James81 saying hello

[james81]

Hello Everyone!

My name is James and I'm from Pell Lake, Wisconsin. Each year winter seems a little longer than the last for some reason. Most likely because I'm a very active outdoors/wilderness nut! I was trying to satisfy my hunger to be out in the wild by searching some topics and happened to come across this site. I consider myself a well-seasoned mushroom hunter as I've been at it for over 7 years now, and my interest in fungi goes beyond just looking for the edibles. So I hope to be able to share some of my knowledge with you this year as time progresses and the mushroom season officially begins.

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My favorite top 3 edible mushrooms are...
1. Morels
2. Hen of the Woods
3. Hunters Heart (Aborted entoloma)
Others I've enjoyed and in no particular order include...
4. Chicken of the Woods
5. Chicken Fat
6. Honey Mushrooms
7. Red Gyroporous
8. Giant Puffball
9. Dryads saddle
10. Rooting Polypore
11. Sweet Tooth
12. Chanterelle
13. Birch Bolete
14. Shaggy Manes
15. Ash Tree Bolete
16. ...there are possibly a few more that slip my mind at the moment.
From my experience in eating mushrooms, preparation is everything! I've fooled people in that they actually thought they were eating chicken, but it was chicken of the woods mushroom.
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Among hunting for mushrooms I enjoy foraging for wild vegetation, rock-hounding, fishing, camping, survival, canoeing, white water rafting, hiking, small and big game hunting, etc... I’m always looking for new places to explore. I joined this site so that I could get updates on when mushrooms are being found, possibly get help identifying some of the mushrooms that still puzzle me, help others when and where I can, and perhaps make a few new friends. I acquired a microscope this winter to further my abilities to make positive identifications and look forward to using it this year. I have no professional education; all my learning in mycology has been self-taught through independent study and from the help of others. As time goes on I will share some more with you all, but for now I will leave you with two pictures of a mushroom I found last year and thought was very awesome (mostly because I loved the vibrant purple color). I believe the mushroom is a Purple-gilled Laccaria, but I am not positive on the ID as I didn’t do a spore print and have only the photos to go by. Would any of you agree?

[CP Dan]

Thanks for joining us James! Sounds like you will definately be an asset to the forum. There are a lot of helpful people around here, always good to add another!

[blitzfish]

Welcome James!!! I ran across my first hunter hearts last year and can't wait to find more!!! I remember I found a whole hillside of them with way too many for me to eat... too bad I can't find morels like that!! Again, welcome to the forum!

[mushroommike]

I agree on the hunters hearts, besides having one of the coolest of all mushroom names, is one of the most under-rated edible mushrooms out there. Bountiful too in fall. If only they froze as good as other mushrooms...Welcome James.

[Earthmom]

Hi James! You sound like an excellent outdoorsman! Very cool! I haven't been on the board since last fall but now I'm back as the velvet foot are popping with this weather and well, where there are velvet foot there will likely be morels!

I'm not much in to the laccaria mushrooms but that could also be some sort of cortinarius. I too just love hunter hearts but you don't hear much about that one when people talk about edibles. I think it's one of the best!

[danesteve]

Hey all, Steve from Dane here. I will go one step farther and say that Aborted Entoloma is perhaps my favorite. I have had good success with freezing them. I actually think that the flavor intensifies with freezing. After washing, I freeze them flat on a cookie sheet, once frozen, put into ziplock. When I use them, I don't thaw first, just chop up an add to what ever I am cooking with them. They actually chop better frozen than fresh. Great on pizza!

I also enjoy hunting (mostly grouse, pheasant, deer and waterfowl), fishing, foraging, camping, etc. I make maple syrup, wild grape jelly, wild raspberry jam, etc. Oh yeah, I also am a homebrewer. I make a really good maple beer so I've been told.

[shroomdoom]

Wow... So many mushrooms.. I really didnt know.. I have a large chunk of wooded property with a river running through it.. I'd better get learning.. Are there any resources that will keep me from Liver Failure?? Any great ID resources out there?
Thank you,
Newbie

[blitzfish]

Books, books and more books. Then make some friends that can reinforce the ID skills from the books or use the site as a questionnaire to ask us if what you think have is actually what you have. Then always, ALWAYS follow the mushroomers golden rule:

IF IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT!!! (and wash your hands thoroughly!!!)

[mikeologist]

I would also recommend learning to identify characteristics of deadly mushrooms just to keep your head up. Things like, the underground "egg" that Amanita normally grow out of. As much as I look at identifying, say, morels, Ill look into identifying the poisonous lookalike Gyromita just as much.