Mountain morels!
Contributors to this thread:Colorado
From: Jaquomo
26-May-18
Scouting a new elk spot this week and found a motherlode of morels. We picked over 150 before calling it quits. Seriously yummy!!
From: Treeline
26-May-18
Awesome! I need to get out and look for some around Steamboat. Have always focused on the boletas up around Leadville in August and never paid any attention to anything growing early.
From: Treeline
26-May-18
Those in the pines or aspen?
From: Brun
26-May-18
Nice job. Love Morels.
From: Ucsdryder
26-May-18
That’s fantastic jaq! I’ll be between 8-9k feet next weekend. I’m thinking it’ll be a little high but I’ll take a look around.
From: Jaquomo
27-May-18
These patches are 8100-8200 in ponderosa on northeast facing gently sloping benches. Morels seem to like the same soil characteristics as dandelions so we look for dandelion patches and find them around there. Last two weeks of May is the time.
From: ColoBull
27-May-18
Have you ever heard that elk like some mushrooms as well?
From: goelk
27-May-18
would love to learn how you know which mushroom to pick.
From: Jaquomo
27-May-18
I hunt mushroom patches on the eastern plains for big muleys. They are big and firm and grow just under sandy soil around cottonwood. Does come from a distance to paw them up and munch them. So I'm sure elk eat mushrooms too. I know for sure. bears like morels.
Next shrooms up here are boletes in another month and a half. Puffballs are very good too and they're all edible.
From: Ucsdryder
27-May-18
Old bolete?
Old bolete?
I’ve hunted boletes in california but always had an expert. No chance I’d eat one on my own! Morels are pretty easy to identify.
I’ve hunted boletes in california but always had an expert. No chance I’d eat one on my own! Morels are pretty easy to identify.
From: Treeline
27-May-18
Elk eat ‘shrooms. They even chew on the red ones with white dots...
Haven’t ever looked for mushrooms up here in Routt County but there aren’t any ponderosas up this way. Will have to look up what a morrels look like.
From: JDM
27-May-18
are there any other shrooms that look like/can be mistaken for morels?
From: Jaquomo
28-May-18
Yes, those are boletes. You remove the spongy "gills" with a spoon and eat the cap. As far as mistaking poisonous ones for morels, not that I know of. Morels are fairly easy to identify by the distinctive cap and they are hollow from base of the stem to the top. As with any new mushroom you want to have everyone eat a small one and wait an hour or two.
Some people have reactions to different fungi, while others don't. My wife got a rash from the horse mushrooms we picked in our yard in the Fort, while nobody else did. Peterson's and Audubon field guides are what I go by, and they describe the edibility and possible mistaken identities. There are also delicious chantrelles in our mountains in summer but I've not found a good patch yet.
From: Serrano
29-May-18
Don't eat any mushrooms unless you absolutely know they are safe.
the waiting list for a liver is very long.
From: Ucsdryder
29-May-18
I just watched some YouTube videos on boletes. Apparently there are inedible boletes. I feel a lot less confident now! You can do scratch tests to see if the turn blue, and can taste them (not swallow) to see if they’re bitter.
From: Jaquomo
29-May-18
This is a King bolete. They usually start sprouting around the first of August. They are the only ones I like enough to collect and pretty easy to identify with the brown top like a hamburger bun
From: Ucsdryder
29-May-18
Ucsdryder's Link
https://youtu.be/OdCRjOJcXuk
From: Liv2HntBigBullz
30-May-18
For those of you guys interested in this kind of stuff check out Forage Colorado (www.foragecolorado.com).
We hit it hard this weekend, 200 Saturday and 350 Sunday. All 8500-9000 feet.
From: mikea20
01-Jun-18
Found this in my backyard in Thornton, looks like a morel, but I'm guessing it isn't??
From: Liv2HntBigBullz
01-Jun-18
Nope that looks like a false morel and not edible. I would guess if you picked it and cut it in half you would find spongy like material in the stem. A morel will be fully hollow.
From: mikea20
01-Jun-18
Figured they weren't but I've seen them pop up a few times before and mushrooms are concerning as I have young kids that play around in the yard.
From: ColoBull
01-Jun-18
My son once ate a mushroom in gramma's front yard. After rushing him to the ER, and all the associated drama, they said "most mushrooms in the area aren't poisonous". It's the few that are that are deadly...
From: Ucsdryder
01-Jun-18
Mike, are they a variety of ink caps? Google it.
From: ColoBull
01-Jun-18
The nicest thing about Morels is that they are fairly distinguishable from all others. They have a very distinctive look - & only the "False Morels" come close. 'Not sure if the FM's are dangerous - ask an expert?
From: mikea20
03-Jun-18
Thanks for the info guys. It's good to know that it's unlikely that there are most likely not terribly poisonous. I will do a search for ink caps and compare them. Thanks again
From: DMC65
05-Jun-18
If it's a morel it won't have a "cap" . Morel mushrooms ,as jaquomo said , are completely hollow from the dirt to the top of the mushroom , one piece . Not a stem with a top on the stem. This is a picture of a blonde morel. They can also have a top portion which is dark brown or medium grey in color . The " blacks " and "Grey's " show up first then the " Blondes" later.
From: GrantK
06-Jun-18
Jealous! not much in the way of morels in the SW corner of the state this year, too dry, I found about 5 after the first rain of the season but no more after that.
From: Amoebus
06-Jun-18
mikea20 - that isn't a false morel. Here is a false morel.
They have some form of jet fuel - monomethylhydrazine (MMH) in them that is considered dangerous - even deadly.
Interesting that we ate them growing up - made sure that they were cooked well. Didn't appear to be any faster than other kids that didn't eat them...
From: Amoebus
06-Jun-18
Amoebus's Link
I cannot tell from the picture that you posted but it looks more like a Half-free morel (edible) or one of the Stinkhorns (not deadly but stinky like their name) - possibly Phallus hadriani.
