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Next weekend my girl friend is going away so I'm thinking of scouting out a place that's just under 3k acres thats in Wayne County by the Delaware River. Going up early Saturday morning, scouting all day. Camping Saturday night some place near by and then scouting some more early Sunday morning. Maybe hanging a camera or two.

If anyone maybe interested coming along . Pm me for details. It's always more fun to have someone along. Ed

Ed- I may be interested if I have nothing going on with the family. I will check and get back to you.

Roy, did you eat it? Keep the skin for bow grips?

Hooks and traps are legal, not rifles. The season ain't in yet anyway, ya turtle poacher. July 1st.

Some turtle trivia.... snappers can stay under the ice of a pond for up to 6 months without taking a single breath.

You can tell their age by counting the rings on their shell's plates, like the growth rings of a tree.

The vast majority of what they eat is vegetation, not fish, ducks, small children and such.

Here's Ed all loaded up.

This is a big mountain area that's about 5 to 6k continuous acres with no roads breaking it up. Being fairly steep and that I found the better spots being a little over an hour away from where you can park, it's not hunted hard at all.

On my visits I aways see deer and most times turkey. The biggest buck I've seen in the last few years was there. I've only been to this spot about 8 times, but only hunted it once in rifle bear, once in rifle deer and one afternoon in archery , the rest just scouting. This summer I'm trying to really get to know it. I have 2 other spots I'd like to get cameras out at.

Next scouting trip I hope to get at least one camera out and scout an area I have not been to that butts up against a farm.

Like treerat, I too am using cameras for inventory reasons.

LOL

Buddy of mine caught a black timber rattler last weekend. Big one.

Of course there are exceptions and I've seen does bedding anywhere up and down the hills they please, and the area's biggest bucks cruising and fighting down low at mid day, but in general, what you mentioned can put folks near more deer in the hills.

Denny- was that feeder empty before the bear took it down?

That one looks much bigger than the other 2. He must have raided a LOT of bird feeders! ;-)

Saw a pair of twin fawns today. Cute little buggers.

Hey ED! Where are ya? You gettin in on some of this shroomin? It's another great year. Better get yer butt out there.

I really need to get my butt out in the woods looking for some of this stuff. I usually am either scouting for critters or fishing or something other than looking for forage at this time of year.

So Jeff- are those 'shrooms on the drying rack just air-drying? You don't put them in the oven do you?

I rinsed the mushrooms, trimmed the ends, and brushed away any dirt with a toothbrush, put them in gallon ziplock bags and froze them.

Wife saw what I collected today and say "Enough. How many mushrooms do you think we can eat? The whole freezer will be full of mushrooms. We won't have room for meat."

I'm not quitting. They don't last. And sometimes none can be found for years at a time. Ya gotta make make hay while the sun shines.

...and we have a dehydrator, so.... blah, blah, blah.

Justin, I picked these especially for you. Just need your mailing address.

I see a lot of deer sign every time I'm there and yesterday was the first time there that i don't see a deer. So far I found 3 areas that have apple trees and they are loaded with apples.

The smallest area of apple trees is only about 3 or 4 acres but has 10 or 15 trees. The next area is about 20 to 30 acres and the apple trees are more spread out but there's 1 spot that's has about 7 or 8 trees all with in 150 yards or less.

The other spot may have the most apple trees and is just only about 15 acres, but is close to a road. My guess is this group of trees will be hunted by others.

The 3 or 4 acre spot I found yesterday I did a track back and its 3533 yards back to the truck. This spot I liked the best of the 3 apple spots I've found so far. I'm sure I can shave 1000 maybe as much as 1500 yard off that route by not taking an old trail back to the truck. That trail did wind around a lot and taking a more direct route will save many steps... Ed

Any to stay away from? Yes, ANY that you're not 100% sure of. The last one i posted a picture of, the Jack-o-lantern, is poisonous. That said, there are some edible ones in Pa that are pretty unique and easy to identify. I started with Sheepshead, Morels, and Sulfur Shelfs. Google them, and check a few mushroom websites. A little studying will help you safely identify them. Sulfur Shelfs (chicken mushrooms) will start showing themselves next month, with Sheepshead right on their heels.

None of them should be eaten without cooking first. So far, every wild mushroom I've eaten has had its own taste and consistency.

Perry hope to get up for a few hours this weekend coming, if all work out.

I call them Royshrooms :^)

Yeah, it is weird looking. Looks like someone crumbled Oreos on top of it.

Teeton and Stick n String... wander away on occasion from those cheatcams, you know, lean instead towards becoming a woodsman... and one day such gourmet lifeforms and prescripts will begin to throw themselves at you. Treat yourselves to woodsy enrichment, health ... and your families to pinnacles of wild culinary delight like they've never tasted. Look beyond the deer, my dears.

I've harvested several hundred pounds of such wild edibles from under the noses of self-purported 'outdoorsmen/women' hiking/hunting/fishing/trapping the same ground. It's amazing. And kinda sad.

I don't trespass or steal wild life on public or private land, nor do any shroomers I know. I just got a response email today from the PGC telling it's legal to gather, forage, and rove with a bow on the state's game lands.

Four days in a row this week, I've hit hotspots of chanty gold. Now's the time, you woodsmen, you. Get some o' this. Fruity, peachy, savory, abundant gold.... or just sit there.

Wander. Don't wonder.

Today I found hundreds of chanterelles. I did some homework, then went to 4 places and found them at each place. The best spot is unfreakingbelievable. The holy grail. What sucks is the game commission must be getting ready to log it because there's blue and red ribbon on trees down through there. The ribbon wasn't there last year when I squirrel hunted there. Seems like as soon as a patch of oaks reaches maturity, they butcher them. Yeah, we wouldn't want game on the game lands to have any mature trees to live in or have any mast to eat!!! Money grubbin jerks. I would rather pay higher license fees than lose hunting area... but that wouldn't stop them. They'd do both.

Rant over. I've got butchering to do : ^)

Justin, yeah it's weird, sometimes a few will grow big while a foot or two away others are medium or small sized. Lots of factors I'm guessing.

If they're young enough, there may not be any bugs in them, but they seem to get bugs in the stem pretty quickly here. If they're not too bad in that regard, and nice otherwise, I take them home and split them in half. They'll split right in half if you put your thumbs together in the center of the cap and pull apart just so. Then inspect the stem, if it's been ravaged by bugs, cut it off and just keep the cap. There's usually no damage to it, maybe a tiny hole... easily removed. Then just rinse them off good, and they'll be fine.

In my experience, bug damage on the outside/under the cap happens a lot less often and is generally done by slugs. I pitch them.

It's a good idea to trim all the stems as you're picking them, before you put them in the bag. It gets rid of most of the dirt which saves time cleaning at home.

My wife and daughter found a couple of these Old Man of the Woods...cleaned em up, fried em in butter, and I must say....might be the best shrooms I've ever eaten! Wow!! Bet they'd go great on top of some medium rare deer chops!!

Can't wait for October!!

Wish I was retired. Not enough time in a day to do all I want to do.

The first part of the season they're in chow mode, all of em. It's about food... and cover. This time of year I look for availability of favorite food sources in good cover and/or seclusion. In there, where they spend the most time feeding, will be the most and freshest poop. The safer they feel the more time they'll spend there, the more likely you'll see them in daylight hours, any deer in the area could show up... doe, buck, big or little, and the less likely their pattern is to change from the usual hunting pressure. Things change as October wears on, and I adapt, but this is how I start it off. Find the food, cover, and poop(sign), and hunt the places that are full of it ;^)

Seriously, nice form and follow through.

Seriously though, I don't know about these guys, but I find many of the folks I know sit in the exact same stand or two every year and do no scouting whatsoever unless they lose their spot for some reason.

To me, hunting is more about exploring new ground and reading/deciphering how the animals use it. It's about hunting, seeking, pursuing... not sitting and waiting. Which is largely why I got away from treestands.

For many years when I did use a treestand, I tried to find at least one good stand site on new ground every year, which kept me actively scouting, hunting, learning and I usually found several. I used only a portable and ended up with dozens of stand sites I'd use depending on food, wind direction, rut phase, etc. I NEVER hunted a spot two days in a row... at least three days between and sometimes I'd wait weeks to hunt a spot if the wind wasn't right. My 'stand sites' were never over hunted, and I don't know how many times I killed deer the first or second time I'd hunt a new place.