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Thread: Wild Edibles...who else?

  1. #1
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    Default Wild Edibles...who else?

    Who else gets out there and hunts mushrooms and other wild edibles? I never hunted mushrooms and certainly never even heard of ramps until moving to Indiana, but I'm addicted to bringing home the goods...and it gets me through till the next game season starts.

    I love looking for and finding morels, but they are down the list as far as great eating/tasting mushrooms go. A few from last year...
    ;; ;

    I enjoy hunting these so much because they start popping up when the spring warmth starts kicking in just before turkey season.

    Not long after turkey season is over, I start finding my fourth favorite wild mushrooms, and I will find them throughout the summer and into the fall until the weather truly turns cold.
    I love these because of their abundance, texture, and flavor. Wild Oysters....I found these on a downed tree next to a spot I hunt. The tree has a bee hive in it and is loaded with honey...would be a heck of a tree to find if you were on "naked and afraid." I took sacks of oysters from that tree from May through October.



    No pics of my tied-for-second favorite wild shroom...the chanterelle. They are primo with great flavor and superior texture.

    Tied with the chanterelle is the Hen of the Woods...superior flavor and texture...and if you find one, you will have a meal for many.
    This is one of the two or three that grow around the base of the huge red oak every year that is ~ 20 yards from my front door...it is a nice bonus that came with the house.


    Two of my front-yard miatake/ hen-o-the-woods from fall 2016



    and what you get from a small hen...



    These are really good fried IF you get them when they are young and tender. The are called pheasant back mushrooms, and they smell like watermelon rind when you pick them. They are everywhere, but getting them when they are young is tough. If you do, they are awesome lightly fried.



    Ramps are the shit! Anyone who appreciates good greens needs to experience ramps. The bulbs add an amazing garlic goodness to any dish...especially fried wild turkey. I wilt the greens in a touch of olive oil and add a bit of salt and cracked pepper...which is unnecessary. These are ridiculous...get you some if you've never experienced it.

    ;;

    I'm hoping to find some lions mane mushrooms this year, and I'm chomping at the bit to get out and fill my chest freezer with ramps before I move to Wyoming, but the weather up here is killing me. Hope y'all are enjoying good weather and double gobbles back home...and I hope you run into some killer wild edibles while you are out there.

    Oh, my number one favorite wild mushroom...I don't have any pics, and I've never found any...but there were plenty for sale around Clemson back in the late 80's if you knew where to look!
    Last edited by WhitewaterDuck; 03-28-2018 at 12:38 PM.
    “I can’t wait ‘till I’m grown” is the stupidest @!#* I ever said!

  2. #2
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    Is there a source you use to know what not to eat?? I have had a few wild edibles before.


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  3. #3
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    Good stuff Whitewater!
    I love gathering wild mushrooms, onions, etc.

    I got a wild edibles of SC book some years back and always make a point to take several days a year to gather.
    Be proactive about improving public waterfowl habitat in South Carolina. It's not going to happen by itself, and our help is needed. We have the potential to winter thousands of waterfowl on public grounds if we fight for it.

  4. #4
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    Pipe down on the morels. Not many people around here know about them.

  5. #5
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    Cool post.

  6. #6
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    I feel like I need to add this caution now that I posted a bunch of mushrooms and posted my goal of digging a freezer full of ramps... IF you decide to pick and eat any wild mushrooms, please make sure you are SURE you know what you are eating! The ones I posted pictures of are easy to identify and there are no poisonous look-a-likes unless you are tripping or are blind...Chanterelles are easy to ID also but they do have a look alike that is not really very similar. If you want to go get chants, google them...they are easy to ID if you find them. Lastly...IF you decide to go find and dig some ramps...you only want to take 1/3 or less of the patch you find. Supposedly, these are difficult to cultivate and easy to decimate Play it safe and leave plenty to ensure you have ramps for years to come...believe me, its worth it.
    “I can’t wait ‘till I’m grown” is the stupidest @!#* I ever said!

  7. #7
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    I spend an ass of time in the woods working and hunting. I always keep a look out for morals but have never found any. Defiantly something I have always wanted to find. Either they are hard to come across or I just don’t know where to look.
    Last edited by banded_mallard; 03-27-2018 at 05:42 PM.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Islandguy85 View Post
    Is there a source you use to know what not to eat?? I have had a few wild edibles before.


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    Yup...Google. I know its not as sexy as a worn leather-bound field guide of wild edibles with old-timers notes in the margin...I seriously want exactly what I just described...but it is easy and convenient. I'm sure you can find "Wild edibles of South Carolina" books/field guides or the same for any state you are from....or of North America etc.
    My buddy in Long Creek had been harvesting Oysters for years and cultivating shiitakes...that got me to expand my searches. Hen of the Woods are incredible, grow around the bases of old oak trees in the fall, and have no look alike species. Hen of the woods are orange and are easy to identify. Oysters are easy to ID and can be found almost anywhere on dead or nearly dead trees/logs. Chanterelle mushrooms are freaking killer...there is a false chanterelle that is also orange, but it grows out of/on wood and has true gills. Chanterelles grow out of the ground, and the false gills are easy to ID. Do a google search on these species to start with and go from there.

    My hunting buddy in Ohio told me about ramps one year while we were turkey hunting...said that there were ramp festivals and that people lost their freaking minds over them...would trespass to get them and protect their spots with nastiness. I googled " wild ramps id," figured out what they looked like, and just happened to stumble up on a patch when I was out trying to locate some turkeys last year. Then I went out to a 10 acre woodlot I have permission to hunt and found that the whole damn woodlot was covered up with them...SWEET! I'm not sure of their range, but if they grow anywhere near where you live, its well worth getting out and finding some. There is about a 3-4 week window to pick them between when they pop up in early spring and when they flower out...once they flower out, they are a big no-go. Just from a food/eating standpoint...if I had to choose between never eating ramps again vs never eating wild turkey or deer or ducks or fish...I would choose to give up just about anything over the ramps; they are that good.
    “I can’t wait ‘till I’m grown” is the stupidest @!#* I ever said!

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by banded_mallard View Post
    I spend an ass of time in the woods working and hunting. I always keep a look out for morals but have never found any. Defiantly something I have always wanted to find. Either they are hard to come across or I just don’t know where to look.

    I started looking for them in 2013...I found my first one last spring! I was convinced that morels were the adult version of snipe, the joke was on me, and the entire world was in on it. They are hard to see...period. It's kind of like hunting arrowheads...once you see one or two on the ground, your brain adjusts and you start SEEING what you've been looking at. Even then...they are hard to see. I figured out too that I had been starting my searching about two weeks too late. That said...keep looking, because its fun to finally find some, but they are nowhere near the table fare that oysters, chants, hens, and chicken of the woods are.
    “I can’t wait ‘till I’m grown” is the stupidest @!#* I ever said!

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  11. #11
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    Go Tigers!
    Gettin old is for pussies! AND MY NEW TRUE people say like Capt. Tom >>>>>>>>>/
    "Wow, often imitated but never duplicated. No one can do it like the master. My hat is off to you DRDUCK!"

  12. #12
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    Cool stuff partner. I pick em when I find em. Found a great Cauliflower mushroom last year, delicious.
    Genesis 9;2

  13. #13
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    I love Edibles! Oh and ramps will make you stink for 3 days but are delicious stuffed in a trout.


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  14. #14
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    Hell yes Tater. That is a sweet sack of Chants.

    Anyone on here know how to prepare the Morels worth a darn. I tried sautéing them and they cooked down to nearly nothing...then I tried frying them using milk/egg>>dredge in flour breading technique, and I really enjoyed the fried batter. Thinking I need to go with a dry flour dredge and light fry, but I’d like a good, precise recipe before I screw up the few I’m going to find in a week or so.
    “I can’t wait ‘till I’m grown” is the stupidest @!#* I ever said!

  15. #15
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    You can bet your sweet ass I'll be walking that trail... I might even edit that post so we can keep them all to ourselves...

  16. #16
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    I like morels too. I've used them in some sauces lately. If I did fry some I would like I'd like to whip up some egg whites to a fluff and dip, dust in flour, and then hot ass oil.
    Last edited by Highstrung; 03-28-2018 at 09:38 AM.

  17. #17
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    So if one were to look for them this week end are the conditions right to find them?

  18. #18
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    The bloodroot growing amongst the ramps will take the tartar off of your teeth and make you sick as a dog at the same time...always the risk when eating wild edibles.
    Ephesians 2 : 8-9



    Charles Barkley: Nobody doesn't like meat.

  19. #19
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    You ever try fiddleheads?
    Hunting outside the box

  20. #20
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    In SC? What elevation do you need to get to to find fiddleheads?

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