
Hunting Mushrooms, and What Makes Some Glow in the Dark - DrScump
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/science/glow-in-the-dark-mushrooms-bioluminescence.html
======
Alex3917
> Unless you want your ’shrooms to turn into slime, bring wax paper or a paper
> bag, never plastic.

It doesn't really matter if you're only out in the woods for a couple hours,
rather than being out for days at a time harvesting commercially or whatever.
The reusable bags made by Baggu are pretty good because they hold 40 lbs, are
breathable, and you can just throw them in the washing machine. The only
downside is that they're $10 each unless you buy them wholesale.

As the article says, the best way to learn is to join your local club and go
on the weekly walks. And if you want to buy a book, don't buy a field guide.
Instead buy a picture book that covers a handful of your local species, e.g.:

[https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooming-without-Fear-Beginners-
Co...](https://www.amazon.com/Mushrooming-without-Fear-Beginners-
Collecting/dp/1602391602)

[https://www.amazon.com/100-Edible-Mushrooms-Michael-
Kuo/dp/0...](https://www.amazon.com/100-Edible-Mushrooms-Michael-
Kuo/dp/0472031260/)

[https://www.amazon.com/Fascinating-Fungi-England-Lawrence-
Mi...](https://www.amazon.com/Fascinating-Fungi-England-Lawrence-
Millman/dp/1936571013)

It's pretty easy to learn, if you start going on walks in the spring and go
every other weekend throughout the year, then you'll know most of the edibles
mushrooms throughout the year. Plus the poisonous ones, the other notable
ones, and maybe even some of the psychoactive ones.

~~~
flarg
What about mesh bags? Last time I went mushroom hunting in the wilds of a
French wood, repleat with boar hides and beer bottle infested mini camp sites,
my guide used mesh bags because he said that allowed spores to escape. The
locals though stuck to supermarket plastic bags.

~~~
Alex3917
That’s true, it’s not clear to what extent spores are the limiting factor
though.

------
vesinisa
Mushroom foraging is quite popular where I live. Free, organic, protein-rich
nutrition in abundance from the local forest. But it's a delicate hobby:
knowing between the species is a matter of life & death.

For example, destroying angel is a common, fatally hepatoxic all-white cap. So
the rule is you never pick _any_ white mushrooms at all; chance of
misidentification is just not worth the risk.

But for example chanterelle is very delicious and there are really no toxic
mushrooms that look even remotely like it. So anyone can forage for the
chanterelle. It is heavenly in risottos and pastas.

~~~
yostrovs
Jack-o'-lanterns can look similar to chanterelles

~~~
vesinisa
Well, my point exactly. That poisonous false chanterelle seems to be non
existent in North Europe, so chanterelle is considered safe to pick for
amateurs _here_. But I would never dare pick mushrooms abroad without a local
guide.

------
alkonaut
When in the US or elsewhere where landowners can decide who can do what on a
piece of land, how do you know where you can go picking berries or mushrooms?
Do you check a map for some indication that a certain piece of land is
"public" rather than privately owned? (Some countries have a right of access
to any land meaning anyone is allowed to walk/pick berries/mushrooms etc on
any land regardless of who owns it).

~~~
wil421
Wildlife Management Areas are a great place to start. State and federal parks
too. I’m syre there are plenty of walking trails if you are near a major city.

Private landowners are pretty good about marking boundaries where public meets
private.

~~~
maxerickson
Trespassing laws often require notification, so they are pretty good about
posting notification. They aren't really doing anyone a favor.

(Michigan requires notification, with the exception of land clearly being used
for agriculture, which does not require notification)

But yeah, there is lots of public land.

~~~
wil421
I recently saw a video on YouTube and I think it was Michigan. It was about
lakes and hunting rules if your property or public property touches the lake.
They were saying you have about 5-10 feet to hunt around any lake even if it’s
not the side you own or public land touches.

I’m not sure it’s like this in Georgia. Interesting though.

~~~
maxerickson
There are substantial access provisions for "navigable waters", I would take
some convincing to believe this includes hunting adjacent to lakes.

This document discusses it pretty well I guess:

[https://dspace.nmc.edu/bitstream/handle/11045/10614/Public-A...](https://dspace.nmc.edu/bitstream/handle/11045/10614/Public-
Access-Rights-Report.pdf?sequence=5)

(It's focused on tribal fishing and hunting rights but covers public access
nicely; just skip all the quoted text to get an overview)

~~~
wil421
In the video it was a guy trapping by the high tide line of a lake. A land
owner was harassing him. Hunter called the game warden and when the landowner
came back he got a ticket for harassing a hunter. Basically you can hunt/fish
all around a lake if you have permission on a piece of property that touches
the water. There’s a certain amount of feet from the water you can legally be
in.

~~~
qbrass
You meant trapping but said hunting which is technically true, but makes
people think of shooting instead.

------
dannylandau
Been mushroom hunting for over 30 years. And you can definitely use plastic
bags, just don't leave them in the car for long and when you get home, put
them in a basket in refrigerator. Nothing wrong with plastic bags when going
mushroom hunting.

~~~
lumberingjack
plastic bags don't allow the spore to fall out on the ground as you carry
them, get a mesh mushroom hunting bag so future generations can keep enjoying
mushrooms. I make a route in some places I hunt and years later I find
mushrooms all along my route, I like to think I propagated them.

~~~
repiret
Do you have a citation for that?

An individual mushroom produces millions of spores, but in a stable
population, on average only one spore produces another mature mushroom. I'd be
very surprised if mushroom populations are limited by the dispersal of spores.

~~~
lumberingjack
Nope read it in a book once and then talked about it with my grandpa. When he
was a kid he would collect morels then put them in a potato bag and swing it
around in the horse/cow pasture. He said he had great success and the morels
would pop up on cow patties and near streams in the pasture for years after
that when none had been there before.

------
pidybi
don't eat if you not sure what kind of mushroom it is

