Staveshaver

Laetiporus sulphureus, also known as Sulfur Shelf, or Chicken mushroom.

Boletes have been intriguing me lately so I ordered North American Boletes as well.

CajnGrl, that's a good question. I'm not sure myself. This is the first year I've hunted them so I was wondering the same thing. I'm basically on my own here, so rely on past experience with other mushrooms I'm more familiar with. I've left 98% of what I've found in the woods that I thought were past their prime, but I've been in the woods regularly since before they started, so maybe I should have been less picky and picked more. Earlier in July I found some really nice ones and used them to judge the others. I've watched some of the first ones I've found to see how they age. How they age seems to depend on their surroundings. If they're exposed to more sun and wind, they can dry out, whiten, and stand there for several weeks, in places with more shelter they will stay 'fresh or prime' a little longer, but wilt, brown, and disappear from view more quickly. Visually, if they look whitened from too much time in the sun, brown edged/wilted, or seem brittle with a simple bend test, I leave them. I like to see the top, about halfway between the center and the edge, bend a good bit without breaking. Most of the ones I've found seem to have had a bug chew up through the stem, they get to them very early here, but often that's the only damage so I don't judge by that alone. If the top looks and smells good, fresh, and supple, I just cut the stem off. It's a fine line, a judgement call, and many of the ones I picked looked very similar to some of the ones I left behind. More than once in my excitement I've convinced myself what I found were worth picking, only to dump them upon closer inspection, or after I get home and begin to clean them. I don't care to haul heavy bags of mushrooms for miles back to the truck only to throw them away when I get home, so I try to be as critical and levelheaded in the woods as I will be at home in the kitchen. I wonder sometimes though if I'm too critical. I did find some really good spots this year, some close to roads that will be easy to keep tabs on, and if they grow next year, I'll definitely be there on time and get to know them better. Since you liked that picture, I wish I could show you the video I took with my phone Sunday, stood in one spot and panned around 360 degrees. Just amazing. But I don't know how to post videos.

Thanks for all the info, Dave. I appreciate it. I ordered Mushrooms of the Northeast and the W.Va and Appalachian book too.

That's a beautiful mushroom right there.

Very interesting. I have files on the computer, word documents, but they're more like lists of places I've found each edible species, and journals of each season that chronicle a few details. I like the idea of a spreadsheet as you described. I'm not too computer savvy, but I may give it a shot.

Again, I'm new here so apologize if this has been covered, but I was wondering what books, organizations, websites, and such others use to identify their fungi... and if I'm missing out on some good ones. I only have a few books.... Mushrooms of Northeastern North America, Edible Wild Mushrooms of North America, and Field Guide to Wild Mushrooms of Pennsylvania and the Mid Atlantic. I have a few handout type guides and websites saved, but can't help but think there must be more good references available. Can you help me build my knowledge base? Thanks.

My apologies if this has been discussed here already but I'm new here so... As my mushroom hunting has expanded into other species and times of year, I've found it useful to keep a journal so I can reference it from year to year. It helps me keep track of rainfall, be there on time, not forget where I found them, or waste time in areas, or kinds of areas, I haven't. I was just wondering if others do this, and if so, what kind of info you find useful to include. To date, I concern myself and log info regarding, almost exclusively edible varieties I'm familiar with. As my experience and interest continues to grow, I add more. I could study and log all varieties I come across, but I worry I wouldn't be able to sort through the info in an effective manner in succeeding years.

Been out since daylight and just got back. I thought I was going to get skunked today. I checked three spots and found nothing... came out onto the road about 150 yards from the truck and figured I'd cross the road and walk the other side back toward the truck. Chanterelles the whole way. Over a thousand, easy. Not an oak tree in sight... all Shagbark hickories. I didn't know they liked hickory trees. Chantys around each adult hickory tree in there. Sadly, nothing to pick, all past their prime. I found some small oysters on an old ash tree log and some kind of Bolete too. The bugs beat me to them though.

Ok cool. I could be wrong, but I think they're about done here. I have a camp up in Potter county Pa, about 3 hours from here and often go up there to find virtually nothing when mushrooms are growing here. It's just a different environment and far enough north that rain patterns don't always coincide. I haven't hunted chants there yet though. Maybe I'll go up next weekend and poke around.

I choose from a wide range of knife sizes and styles depending on what mushrooms I'm likely to encounter. Anywhere from my tiniest pocketknife to a big damascus moose antler handled Bowie I made. It works great for cutting big bunches of sulfurs off of trees.

I almost hate to say anything because I know they're so hard for some of you folks to find, but I hit the jackpot today. I checked out a couple of new places and found them in good numbers. One spot in particular had countless hundreds of them of good size. They were all past their prime though and I didn't bring any home. I'll get some next year, if they grow there. My whole season has been that way... I find em, but I'm too late 9 times out of 10.

Matt, sorry, no gill pic. I was thinking they were big Jack-o-lanterns???? They are close to a parking area, I will stop tomorrow and get more, better pictures.

Found these yesterday. I purposely left my foot in the picture for size relevance.

Thanks fellas. Here are a few more pics I took of it and a few others that were growing there. I didn't try to eat it. When I broke one in half, it appeared to be degrading a little bit(brown spots inside).

That's actually a juvenile Eastern Newt, sometimes called a red eft. I've seen two of them so far this summer while shrooming. They turn green and become aquatic when they're adults.

I found this a couple of weeks ago with 4 others like it growing where some logs and dirt were piled up at the end of a lane. I haven't studied Boletes too much yet. There's so many of them in my books... 60-70 different kinds? Any ideas?

Awesome. Good job on the pictures.

A few weeks ago I found some chanterelles growing along a gravel road that is virtually along my route home. They were too old to pick, but I figured I'd check there today to see if anything new was beginning to grow since the rain. No, not really. So as I was leaving, a hundred yards or two down the road, I see some more, so I stop, check them out, and find them old too. But when I looked up into the woods, I could see others. I ended up finding hundreds of chanterelles, many past their prime, but managed to pick a bag full of good ones. What really struck me was the size of many of them. They were big, some were huge. A good day.

Hi Jeff. I was down your way yesterday picking up furniture in Zelie.

Very cool picture.

We got a heavy rain here in western Pa Friday evening. Slight chance of more today. I was busy all weekend and figured it wouldn't hurt to give the chanterelles a few days to grow. Got some new places I want to check out.

I had them in my yard last year. I thought they were Purple-spored Puffball (Calvatia cyathiformis). Some of mine had some texture/pattern on them, but not as noticeable as the ones in your first picture. They were perfectly white inside.

Whether giant puffball or pear shaped puffball, they have to be perfectly snow white inside and the consistency of a fresh marshmallow or I pass.

Awesome. I've only been on this site for 24 hours and I'm learning all kinds of stuff. A buddy of mine found one of these a while back and I haven't been able to tell him what it was until today. Thanks!