken another one off my bucket list though. I think this is a lobster mushroom. I found it under several white pine trees on an oak hillside, in Centre co. Sorry about that second picture. It was of the underside but it got blurry.
> View attachment 11234
> View attachment 11236


Congrats beagle. I'm jealous, that's one I've still never found.


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## Kicker

Didn't find much in Ohio. A few small oysters. I think some ginseng also.


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## pchunter1231

Kicker said:


> Didn't find much in Ohio. A few small oysters. I think some ginseng also.
> View attachment 11262


I think that is jack in the pulpit not Seng


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## Kicker

Ok wasn't sure. Never hunted for it yet.


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## jg010682

That is a trillium I believe 


Kicker said:


> Didn't find much in Ohio. A few small oysters. I think some ginseng also.
> View attachment 11262


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## beagleboy

My wife and went to an orchard in Mifflin co. to get apples this morning. We found these on a tree along the township road. The oysters and the chicken were on the same tree.


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## Gibz

Found these on a dead ash tonight


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## PAtrapper37

Beagleboy...you get up on the wife’s shoulders to get those chickens?


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## beagleboy

She wasn't tall enough so I had to call my nephew to bring a ladder, lol. That tree was covered in ivy poison, I don't react to it but my wife does.


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## Gibz

beagleboy said:


> She wasn't tall enough so I had to call my nephew to bring a ladder, lol. That tree was covered in ivy poison, I don't react to it but my wife does.


You are lucky Beagle, that IVY rips me up with the slightest brush


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## beagleboy

I have a question on locating hen of the woods. Are the hens around damaged oaks or doesn't it matter. Yesterday I was in an area that had more than 100 oaks which most of them were 3' or more in diameter but as far as I could tell they were healthy and didn't find anything but some old bug infested chanterelles.


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## jg010682

Hens prefer white oak here in mn so any old growth forest with mixed oak woods they usually prefer love trees


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## steelernation

In Western PA, I think I've found hen on white oak once ever. I WISH they showed up on more white oak around here, but I've seen them almost only on red.

Yes, beagle, damage to a big old tree is a decent indicator, but I still haven't found anything concrete that works even 10% of the time. WPA has areas that are loaded to the gills with red oak (and white), and I'll find a big flush on one tree in this forest, another 2 trees in another...not that people don't go out and get 100# on a few trees.

Mushrooms are a tricky bunch...


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## trahn008

Beagle, how I hunt hens.. Red oak family tree's prove to be the best. THE BLACK OAK which is in the red oak family are by far the number one producer for me. White oaks are good also. The KEY is hunting hens on the edge of the forest, still standing mature with some damage. The damage at times is hard to see, most times it's heart rot and sometimes it's only one branch that is dead on the tree. Light exposure is important for fruiting of hens. LOOK AROUND EVERY OAK TREE IN OPEN AREA"S (PARKS). You don't need to go on 5 mile hikes unless your edge hunting to find hens. I could pick 1000 of them and walk less than 5 miles. EDGE EDGE EDGE. I also find them on stumps but not in the numbers I find them on still standing tree's. HAPPY HUNTING! WWG1WGA!!


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## trahn008

trahn008 said:


> Barnacle a tip for you when hunting hens. Look for black oaks (any red oak family tree) first and then white oaks. Hunt the edges of the forest first (field edge, roadside, power lines etc) zig zag 30-40 yards along that edge that's where most of the hens will be found if any are in that area. Once you get a feel for light exposure you got it nailed. Check every mature oak tree even if it's a single one in the middle of a field or a PARK (hint hint). Don't waste your time going on long hikes in the forest some could be found, but the most by far will be found on those edges!! Pick most of my hens on still standing mature stressed red oak family tree's.


 From 2017!


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## steelernation

See, this is the beauty and craziness about mushrooms. All of the great hen hauls I've ever had are from trees deep in forests, nowhere near open grass or parklike settings. Not to contradict Trahn at all, as his advice here is solid. I've seen onesies-twosies in open/edge areas, but I've picked/seen 50-100# trees deep in woods with underbrush nearby. Most pickers I know find them in open areas and edges, and perhaps I just don't have the luck there.


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## beagleboy

Thanks for all the replies they were very helpful.


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## trahn008




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## trahn008

Guess it’s fall now let’s move over to the fall thread. Happy Hunting!


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## trahn008

Bump


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## shroomsearcher

pchunter1231 said:


> I think that is jack in the pulpit not Seng


That is NOT jack in the pulpit! Here is Jack in the Pulpit. 












trahn008 said:


> Beagle, how I hunt hens.. Red oak family tree's prove to be the best. THE BLACK OAK which is in the red oak family are by far the number one producer for me. White oaks are good also. The KEY is hunting hens on the edge of the forest, still standing mature with some damage. The damage at times is hard to see, most times it's heart rot and sometimes it's only one branch that is dead on the tree. Light exposure is important for fruiting of hens. LOOK AROUND EVERY OAK TREE IN OPEN AREA"S (PARKS). You don't need to go on 5 mile hikes unless your edge hunting to find hens. I could pick 1000 of them and walk less than 5 miles. EDGE EDGE EDGE. I also find them on stumps but not in the numbers I find them on still standing tree's. HAPPY HUNTING! WWG1WGA!!


True that! Last year I went on a mission to find hens. I thought back to when my old Italian Grandma would could them up for us in sauce, and serve them to us with spaghetti or some other type of pasta. I remembered where she lived, and that a guy who lived in her area would bring them to her. So, I sought to hunt in that same area.

What do you know! I found hens like crazy! They were nearly every where I looked.


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## pchunter1231

shroomsearcher said:


> That is NOT jack in the pulpit! Here is Jack in the Pulpit.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> True that! Last year I went on a mission to find hens. I thought back to when my old Italian Grandma would could them up for us in sauce, and serve them to us with spaghetti or some other type of pasta. I remembered where she lived, and that a guy who lived in her area would bring them to her. So, I sought to hunt in that same area.
> 
> What do you know! I found hens like crazy! They were nearly every where I looked.


Do your google search again and put in Jack in the Pulpit bearing fruit.


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## steelernation

That seeding plant WAS Jack in the Pulpit. Notice the leaves: Jacks have three leaves, like trillium or poison ivy, whereas ginseng has 3 leaves, but with 5 leaflets per leaf, looking similar to a buckeye tree leaflet.


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## shroomsearcher

pchunter1231 said:


> Do your google search again and put in Jack in the Pulpit bearing fruit.


Wow! Learn something every day. I've never found jack in the pulpit with the berries on it. I've only found it in it's flowering form. Saw a couple this year in one of my morel spots. They were really young. The flower and the "jack" were completely green, no color yet. 

I had my doubts about the original pic being 'seng as the leaves were all wrong.


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## pchunter1231

shroomsearcher said:


> Wow! Learn something every day. I've never found jack in the pulpit with the berries on it. I've only found it in it's flowering form. Saw a couple this year in one of my morel spots. They were really young. The flower and the "jack" were completely green, no color yet.
> 
> I had my doubts about the original pic being 'seng as the leaves were all wrong.


i only see the bearing fruit in the fall.


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