When Corinea Stanhope and her grandfather Bob set up a trail camera near a deer carcass two minutes from Stanhope’s home in Powell River, British Columbia, they hoped to see some interesting wildlife feeding on it. First came a bobcat. Then, to their surprise, came two half-naked figures with matted black hair that looked a lot like witches. The trail camera photos show the two standing over the deer carcass, picking at the flesh, and even raising a hoof to one of their mouths.

The internet can’t decide if these images are real or staged. Social media commenters mostly attribute the behavior to a local bone-obsessed cult, a variety of demons, or just two pranksters with black wigs and a major commitment to their craft.

“Me and my grandpa put up a trail camera to see if we could see animals and we got a bobcat [on camera], which was pretty cool,” Stanhope told a reporter. “I came the next day and grandpa said he’d got naked people on the camera and I said, ‘No you didn’t … bullshit.’ So he showed me.”

Watch: Trail Camera Footage Shows Huge Dumpster Bear Scaring School Principal

In the photos, one of the two figures is wearing just a loincloth while the other wears pants and boots. Both appear to be topless. Their faces are concealed by curtains of matted black hair. Stanhope is pretty sure they’re wearing wigs with curly blond hair underneath.

And because she works as a nurse, Stanhope was extra grossed out by the idea of someone bringing a rotting deer hoof to their mouth.

“I don’t know if she was kissing it, smelling or eating it but to touch a decaying carcass like that makes me feel sick. The amount of bacteria that must have been on there…” she said. “Maybe they were paying their respects but they were naked … I don’t know what the heck was up with that. It really freaked us out, it’s not something you see every day. They came ten minutes after sunset. They looked disheveled.”

Stanhope keeps horses on her property, and she recalled multiple instances where the horses would get nervous and standoffish in the area near the carcass. While she always disregarded their behavior as typical spooking, she now wonders if the horses were aware of something that she wasn’t.

Read Next: 30 Freaky Trail Camera Shots

Regardless of what’s actually going on here, one thing is for sure: this isn’t the first time a trail camera has caught creepy behavior. There’s a longstanding tradition of pranking buddies with bad Halloween costumes, creepy dolls, and terrifying clowns. There are also enough off-the-wall communes, cults, and modern-day witches out there to make you wonder.

The post Naked Witches Caught on Camera, or the Greatest Trail Cam Prank of All Time? appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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There are lots of delicious edible mushrooms that grow across North America. There are even more poisonous mushrooms that foragers should leave alone. When it comes to safe, successful foraging, knowing which mushrooms to avoid is just as important as knowing which mushrooms to pick, if not moreso. Correct wild mushroom identification makes the difference between a tasty pasta dish and a trip to the emergency room. 

Foragers aren’t the only ones who should heed this advice. Parents and dog owners should also be aware of what mushroom species they might encounter on a walk or in the grouse woods.

Trent Blizzard, founder of Modern Forager and president of the North American Mycological Association, provides insight on a few high-profile poisonous mushroom species. He explains how to identify them, what symptoms they can cause, and why foragers should never take a risk on an unidentified LBM, or little brown mushroom.

Poisonous Mushrooms: Inedible vs. Toxic vs. Deadly

Before diving into these different species of mushrooms to avoid, it’s important to understand what separates inedible, toxic, and deadly mushrooms. The three categories should not be confused.

“There are only a couple mushrooms we would call ‘deadly,’” which I think is an interesting distinction,” says Blizzard, noting that ‘deadly’ mushrooms can kill humans. “There are inedible mushrooms that would taste horrible and make your stomach hurt. Then, there are a lot of mushrooms that would make you very sick but won’t kill you, and you could call those toxic but not deadly.” 

Blizzard notes that certain hallucinogenic wild mushrooms, which contain psilocybin and are ingested for recreational or medicinal purposes, can produce some of the same symptoms that other toxic mushrooms do.

“You might even argue that … psilocybin mushrooms that grow in the wild are toxic,” he says. “They might make you pretty sick as they send you on your brain journey. So even that’s a funny line.”  

Death Cap Mushrooms

While most poisonous mushrooms have been graced with self-explanatory nicknames over the years, the death cap mushroom might have the most foreboding alias of them all. Formally known as Amanita phalloides, the death cap kills one to three of every 10 people who eat it. Therefore, the death cap mushroom can definitely be considered deadly.

How to Identify Death Cap Mushrooms

These mushrooms are generally light in color, making them easy to spot in most environments. Their pale yellow, green, or white cap and skirt around the upper part of the white stem are telltale signs of their identity. Immature death caps are shorter and more stout, and the edges of the cap still fold down around the stem. They might even be partially or fully attached to the stem, like a closed umbrella. Mature death caps have wide, flat caps that round down at the edges, more like an open umbrella.

Death Cap Identification

• Rounded cap in young specimens and flat, wide cap in mature specimens with light green, yellow, or white hue
• White gills underneath cap
• Fragile “skirt” attached to stem under cap
• White stem, generally wider at bottom and narrower near cap

Where to Find Death Cap Mushrooms

Death caps are originally native to Europe, but are thought to have traveled to North America on the roots of ornamental trees, according to the Bay Area Mycological Society. They are widespread along the Pacific Coast, from California to British Columbia. There is a large concentration of sightings in urban Vancouver. The death cap’s ability to flourish in urban and suburban environments is one of its deadliest traits, since more adults, children, and pets are likely to encounter them there.

Fly Agaric Mushrooms

You might recognize the fly agaric mushroom from your favorite childhood fairytale or from the cartoon world of the Mario Brothers. The stereotypical toadstool of Amanita muscaria stands out in the woods thanks to its bright red cap with white spots and a white stem. These mushrooms are considered toxic and will make you sick, but they aren’t likely to kill you.

Fly agaric mushrooms are also psychoactive, meaning they cause hallucinations if consumed. For this reason, they’ve been used in a variety of shamanistic rituals for thousands of years. Shamans used to collect fly agaric mushrooms during the winter solstice in northern Europe and Asia while wearing red suits with white trim and black boots. They would bring the mushrooms back to their villages for use in rituals. These shamans are thought to be the original inspiration for the modern Santa Claus, his red and white suit, and his trips down our chimneys with sacks full of presents.

“Amanita muscaria has traditionally been marked as a toxic mushroom. But there’s a ton of lore and symbolism around it,” Blizzard confirms. “That mushroom has played a pretty big role in various cultures around the world.”

How to Identify Fly Agaric Mushrooms

Fly agaric mushrooms are one of the easiest wild mushroom species in the world to identify. Few mushrooms share the same scarlet hue that makes them so visible in green and brown underbrush. Their white bumps also create a distinct, eye-catching pattern. 

Under the cap, the fly agaric mushroom has white or cream-colored gills that don’t attach to the stem. Similar to the death cap, these poisonous mushrooms tend to have a light-colored skirt around the stem, as well. They grow up from a cup that is often buried underground, where it attaches to a mycorrhizal network that sustains other mushrooms and tree roots in the area. 

Fly Agaric Mushroom Identification

• Poppy red to deep red cap with rounded shape in younger mushrooms and wider, flatter shape in older mushrooms
• White or cream-colored bumps in a random pattern
• White or cream-colored gills under cap
• White stem with skirt 

Where to Find Fly Agaric Mushrooms

These poisonous mushrooms exist around the world, but are native to the Northern Hemisphere in Europe and Asia specifically. They prefer birch and conifer forests and usually pop up in late summer and early fall. Much like the death cap, these mushrooms have been introduced in North America and the Southern Hemisphere on relocated trees. A few subspecies of fly agaric exist in the United States. The classic red mushroom is more popular on the West Coast, while a yellow subspecies (identical to the red fly agaric but with a yellow-to-orange cap) exists on the East Coast. 

Destroying Angel Mushrooms

Another Amanita species with a scary name, the destroying angel mushroom (also known as the death angel) definitely belongs on the list of poisonous mushrooms to know and avoid. There are two subspecies of destroying angel (Amanita virosa and Amanita bisporigera), which means foragers have a slightly wider range of characteristics to look for. But ingesting either subspecies will first cause  extreme intestinal distress marked by nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea before causing liver and kidney damage that could result in both organs failing. Organ damage often occurs the day after ingestion and death can occur within seven days.

“The destroying angel is just a beautiful mushroom,” Blizzard says. “It’s white and very nice to look at, but it will kill you.”  

How to Identify a Destroying Angel Mushroom

This poisonous mushroom tends to be taller and skinnier than the death cap and the fly agaric. Its flesh is a bright, clean, white color from cap to stem, giving the mushroom its namesake angelic appearance. The underside of the cap is covered in gills and a skirt surrounds the stem underneath the cap. It also grows upward from a cup-shaped base, which is often buried underground and attached to the bottom end of the stem.

Destroying Angel Mushroom Identification

• White cap, gills, skirt, and stem
• Gills are thin and small
• Stem widens slightly from top to bottom
• Cap might be more rounded in younger specimens, flattens with age
• A. virosa tends to be slightly bigger and taller than A. bisporigera

Where to Find Destroying Angel Mushrooms

The Amanita virosa subspecies is native to Europe, where it occurs in mixed hardwood forests and grassy fields. This subspecies does not exist in North America, but A. bisporigera does, where it’s also known as the Eastern North American destroying angel. As its name indicates, its distribution is limited to the eastern half of the continent and stretches from Canada to Mexico. Both subspecies prefer the same types of habitat with spotty sunlight and pop up in late summer and early fall.

Green-Spored Parasol Mushrooms

This poisonous mushroom is known as the green-spored parasol, or the false parasol. Its common nickname, “the vomiter,” makes clear the unpleasant fate that awaits any forager who eats a Chlorophyllum molybdites. Ingesting this mushroom won’t kill you, but the variety of gruesome side effects ranging from extreme stomach irritation to bloody diarrhea might make you wish it had.

“This pretty little white mushroom grows in the most beautiful grass in a park. People just think ‘Aw, that’s so pretty, I’m going to eat it,’ or children or dogs do,” Blizzard says. “But it’s called ‘the vomiter’ for a reason. I think it’s one of the more common problem mushrooms.”

How to Identify a Green-Spored Parasol Mushroom

The vomiter mushroom has the same general shape as the death cap, fly agaric, and destroying angel: its stem is tall and thin with a skirt that sits just under the cap. This cap ranges from rounded downward to wide and flat, depending on the mushroom’s age. The cap might also have shriveled remnants of a brown peel marking it, exposing a lighter color underneath. 

Light tan-green gills under a cream-colored cap give this mushroom its unique name. The green tinge comes from the microscopic spores that live in the gills, which are naturally green. In fact, if you place the cap of a green-spored parasol on a white piece of paper, gill side-down for a few hours, it will leave a green spore print behind. Just be sure to use gloves if you choose to handle any poisonous mushroom and wash your hands after you’re done. 

Green-Spored Parasol Mushroom Identification

• Overall creamy tan-colored mushroom
• Younger specimens have rounded cap, while older specimens have much flatter, wider cap
• Cap might have bits of brown peel stuck to a lighter surface
• Under cap, cream-colored gills are tinged green
• Skirt attaches to tan stem

Where to Find Green-Spored Parasol Mushrooms

Lots of poisonous mushrooms prefer mixed hardwood forests and more northerly latitudes. But the green-spored parasol pops up most commonly in more tropical parts of North, Central, and South America. They’re also common in Central Africa and the Pacific Islands. 

Homeowners in the Lower Midwest and Southeast, from Missouri to North Carolina to Florida, are used to finding these poisonous mushrooms growing in their lawns. They can show up any time from April to November, as long as the climate is wet and warm.

Little Brown Mushrooms

The infamous little brown mushroom, or “LBM,” isn’t one particular species of mushroom. Instead, the acronym stands for hundreds of species of small, unidentifiable mushrooms that don’t have any major distinguishing features and therefore should be left alone. Some might be deadly, while others might barely harm you. Others still might send you on a wild psychedelic trip that could have long-lasting negative effects. The point is that little brown mushrooms are unknown to even the most expert foragers, says Blizzard, and therefore aren’t worth the risk.  

How to Identify Little Brown Mushrooms

LBMs are easy to identify. If you see a small brown mushroom growing in a lawn, meadow, or in the woods, and you have no clue what it is, congratulations—you found one. It could be a deadly Galerina—which has the same toxins as the death cap, fly agaric, and destroying angel—or a less toxic but still inedible lawnmower’s mushroom. There’s no good reason to take the chance on harvesting and eating these fungi.

Little Brown Mushrooms Identification

• Small, standalone or clustered brown mushrooms
• Could grow from the ground, from dead or living trees, or other decaying matter
• Might have flat or rounded caps with gills or folds underneath
• Stems can range in height and thickness, but generally they’re thin compared to the width of the cap

If you come across a little brown mushroom and are curious about it, snap a few photos of the mushroom’s cap, stem, and underside for further research. If the mushroom is growing in your yard or on a public trail, put gloves on and harvest one to take a spore print. Use paper that contrasts the color of the underside—if the gills are really dark, set the cap gill-side-down on white paper. If they’re really light or white, use black paper. Cover the cap with an upside-down drinking glass to protect it (and your counter) for up to 24 hours while it spills its spores on the paper underneath. Spore prints are one trusted method among expert mycologists for identifying mushrooms, or at least for ruling out certain species.

Where to Find Little Brown Mushrooms

LBMs pop up all around the world in a variety of environments. They can grow from early spring to late fall. As is typical with most wild mushroom species, they’re more likely to grow in moist environments and during wetter times of the year. If you keep your eyes peeled the next time you’re outside, it shouldn’t be too hard to find one. 

Final Thoughts on Poisonous Mushrooms

An afternoon of foraging, preparing, and cooking wild mushrooms can turn into an evening in a hospital bed if done carelessly. The first step to being a responsible forager is knowing what mushroom species shouldn’t end up on your plate. The rule of thumb is that if you can’t identify a mushroom with 100 percent confidence, you absolutely shouldn’t eat it. Being able to identify poisonous mushrooms with confidence is a crucial skill for all foragers. 

“When you consider the range from edible to inedible to toxic to [deadly], there’s no simple little rule of thumb,” Blizzard says. “And even if you did, that rule would be very geographic in nature. That rule could get you sick in California but it could work fine in Virginia.”

Read Next: How to Identify 6 Types of Edible Mushrooms

This list of poisonous mushroom species is far from exhaustive, even with the inclusion of the hundreds of varieties that the LBM category covers. To gain confidence in your foraging abilities, research what poisonous mushroom species you might run into in your area. You should also know what symptoms poisonous mushrooms can cause. That way if you do ever make a mistake, you can seek medical attention as soon as possible.

The post 5 Poisonous Mushrooms You Should Learn to Identify appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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Foraging for common types of edible mushrooms is all the rage these days. The pastime is gaining attention on TikTok and growing in popularity nationwide, driving more folks to discover the appeal (and challenge) of locating and identifying wild mushrooms. And as hunters descend on the turkey woods, it’s hard to resist keeping our eyes peeled for a lone, wrinkly morel or a meaty chicken of the woods.

But like identifying any kind of wild food, foraging for edible mushrooms requires extensive knowledge on how to do so safely. North American Mycological Association president Trent Blizzard points out that to truly be a safe and effective mushroom forager, you must have a regional knowledge of the wild edibles available in your local woods. Mushroom species might grow near one type of tree in one region and near a different tree somewhere else. Similarly, a toxic look-alike might not exist in your home state, but could be quite prevalent if you decide to forage while on vacation. Never assume all mushroom species are the same everywhere.

Fortunately, there are some types of edible mushrooms that are so common and easy to identify that you can learn—with practice—how to safely forage for them. Here are six of Blizzard’s favorite edible mushrooms to forage and his tips for identifying them.

Morel Mushrooms

We’ll kick off with what is probably the most popular and easily identifiable wild mushroom in the woods of North America. Morel mushrooms are easy to identify thanks to their unique look, and beloved for their umami-rich flavor. Morels lend well to omelets, pastas, sandwiches, salads, and soups. They can be prepared quickly or dehydrated and stashed in the pantry.

How to Identify Morel Mushrooms

Morels are so distinct because of their porous fruiting body that slightly resembles a cone-shaped sponge or brain. The color can range from light tan to dark brown or black. Some morels are more circular, while some are more elongated.

“Morels are hollow in the middle, and the cap is directly connected to the stem,” Blizzard explains. “They have hollow pits and they come up in the spring straight out of the dirt.”

Morel Mushroom Identification

• Porous, cone-shaped cap
• The color of morels could be light tan to black
• Short, thick stem, usually a lighter color than the cap
• Completely hollow interior from top of cap to bottom of stem
• Cap attaches directly to stem, no overhang

False morels, the most common look-alike for this type of edible mushroom, are not hollow in the middle, and the caps billow over the stems like an umbrella, only attaching at the very top of the stem. False morels look more brainy than real morels, often with more wrinkles, folds, and channels than true pores. The best way to tell the difference is to slice the morel in half the long way to get a cross-section view. If the mushroom is perfectly hollow, you’ve found the woodland delicacy. If not, discard the mushroom and don’t eat it.  

Where Do Morel Mushrooms Grow?

Another reason morels are so popular is because they’re so widespread. They grow pretty much anywhere in North America that has shady, wet, temperate weather in the springtime. As soon as nighttime temperatures stay above 50°F, morels will start popping out of the ground. 

Read Next: 12 Tips for Finding More Morel Mushrooms

Blizzard says that morels most commonly grow around ash or elm trees. To find them, search fresh wildfire or prescribed burn areas, woodland edges, areas under or near downed trees, and near water. 

Oyster Mushrooms

You might recognize oyster mushrooms from your local grocery store. That’s because they’re a commonly cultivated fungi as well as a wild one. Their dense texture makes oyster mushrooms a preferred meat substitute in many dishes. Bread, fry, and coat them in buffalo sauce if you want to mix things up on wing night.

 How to Identify Oyster Mushrooms

Oyster mushrooms grow in a cluster of small fungal discs that each fan out at the end of a thick, white stem. Within the cluster, the individual mushrooms layer with each other similar to how rose petals grow. Oyster mushrooms can be a variety of hues, although the most common ones in the woods range from a pearly tan to gray or slightly blue.

“They have a shelf-like appearance, almost like saucers,” Blizzard says. “They could be big or small, and they have gills. The gills are decurrent, [which means] they run into and become part of the stem, where it attaches to the wood.” 

The fungal discs can vary in shape and size. Older ones look more like oyster shells and are broader and flatter. Their edges might be less round and more irregular. Immature oyster mushrooms are thicker and stubbier with more perfectly rounded edges. (You can harvest and enjoy both.) 

Oyster Mushroom Identification

• Cluster of layered lobes on individual stems
• Younger lobes are more rounded, older ones flatter and potentially irregular in shape
• Light gray, tan, or blue-tinged with lighter-colored stems
• Gilled underside
• Grow from dead or dying trees

Oyster mushrooms don’t have many look-alikes. One worth noting is the Jack-o’-Lantern mushroom, which grows in similar clusters but is oranger and puffier. For this reason, these poisonous mushrooms are more commonly confused with other types of edible mushrooms like chicken of the woods and chanterelles (more on these in a minute).

Where Do Oyster Mushrooms Grow?

Blizzard explains that wild oyster mushrooms can be found on either fallen or dead trees, unlike other mushroom species that prefer live trees. They grow best in temperate, deciduous forests with lots of shade. Look for them on cottonwood, willow, aspen, or alder trees across northern and mountainous regions, according to the University of British Columbia.

Hen of the Woods Mushrooms

The hen of the woods, also known as the “maitake” mushroom, is a famous fungi among foragers. The flavor of this mushroom is often described as strong and slightly peppery. Native to eastern Asia, Europe, and North America, the hen of the woods has long been used as a medicinal superfood known to boost the immune system and lower cholesterol, according to WebMD. It even suppressed cancerous cell production in mice, Healthline reports. Hen of the woods are said to resemble a chicken with its feathers fluffed up, hence the nickname. These clusters of wild mushrooms can grow extremely big, up to 40-plus-inches wide.

How to Identify Hen of the Woods Mushrooms

A full-bodied hen of the woods, similar to a young patch of oyster mushrooms, is a layered cluster of fungal discs. Unlike oyster mushrooms, however, hen of the woods have a darker brown hue and the edges of the mushrooms are more scalloped and jagged than rounded. The clusters are often spherical and thick. If you cut into one, the cross-section will look like a head of cauliflower, thanks to the mushroom’s white flesh, Blizzard says. 

The underside of this type of edible mushroom has tiny pores rather than gills. As hen of the woods clusters age, the fruiting bodies will shrivel and become chewier. The edges of the fungal discs might split. 

Hen of the Woods Identification

• Large, full, round cluster of tan-to-brown lobes with irregular, scalloped edges
• Grows at the base or on the roots of living, dying, or dead oak trees
• White flesh inside
• Porous underside
• Toughens with age

There are no poisonous look-alikes for hen of the woods mushrooms. The few look-alikes they do have are edible and easily distinguishable based on their color and shape. The closest look-alike, the black staining polypore mushroom, bruises to a black color when handled. This mushroom isn’t poisonous and is also considered a tasty edible species.

Where Do Hen of the Woods Mushrooms Grow?

Hen of the woods mushrooms grow in northeastern North America on large oak trees in the fall, Blizzard says. Look for the big clusters growing on oak tree roots or at the very base of the trunks. They’ve been found as far south as Missouri and as far west as Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to Alan Bergo of Forager Chef. 

Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms

When it comes to actually spotting wild mushrooms, the hardest to overlook is the large, brilliantly-colored chicken of the woods. Similar to hen of the woods, this type of edible mushroom can grow multiple feet in width. But what takes the chicken of the woods a step further is its bright orange color that’s impossible to miss in any forest.

“Chicken of the woods is a really beautiful, shelf-shaped, orange-and-gold mushroom. It’s quite spectacular,” Blizzard says. “It has the consistency of chicken and is really mild in flavor.” 

How to Identify Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms

Lucky for beginner foragers, chicken of the woods is easy to identify. It usually grows on dead trees in big, flat lobes with pores underneath instead of gills. Chicken of the woods might also grow on living trees, especially those with open wounds. The lobes fan straight out from the tree without any discernible stems.

“You only want to harvest this mushroom when it’s younger and can be sliced easily with a knife,” Blizzard explains. “As it gets older, it gets tougher, so you only want the tender bits.”

Chicken of the Woods Identification

• Layers of bright orange-to-yellow fungal plates with irregular edges
• No stems, plates anchored straight to tree trunks or bases
• Thick, meaty texture and mild flavor similar to chicken
• Toughens with age

Similar to oyster mushrooms, the Jack-o’-Lantern mushroom is the most common look-alike for the chicken of the woods. But the Jack-o’-Lantern’s telltale gills, or long, deep slits under the cap, will set you straight, since the chicken of the woods has pores underneath instead.

Where Do Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms Grow?

If you’re searching for a brown-gray puff of hen of the woods, be on the lookout for chicken of the woods, too. The two species grow in similar areas: east of the Rockies in the northern reaches of North America in hardwood forests. While hen of the woods only grows in the fall, chicken of the woods will emerge in the spring. This type of edible mushroom often pops up at the base or on the trunk of oak trees.

Chanterelle Mushrooms

A favorite among North American hunters and wild cooks, chanterelles are another type of edible mushroom that are difficult to miss in the woods due to their golden color. They also give off a faint scent of apricots and have a distinct cupped shape, which explains why the Greek root of their name, kantharos, means “tankard.”

How to Identify Chanterelle Mushrooms

Chanterelles grow out of the forest floor. If you think you’ve spotted chanterelles, check for a few distinguishing characteristics. The mushrooms should be golden to orange in color and have thin folds underneath their plates, rather than gills. Those folds should fork and run mostly down the stem, which will taper as it plunges into the soil. The edges of the chanterelle are often wavy and scalloped rather than round.

The term “chanterelle” actually describes a family of mushrooms with multiple subspecies. False chanterelles aren’t toxic, but have a gross flavor and can cause some minor intestinal issues. These are the primary look-alike for this type of edible mushroom, and are recognizable by their true gills rather than forking folds and an orange color that gradually gets darker toward the center of the cap. 

Chanterelle Mushroom Identification

• Golden yellow to orange in color
• Standalone mushroom with cupped, concave caps and tapering stems
• Caps are irregularly shaped, sometimes scalloped
• Deep, forked folds underneath instead of gills, forks stretch down length of stem
• Fruity, apricot scent

The other look-alike for chanterelle mushrooms is, once again, the Jack-o’-Lantern mushroom. These imitators have true, fine-edged gills and grow in clusters. The inside of its stems are often orange, whereas chanterelle stems have lighter-colored flesh.

Where Do Chanterelle Mushrooms Grow?

Chanterelle mushrooms grow individually, but are often clustered together in mossy forests with lots of conifer trees and near birch and oak trees in more mountainous regions. They sprout in the mid- to late-summer months and will reoccur in the same places year after year. Look for decaying leaves and grass instead of trees. They’ll only sprout from soil, never wood. 

Wild Porcini Mushrooms

Few mushrooms fetch a higher price per pound than the porcini, also known as the king bolete. This type of edible mushroom is considered a delicacy among restaurant chefs, who might pay anywhere from $55 to $70 per pound for them. (While many people have tried cultivating porcini mushrooms and “porcini spores” are available for purchase online, these mushrooms are only available in the wild and experts consider grow-your-own kits to be scams.) Porcini mushrooms are also known for their meaty texture, which is why they’re filling and make fine substitutes in vegetarian dishes.

How to Identify Porcini Mushrooms

These mushrooms are instantly recognizable for their fat, puffy shape and stubby stems that are often as wide as—if not wider than—the caps. The stems are usually a light, creamy color and the caps range from light brown to caramel.

“They’re a really classic-looking mushroom,” Blizzard says, referring to the porcini’s firm flesh. He also points out that there are a variety of porcini subspecies that grow during different times of the year across the country.

Porcini Mushroom Identification

• Short, puffy, standalone mushroom with traditional “toadstool” shape
• Smooth caps are tan to caramel in color
• Stems are wide (sometimes wider than cap) and thick, lighter and creamy in color
• Caps are porous underneath

These mushrooms have a couple toxic look-alikes that make them an intermediate to advanced type of edible mushroom to identify. These look-alikes are subspecies of the Boletus genus, which means they’re related to the porcini, or king bolete, mushroom. For this reason, you shouldn’t harvest porcinis until you’re 100 percent confident in your ability to identify them. For example, one look-alike, Boletus huronensis, stains slightly blue upon being cut open, but otherwise looks similar to porcini.

Where Do Porcini Mushrooms Grow?

Like morel mushrooms, porcinis grow straight out of the soil. They’re distributed widely across the Northern Hemisphere. Even though they can be found in North America, they’re especially popular in Europe, ranging from Scandinavia to Italy and Greece, and even Morocco in Northern Africa. Porcinis grow in deciduous and coniferous forests, and can withstand a variety of climates, as long as the air remains somewhat humid and temperatures don’t drop near freezing. In other words, the porcini’s range is extremely broad, which makes finding them a needle-in-haystack situation. No wonder they’re so expensive.

Can You Eat Wild Mushrooms Raw?

No, you should not eat wild mushrooms raw. This is one of the most common misconceptions that beginner foragers have about types of edible mushrooms.

“All wild mushrooms need to be cooked,” says Blizzard. “When you hear people talk about getting sick from mushrooms, a good percentage of them probably either didn’t cook the mushrooms or didn’t cook them long enough. Mushrooms like [hen of the woods] and chicken of the woods really benefit from a good, long cook. It makes them much easier on your digestive system.”

Blizzard points out that some mushrooms can be eaten raw in very small quantities. A single slice of raw porcini mushroom, for example, isn’t likely to make you sick. But taking that gamble can be dangerous—especially if there’s a chance you’ve misidentified the mushroom in the first place. Other edible mushrooms, like morels, are only edible when fully cooked. Undercooked morels are toxic and will make you sick.

Final Thoughts on Types of Edible Mushrooms

Before you get comfortable harvesting and cooking wild mushrooms, you must get comfortable identifying them, Blizzard says. These six species—morels, oyster mushrooms, hen of the woods, chicken of the woods, porcinis, and chanterelles—are a good place to start due to their distinct features, availability in a vast range of North America, and low number of toxic look-alikes. If you know how to identify and avoid the Jack-o’-Lantern mushroom, you can harvest half of these species with confidence.

Read Next: The Best Morel Mushroom Recipes

“There’s no simple rule of thumb. And if there was, it would be very geographic,” he says. “That rule could get you sick in California, but it might work fine in Virginia.”

The post How to Identify 6 Types of Edible Mushrooms appeared first on Outdoor Life.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

Morel mushrooms are a mystery, a miracle, and a gift of the spring woods. Their arrival of mushroom hunting season often coincides with turkey season. Wild mushrooms can appear overnight and remain maddeningly elusive. Veteran morel mushroom hunters covet their secret spots with a possessive fervor equal to that of any bass fishermen or deer hunter. Here’s our guide on where to find morel mushrooms.

Why are wild mushrooms more common in spring?

Morel mushrooms remain a mystery to researchers and foragers alike. Where and why they grow is often the subject of woods-lore. But one thing is certain, there are conditions that cause morels to flush in the spring more than any other time of year. Once you know what to look for in your environment, you’ll be racing to find the next hotspot.

Temperature and moisture are by far the most important factors for fungi growth. Morels will not grow if the soil is too warm or cold. They also tend to like moist soil, so snowy winters and rainy springs are ideal. It’s good to pay attention to snowpack and snowmelt especially in the mountains. Snow not only moistens the soil but also keeps the soil cooler. Be prepared to move up and down the mountain to adjust for temperature and snowmelt. In early spring, morels tend to pop up at lower elevations first and work their way up as temperatures rise.

Disturbed ground, clear cuts and wildfire burns all tend to precede a boom in morel growth. So it’s important to know how morels and other mushrooms relate to their environment.

“One of the hypotheses is that the disturbance disrupts the connection between the fungus and the roots of the host trees that are feeding the fungus sugars and carbohydrates,” says Andrew Larson, a forest ecology professor for the University of Montana.

Simply put, living plant roots provide food to fungus that produce morels. This all takes place under the soil. While it’s hard to say that morels have an exclusive relationship to specific plants, this would explain why we tend to find them near certain kinds of trees. When the trees are gone, due to chainsaws or fire, the food supply for the fungus goes with them. “The response then, of the fungus, is to produce the fruiting body and the spores that are associated so that it can disperse and reproduce,” Larson says. The more “fruiting bodies” (morels) means more spores (think mushroom seeds), and that’s a good thing for both foragers and fungus. Stick to recent burn scars where the trees are dead, but there is still foliage. Partial and clear-cut forests are also great places to look.

Lastly, when you’re in the woods, try to find a place where morels are already growing. That’s right, morels lead to more morels. It sounds pretty obvious, but think back to what’s going on under the surface. Morels are part of a larger more expansive fungus that’s probably all around you, right under the soil.

“Any mushroom hunter can tell you this. If you find one, you need to freeze and look around. You’re much more likely to find more within 20 feet,” Larson says.

Now that you know the right conditions, here are some practical tips to help you find these wild delicacies in the field.

Timing is everything. Start with the leaves

“The old timers say that when the oak leaves are the size of a mouse’s ear then that’s the time to look for morels,” says Rick Hill, a wildlife artist and dedicated mushroom hunter. “And that’s usually about right.”

Know your trees to find morel mushrooms

Morels are often found near trees, but not just any tree, explains Joe Lacefield. He is a wildlife biologist who primarily works with private landowners. Lacefield knows mushrooms. If you want to find morels, he says start by learning to identify trees: sycamore, hickory, ash, and elm are four to focus on first. Morels favor fruit trees, too. “An old apple orchard is often a productive area,” he says. Here are some tips for identifying them.

The mystery factor: Where to find morel mushrooms

Why morels favor some tree species and not others is unclear. “There’s a mystery about them,” Lacefield says. “Are they a symbiotic species that basically is tied into a root system of a tree? Or are they just in the soil? I don’t know. I don’t know if anyone knows for sure. But they’re usually always associated with trees.”

Wet, mild and the magic 50

“You have to have soil temperatures that are in the 50s before you’ll start seeing morels popping,” says Lacefield. A wet spring is often a harbinger to a good mushroom year. But a string of nights when the temperature is at or above 50 degrees is the real trigger. “When you have a week of 50 degree nights and some rain, then morels should be coming.”

Wet, but not too wet

Concentrate on well-drained areas that receive plenty rainfall, but don’t necessarily hold it.

Look South and West to find morel mushrooms

Lacefield advises early-season morel hunters to focus on southward and westward slopes. They will have the warmest, early season soil. “You sometimes can find them in grassy areas,” he notes. “But generally the higher humidity of the forest is going to encourage the growth better.”

Don’t forget about false morel mushrooms

Some mushrooms are toxic. A few can be fatal. Avoid these. Fortunately, only one toxic mushroom resembles a morel. Don’t fall for the fake (see below). “Morels have a wrinkly cap and really there isn’t anything that looks like them except the false morel, which isn’t hollow,” Lacefield explains. “One of the biggest reasons people like to go for the morels is because they are so hard to confuse with anything that will make you sick.”

Size doesn’t matter

Morels can range from thimble size to something resembling a soda can, although the larger ones are more rare. Lacefield notes that early season morels are often black and about the size of your thumb and often first found near sycamore trees. Gray, or yellow, morels usually appear later in the season. “The yellows and grays are the bigger (morels),” Lacefield said. “Some people would argue that the yellows are just a later stage of the grays.” Morels can have about a three week growing season but most don’t last that long. “When people find them,” Lacefield said. “They usually take them.”

READ NEXT: Best Morel Mushroom Recipes

Morel mushroom map

Susan “Ski” Witzofsky recently retired from a 20-plus year career with the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, a heavily timbered tract that spills in the Tennessee and Kentucky that surrenders its fair share of mushrooms.

If you live in the Deep South your morel season will start in March and end sooner. If you’re in the Mid-South or Midwest, April through May is usually prime time. For the upper Midwest and Northeast, May through June is ideal mushroom hunting season. “The earliest I’ve found a morel was March 6,” says Witzofsky, who does most of her mushroom prowling near the Tennessee-Kentucky border. “The latest I’ve ever found them here is May 7. They start earlier in the South and later in the North.”

The Great Morel website publishes yearly overviews of each morel hunting season. Finding out how the season played out last year in your area can help inform your hunting this season. Find more info at www.morelhunters.com and www.morels.com/soil-temperature-maps/.

No guarantees, even for veterans

Witzofsky has yet to hit a morel mother lode this year. “It’s been a poor year for mushrooms so far,” she acknowledges. The fungi have eluded Lacefield, too. “I’ve put in a lot of miles and haven’t found any. Not yet.”

Get help

New to mushroom hunting? Seek guidance, says both Witzofsky and Lacefield. Numerous books and videos are available to help with everything from probable morel locations to tree identification. Better yet, go with an experienced hunter. Although Witzofsky acknowledges mushroom hunters are often a secretive bunch—“Spots are very special and people do not like to share”—you can usually find a local group or class to join.

Q&A: Your morel mushroom questions, answered

What is the best month to find morels?

This depends on where you live. In the Deep South, start in March and end sooner. If you’re in the Mid-South or Midwest, hunt for morels in April through May. For the upper Midwest and Northeast, May through June is ideal mushroom hunting season.

What states do morel mushrooms grow in?

Morel mushrooms can be found in nearly every state, but are most available in the Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-South. 

Why are morels so hard to find?

Morel mushrooms are hard to find because they grow low to the ground and are a relatively inconspicuous fungi. Plus they only grow in certain conditions during specific times in the spring. 

Final thoughts on finding morel mushrooms

“Morels are pretty camouflaged,” Lacefield says. “You have to develop an eye for it. It’s kind of like shed hunting. You have to key in on what you’re looking for. It definitely takes experience.”

Also, as morel hunting seems to get more and more popular, it can be harder to find mushroom spots that haven’t been hit yet. You can bet that all the best areas near public-land parking lots will likely be picked over. So just like you might digital scout land for deer hunting, use the same tactics for mushroom hunting. The onX Hunt mapping app has a burn layer that will help you identify forest areas that have burned in the past. A little digital scouting can help make your time mushroom hunting in the field more productive. Plan routes that will get you away from crowds. Also be mindful of turkey hunters this spring (which promises to be another busy season in the turkey woods). Try to do you hunting midday and if you see blinds or decoys, please head the other direction.

The post 12 Tips for Finding More Morel Mushrooms This Spring appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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Morels aren’t the easiest mushrooms to find. Unlike the distinct blaze orange of chanterelles, the big-bodied clouds of chicken of the woods, or the white, shaggy plumes of Lion’s mane, morel mushrooms are small, low to the ground, and camouflage easily with dirt and leaf rot. Still, everyone from spring turkey hunters to diehard foragers keep an eye out for them for a reason: They’re delicious. So once you find a few, what’s the best way to cook morel mushrooms? You could fry them in butter for a quick and tasty snack. Or you could make a meal out of them. We asked experienced foragers, cooks, and hunters to share their favorite morel mushroom recipes, along with their tips for preparing them.

Morel Mushroom Risotto

Jamie Carlson is a hunter, angler, forager, and wild food blogger from Minnesota who has published wild-game recipes and tips on Outdoor Life, as well as Modern Carnivore and Outdoor News. You can find venison, pike, turkey, and wild-rice recipes on his Instagram feed, along with foraged cocktail ingredients and his hunting and fishing photos.

“I really like risotto when it comes to morel mushroom recipes because it doesn’t take very many mushrooms to have a big impact on the flavor of the dish,” Carlson tells Outdoor Life. “If you have morel seasons like I’ve had in the past, where you only find a handful, this is a great way to make your morels go a long way and feed the whole family. This risotto uses two other great spring ingredients—ramps and nettles—and is one of my favorite springtime dishes.” 

Ingredients

• 1½ cups Arborio rice
• ½ cup chopped ramps, stems, and leaves (if you don’t have ramps, use finely diced yellow onion)
• 1/3 cup stinging nettle puree, (8 oz nettle leaves sautéed in a pan with butter and pureed in food processor)
• 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• Morel mushrooms, as many as you have, sautéed in butter and roughly chopped to stir into your risotto
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• ½ cup white wine
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Warm your stock in a medium-sized pan over medium-low heat. You don’t need to boil it, just keep it warm. 
2. In a large sauté pan, melt the butter and olive oil together over medium heat.  Add the ramps and season with salt and pepper. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes or until soft. Be careful to not burn the ramps. 
3. Stir in the rice and toast for a few minutes to coat it with butter and oil. Once the rice turns translucent, add white wine and stir, cooking until all the wine is absorbed. 
4. Ladle the stock into the rice mixture. Stir frequently, allowing the stock to absorb before adding the next ladle. 
5. When the stock is almost gone, add the nettle puree and morel mushrooms. Stir to combine. Cook to your preferred consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and enjoy. 

Asian-Inspired Chicken Thighs with Morels

Trent and Kristen Blizzard are foraging enthusiasts and founders of Modern Forager, a blog dedicated to all things mushrooms and other wild edibles. They also publish wildfire burn maps to help foragers find prime morel hunting spots. This recipe is republished with permission from their cookbook, Wild Mushrooms: A Cookbook and Foraging Guide, which is full of other morel mushroom recipes, too. Forager, artist, and botanical printer Mayumi Fujio contributed this recipe to the book. She is from San Francisco and uses mushroom-based dyes and other foraged plants in her textile work.

“Morels in an Asian-inspired sauce with tender chicken thighs will become your next favorite comfort food,” Kristen says of this unique morel mushroom recipe. “You might want to double this recipe for leftovers or to share with friends!”

Ingredients

• 1/2 oz. dried morels (8 oz fresh)
• 1 lb. boneless chicken thighs
• 3 tbsp. sake, divided
• 1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. potato starch
• 1 tbsp. neutral oil (like grapeseed or vegetable oil)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp. ginger, chopped
• 2 tbsp. oyster sauce
• Your choice of rice or pasta

Instructions

1. Rehydrate morels by cooking in a separate pan with soaking liquid (like water or chicken stock) for 10 to 15 minutes until liquid is gone. If using fresh morels, sauté until well cooked. 
2. Cut the chicken thighs into bite-size pieces and marinate in 1 tablespoon of sake and 1 tablespoon soy sauce. Remove after 10 minutes, put in a plastic bag, and add potato starch to coat.
3. In a wok, heat oil and then fry chicken on medium heat, add garlic and ginger and continue to stir-fry. If the chicken is not cooked to an internal temperature of 160°F, add a little water to cook thoroughly.
4. Once the chicken is cooked, add the morels.
5. Add remaining sake, oyster sauce, and soy sauce. Sauté until everything is coated. Spoon over rice or pasta. Enjoy!

Eggs Cocotte with Morels and Shrimp

Alan Bergo is a James Beard award-winning chef, cooking show host, published author, and forager with lots of experience developing morel mushroom recipes. After a battle with the harsh realities of the restaurant industry and other personal hardships (read his story here), Bergo found wild food foraging as a healing practice that reinvigorated his love for cooking. He wrote The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora: Recipes and Techniques for Edible Plants from the Garden, Field, and Forest and hosted “The Wild Harvest with Chef Alan Bergo.” He also connects with his audience through his wild food blog, Forager | Chef.

“Around the third week in May, my fridge is getting full and morels start to get eaten for any meal of the day,” Bergo says. “One of my all-time favorite morel season breakfasts is eggs baked in a creamy sauce of morel and shrimp, served with toast. It’s a modern version of a classic French dish enjoyed by Charles De Gaulle, called ‘Eggs en Cocotte aux Morilles.’ With a few fresh morels, and a couple custard dishes, you’ll have a breakfast fit for a president.” 

Ingredients

• ½ oz. dried morels (you can increase this to 1 oz if you like)
• 1 cup hot stock such as shrimp or beef, or water in a pinch
• 1 oz. plus 2 tbsp finely-chopped shallot
• Generous splash of brandy
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, separated, plus more for cooking croutons (if using)
• Pinch of flour (optional)
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 4 large or extra-large eggs
• 4 oz. raw shrimp, fresh or thawed, cut into ½ inch pieces
• Kosher salt
• Fresh-ground black pepper
• Fresh-cut chives, to taste
• Croutons (toasted strips of stale bread, fried in butter; serve 2 to 3 per person

Instructions

Dried Morel Cream
Can be made up to a day ahead of time

1. First, make the dried morel cream. Rehydrate the morels in the stock for 30 minutes, swishing them around occasionally.
2. Squeeze the morels dry, reserving the soaking liquid, then remove to a cutting board and cut into 1-inch pieces. If you suspect your morels were at all dirty/sandy, rinse them a second time quickly in a couple cups of cold water. Drain the water; keep the morels.
3. Heat one tablespoon of butter in a small saucepan, add the shallot, and cook for a minute. Add the morels and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle the flour into the pan and mix to combine, then add the brandy and cook off.
4. Add the stock. Bring to a simmer and reduce until the pan is nearly dry. Season the mixture with a pinch of salt. Add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and allow to cool. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed until the morel cream tastes rich and delicious.

Egg and Shrimp

5. Grease 4 ramekins or other oven-safe dishes with butter, then put them in a deep, wide pot where they will all lay flat.
6. Divide the shrimp evenly between the four ramekins, season with a pinch of salt and pepper, then pour water into the pot (not in the ramekins) until the ramekins are half-submerged.
7. Bring the uncovered pot to a simmer and cook the shrimp until just starting to turn pink, about 3-4 minutes, then crack an egg into each ramekin.
8. Meanwhile, warm the morel cream to loosen it. Divide the mixture evenly between each serving dish, trying not to cover the egg yolks. 
9. Cover the pot and turn the heat to low, then set a timer for 4 minutes. Check on the eggs by gently poking the yolks—they should be runny still. (Cook them another minute if needed. When in doubt, undercook them a tiny bit.)
10. Remove the ramekins with tongs or a spatula, transfer to a plate, sprinkle with chives, and serve with the croutons on the side. Serve with steamed, buttered nettles or a side dish of other seasonal greens.

Morel Crostini with Goat Cheese and Shallot

Mike Kempenich hails from Minnesota’s Twin Cities, where he works on his direct-to-consumer wild food brand, Forest to Fork, and runs his website, The Gentleman Forager. He also offers classes on identifying, harvesting, and cooking mushrooms, guides foraging trips, and offers catering services. He has perfected many morel mushroom recipes over his career.

“The subtle hints of thyme and shallot, the tanginess of goat cheese, and the added crunch of the crostini make this a spectacular treat for friends and family,” Kempenich says. “Enjoy!”

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. fresh morels or 8 oz. of dried morels
• 8 tbsp. salted butter
• 1 ½ cups finely diced shallot
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 8 oz. goat cheese crumbles
• 2 baguettes, sliced into ½-inch rounds

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 325°F. Slice your baguettes into ½-inch rounds to make the crostini. Place all the rounds on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, or until they are firm and toasted.
2. While your crostini are baking, clean the morels thoroughly. Run them under water sufficient to force any grit from the honeycomb-like caps. If you are using dried morels, place them in a salad spinner, fill the spinner with water and vigorously agitate them as you would a head of lettuce. Repeat this process 2 to 3 times until the water you discard appears mostly clean.
3. Give a rough chop to your mushrooms, maybe 1- to 2-inch pieces, and set aside to drain any excess moisture.
4. Place a large pan on medium-high heat and, when the pan is hot, add all your mushrooms. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes and allow the moisture of the mushrooms to be released. When your mushrooms have released most of their liquid either pour the liquid off and reserve for later use, or cook off the liquid in the pan. Remove the morels and set aside.
5. Add 4 tablespoons of butter and let melt, then add the shallot and sauté until translucent and slightly caramelized. When your shallot is done, add the mushrooms back to your pan and add the thyme, salt, and pepper, stirring the pan to evenly distribute for 2 to 4 minutes.
6. Add the goat cheese crumbles and the remaining butter, and allow the heat to melt the cheese and butter and fully incorporate with the mushrooms. This should take another 3 to 5 minutes.
7. Spoon the mushroom mixture onto the crostini and serve.

Grouse Breasts in Morel Cream Sauce

The woods of western Montana provide much more than just morel mushrooms for Noah Davis. A lifelong hunter, angler, and forager originally from Pennsylvania, Davis spent years working for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation before just recently joining the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership as the communications manager for their Western Conservation branch. (Davis is also a freelance writer and poet whose debut anthology, Of This River, published in 2020.)

“I’ve always been drawn to small streams. In the spring, I follow the water to trout eagerly looking up for dry flies as wildflowers color the bank. It’s on these days that I find myself scrambling and crawling to the next hole, searching for a casting window when suddenly and unexpectedly, like all good gifts, I find morels next to my hand,” Davis writes. “After the summer months of fish fade into fall, I hike those same small streams looking for ruffed grouse. If I’m lucky, and don’t flinch too violently when the bird thunders from the thick alders, I’ll retrieve the still-warm body on the bank after a quick shot and remember what offerings the stream has given me in such a short year.

“The culmination of this place is what makes grilled grouse breasts in a cream and morel sauce one of my favorite morel mushroom recipes. So many seasons in one mouthful.”

Ingredients

• 2 ruffed grouse breasts
• 10 dehydrated morels (or more, go crazy!)
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup sherry
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 2 tsp. crushed rosemary
• Flour to dust breasts
• Salt and pepper for taste

Instructions

1. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and rosemary onto the grouse breasts, then dust in flour. Melt two tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat and cook the grouse breasts until golden brown on both sides. Remove meat from the skillet.
2. Add shallots to the pan and cook until soft. 
3. Add remaining butter to the pan and morels. Fry for one minute.
4. Add sherry to deglaze the pan and cook off the alcohol.
5. Pour in heavy whipping cream and reduce by half.
6. Add the breasts back into the pan to warm through. Salt and pepper to taste, then serve over roasted potatoes or rice.

Tips for Foraging and Cooking Morel Mushrooms

There are a few common rules and guidelines when it comes to being a sustainable morel forager and a good cook. Keep these tips in mind from your first mushroom hunt of the season through your last bite of these morel mushroom recipes.

• Don’t eat morel mushrooms raw. Soak and dry them before cooking them thoroughly. All those little nooks and crannies in the caps can conceal bugs and grit, so it’s best to clean them as well as possible. But more importantly, cooking morels makes them safe to eat. Like many wild mushrooms, morels possess toxins that can cause varying degrees of gastric upset. If you don’t cook those toxins before eating a morel, the consequences can range from a stomach ache to locking yourself in the bathroom for hours on end.

• If you come across a big patch of morels, don’t take them all. It can be easy to get caught up in the excitement of finding the motherlode. More traditional foragers will tell you to take a third of what you see, or to only take what you need.

Read Next: 12 Tips for Finding More Morel Mushrooms This Spring

• You can cut or pull morels out of the ground. The long-held idea that pulling a whole morel out of the ground is bad for the next harvest (as opposed to cutting it at the stem) appears to be a myth. This article points out that leaving behind the “stump” of a morel just creates a small spot for bacteria and bugs to take over. 

• Use a basket or a mesh bag to carry your morels. The holes in your carrying bag will allow morel spores to spread as you forage. This will ensure there will be more than enough in the future. A basket or mesh bag also helps the morels breathe and lets dirt fall away.

• No morel mushroom recipe beats sautéing them in butter and sprinkling with a pinch of salt. This is the best way to let the rich flavor of morel mushrooms shine.

The post The Best Morel Mushroom Recipes appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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On Feb. 3, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game reported two elk calves had dropped dead in the Warm Springs part of Ketchum, Idaho. They join 19 other elk from Mapleton, Utah as the latest victims of yew ingestion. Yew is a poisonous conifer tree—technically, a whole family of them—that is quite popular in ornamental landscaping. Various municipalities near Ketchum have banned some varieties in recent years after hundreds of elk and pronghorn have succumbed to its fast-acting toxins.

Yew ingestion has been a major issue for wildlife in Idaho for years. In January 2017, 55 pronghorn died in Payette from Japanese yew poisoning. Eight elk died in Boise just a few weeks before then. When winter weather drives wildlife to lower elevations near populated areas and excessive snow limits available forage, critters turn to evergreens that still offer food at a reachable height.

But yew trees with their small, cocktail olive-shaped red cones, which more closely resemble berries, wreak havoc quickly.

“We had people last year that looked out their window and saw an elk standing in their driveway, then they went to do something else in the house, then looked back out and the elk was tipped over dead,” IDFG regional communications manager Terry Thompson tells Outdoor Life. “It happens fast and there’s no antidote.”

The fate is so dramatic and tragic that it begs a few questions. What is yew, why does it still exist around the region, and why is it so deadly to wildlife?

What Is Yew?

The name “yew” covers a wide variety of trees and shrubs. According to the American Conifer Society, they can grow anywhere from three to 120 feet tall and their trunks can reach up to 12 feet in diameter. They can be short and bushy or more lofty and sparse, depending on the species. Most yews have red bark and springy wood that’s been extremely popular for longbows for centuries.

In fact, William Shakespeare dubbed yew “double-fatal” in his play “Richard II” because of its poisonous qualities and its usefulness for bows, IDFG lead botanist Lynn Kinter tells Outdoor Life. The historic references don’t stop there.

“In 55 B.C., Julius Caesar wrote a book called Commentary on the Gallic Wars. He described a king being overrun in battle, and rather than being killed by the enemy, the king drank yew extract to commit suicide,” Kinter says. “Three of Shakespeare’s plays talk about yew being poisonous. In ‘Macbeth’ when he says ‘double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble’? Well further down in that verse, he talks about ‘gall of goat and slips of yew’.”

A few yew varieties are native to North America, and those species are less toxic than exotic ones. These include the Pacific, or western yew, and the Canada yew. But in population centers, exotic varietals like Japanese and European yew are far more popular for ornamental landscaping. They’re also way more deadly to anyone who takes a bite.

How Does Yew Kill Wildlife?

Last year, Idaho’s Wood River Valley saw a massive elk die-off at the hands of the conifer.

“We actually quit counting at about 20, because it wasn’t about a body count, it was about determining what was killing so many elk,” Thompson, who works from the IDFG Magic Valley regional office, says. “Yew has been killing wildlife in Idaho for many years. This is not an issue that’s unique to the Wood River Valley, and it is not specific to wildlife. It will kill anything that eats it. Pets, wildlife, people…it’s extremely toxic and it happens very fast.”

All parts of the yew tree contain alkaloids. These are organic compounds that occur naturally in plants and have physiological and psychological effects on humans and animals. Morphine is an alkaloid. So is the nicotine in cigarettes, the caffeine in coffee, and the quinine in a gin and tonic. The alkaloids in yew are called “taxines,” and they’re toxic to the cardiovascular system.

“Toxic alkaloids cause breathing difficulties and then heart failure. It actually acts on various channels within the cells of the heart,” Kinter explains. “It doesn’t take very much. Less than 1 percent of the bodyweight can cause death. For a small elk, that would translate to about a cup of leaves, or 50 grams.”

Can You Prevent Yew Poisoning?

One of the trickiest parts of preventing yew poisoning in wildlife is catching it before it becomes fatal.

“In wildlife, the first symptom of yew poisoning is usually death,” Kinter says.

When IDFG gets a report of dead elk, biologists first look at body condition, wildlife health program coordinator Stacey Dewaulter tells Outdoor Life. If the animal seems otherwise healthy, a necropsy often reveals yew in the digestive system.

“We’re really concerned when we see animals in pretty good body condition that are found dead. We tend to think ‘what’s killed them quickly?'” Dewaulter says. “Typically, if it’s near neighborhoods or houses with ornamental plants, our biologists will cut them open to see if there’s yew in the digestive tract. The animals usually die quick enough that the yew is not digested and it’s easily identifiable.”

The one easy part of diagnosing a yew death is that the victim can’t get far from the source before expiring.

“Once you start finding animals that died from it, the yew is typically in very close proximity,” Thompson says. “We’ve had situations where animals died in the cemeteries where they found the yew. Usually their gut is full of yew but there’s also yew needles in their mouth, in their esophagus, so it’s pretty fast-acting.”

Why Is Yew So Popular?

The tree has been a heavy hitter in the horticulture sphere for about a century, Kinter says.

“They’re a medium-water-use species, they’re cold tolerant, they can survive the heat in the summer, they can grow in a variety of soils, so they’re really versatile in terms of where they can go,” Kintner explains. “They’re also easy to prune, you can go chop on them at any time of year and they do fine. They look good, and there are lots of different varieties. You can get small ones, tall ones, from compact shrubs to fairly tall trees.”

What’s The Solution?

The city of Ketchum and Blaine County are leading the charge on educating the public about the dangers of growing ornamental yew. But according to Thompson, they still have a long way to go.

“When we put this stuff out on social media, people say ‘why do people continue to bring it in?’ But [most of] the plants we’re finding are mature, so they’ve been in the ground for a long time,” he says. “We did find some new plantings, so there is still an educational component that landscape companies and homeowners need to understand so that they’re not going to another community outside of Blaine County, buying the yew, and bringing it back.”

While the yew trees themselves are the most obvious culprit, Thompson explains the problem results from multiple compounding factors.

“We have large elk and deer populations that are resident, they are not migrating in and out of the valley. We have a larger population base than we’ve had, which is building out on traditional winter range. Our elk herd that lives between Hailey and Ketchum never leaves private property, and it’s a growing herd because there’s never any hunting pressure,” he says. “So it’s kind of that perfect storm.”

The post Poisonous Yew: This Backyard Ornamental Kills Wildlife—and Everything Else appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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Jimmy Johnson and Rusty Gates went mushroom hunting on May 7 in southeast Iowa and had little success at first. After roughly an hour, they found more morels than ever expected. 

“It was just nonstop as we were walking,” Johnson said to The Hawk Eye, a local newspaper. “We’d just see four or five here and then take a few steps and see more. It was continuous.”

A seasoned mushroom hunter, Johnson knew where to look for morels. He knew he’d find some near dead elm trees, but he was surprised to find these mushrooms growing all over the place. “A lot of maple trees and oak trees. For some reason, white oak, and that’s unusual.”

Eventually, Johnson and Gates couldn’t carry all of the mushrooms they found. Johnson called his son, Trenton, who ferried some of the loaded mesh bags home while the two men continued hunting. 

After six full hours of mushroom hunting, the two men collected 130 pounds of morel mushrooms. They posted about their success in Morel Reports of Southeast Iowa’s Facebook Group. 

Their good luck wasn’t over, though. The two men went out again on Monday and found an additional 44 pounds of morels. Johnson said this is the best season he’s ever had for mushroom hunting. His previous record was 75 pounds for an entire season. 

“We had just the right amount of moisture, and the soil temperature was good,” Johnson said. “I just think it was an exceptionally good year.”

The men aren’t done yet. They told local news they would be moving to public land in Missouri and southeast Iowa to keep hunting more morels. 

READ NEXT: Best Morel Mushroom Recipes

“Never give up. If you walk two hours (and don’t find any), walk two and a half. Just when you think you’re not going to find any, walk a little further, and you’re probably going to find them,” Johnson said. 

Johnson and Gates will return to the same spot next season, but Johnson said they would need to bring some additional hands next year. “That’s too many mushrooms for two guys to pick.”

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As a kid, I never knew that folks hit the woods to hunt morel mushrooms. My dad and I would go for walks during the evenings in spring as the weather warmed up. Our strolls around the block were mostly so he could sneak in a cigarette, but I recall one night, we found a pile of morels. I had no idea what they were, but dad was excited. We made baskets out of our shirt fronts and hauled the morels back home. Over the years, we expanded our walks and found more mushrooms, never venturing more than 15 minutes from our front door. If you want to find a pile of urban morels this spring, here is where to look.

Hunting for Morels in the Woods vs. Your Neighborhood

Where I live now is surrounded by a nature preserve and hiking trials with countless north-facing hills with all kinds of deadfall—perfect places to find morels. It’s still an urban setting, I’m just lucky enough to live close to a river with public access to bottomland forest. You would think I’d cleanup during morel season, but there are several hunters who have been hitting these woods for decades and get to the mushrooms before anyone else does. There’s a lot more “pressure” in the timber—regardless of where you live— come springtime, and most core hunters know exactly where the morels will be and pick them first.

On the flip side, there’s zero pressure around your neighborhood. For instance, I’ve never run across another mushroom hunter while walking my dog. There are good places to find small patches of mushrooms, and sometimes you will run across enough morels to fill your hat. And if you’re not a seasoned mushroom hunter, searching for them in your neighborhood gives you a better chance at finding morels than in the woods with veteran hunters.

Also, if you are hunting morels in a neighborhood, get permission from the property owner before you walk across their lawn. Don’t trespass.

Focus on Runoff Areas and Ditches

Most subdivisions have a drainage system that funnels the water away as the snow melts and when it rains. Where I live, a series of interconnected ditches that are about 20 feet deep do this. They are always moist and each of them has a mix of trees that are alive and deadfall. Every spring I can count on finding a few morels in them. Because they are often wet, but also get sun, drainage ditches are ideal locations for morels to grow. Look on the edges of brush piles where your neighbors dump leaves and other yard waste. Check around the dead trees as well.

The flat ground that surrounds the top of the ditches is also a hot spot for mushrooms to sprout. If it’s a wet spring, these areas are getting a lot of water, but also direct sunlight. Morels can grow quickly in these spots, but rot just as fast. They can get clipped by your neighbor’s lawnmower too.

Hedgerows Hold Moisture

The neighborhood I grew up in had a line of bushes that ran the entire length of our street. There were morels growing under those hedges every spring. My dad and I only had to cross the street to come back with a bowl full of mushrooms. The ground under bushes often stays wet because it’s in the shade most of the day. But if the sun hits it, there’s good opportunity for morels to grow, so be on the lookout.

Read Next: How to Hunt Morel Mushrooms Like Your Life Depends on It

Grass Patches Between Buildings

Those of you who live in a metro area where the houses and apartments are close together need to seek out the small strips of grass and dirt in between buildings if you want to locate morels. These patches stay wet during the spring because they don’t get much air moving through them or sunlight—an ideal spot for mushroom growth.

For folks in suburbia, if there is an area near your neighborhood that is run down, overgrown, or just has dilapidated buildings, check it for morels. As a kid, there was a property owner on our block that had several old wooden garages with lots of unkempt grass and brush surrounding them. My dad and I could always find mushrooms growing in the bare spots right on the edge of the overgrowth. Sometimes we had to push back the brush with our feet to reveal a morel, but we would typically come away with a small bounty.

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Looking for something to do while you’re stuck at home during the COVID-19 quarantine? Planning ahead for the day that the food pantry is bare? Gardening is a great activity in the springtime and anyone can grow food, even if you’re stuck in an apartment. You’ll just need a spot with ample sunlight, some dirt and water, something to start growing, and a generous amount of patience. Whether you’re gardening just as a pastime or doing it as a food security strategy, you might be surprised how rewarding it can be.

The Modern “Victory Garden”

During World War I and II, Americans at home responded to the call to plant “Victory Gardens” in their back yards and in public spaces across the nation. The main goal of the movement was to increase the public food supply and allow more commercially produced crops to be funneled toward the war effort. This activity was also a powerful morale booster for the citizenry, allowing people of all ages and abilities to feel empowered by their self-reliance and feel proud of their contribution to the war effort. In 1943, there were at least 20 million “war gardens” growing, which yielded a staggering 8 million tons of food in the United States. This was nearly half of the food consumed that year in the country. Jump forward to 2020. With self-quarantine recommended across the nation, you can do your part to limit your interaction with others and avoid some unnecessary trips to the grocery store. Plant a “Victory Garden” and stay the hell home. The sooner we all get serious, the sooner we can stamp out the COVID-19 pandemic.

Be Patient and Manage Your Expectations

If you’ve never tried gardening before, it’s a great exercise in patience and expectation management. You don’t plant seeds so you can eat today; you plant seeds so you can eat next month (or next year). A survival garden, just like any other garden, will require you to be patient. Nothing good grows overnight. It will be a month or two before the simplest and most low calorie vegetables (lettuce and radishes) are ready to harvest (if you took good care of the plants, and no diseases or pests struck your crop). Patience is a virtue that is valuable in many situations, gardening especially. In addition to being patient, it’s also important to manage your expectations. Not every seed will sprout and not every plant will make it to harvest. I remember more than a few “old timers” telling me to plant three times as much as we needed. That would give us one for the deer (even when we are trying to keep them away), one for the bugs (even with pest control) and one for the dinner table. Gardening is a lot like dodgeball. There’s a lot of running around, but if you aim low, stay reactive to threats and don’t expect too much, you might just win.

Pick A Site With Light

There are many necessary things for a successful survival garden, but the location is absolutely critical. You’ll need enough room for the plants you have planned and you’ll need enough sunlight. Whether you are planting in the ground or in a pot on a balcony, you should have a spot with eight to 12 hours of completely uninterrupted sunlight each day. The shadow of just one tree or structure, sweeping across your garden for an hour, can prevent certain seeds from sprouting and cause other plants to struggle. Plants need light to grow, and many are very sensitive to interruptions in light. Watch your prospective garden spot at different times of day (you’ve got time during quarantine) to make sure it has light exposure the whole time. For those without a field, yard or even a balcony to grow food, consider growing indoors with grow lights (though this uses a lot of electricity) or ask your building manager if you could set up a small container garden on the building roof. Bribe them with the offer of fresh veggies and you might be able to strike a deal. And if you can’t do that, I’ll show you how to grow sprouts at the end, with no light required. I told you, anyone can grow food.

Mind The Season

Hold off on those tropical vegetables. It is early spring and you’ll still need to focus on frost tolerant plants. Even though plenty of garden centers are already stocking live tomato plants and other “hot blooded” vegetables, you’re asking for disappointment by planting these too early. Unless you’re growing indoors, you’ll first want to figure out your date of “last frost” in your area. Latitude and elevation play a big role in nighttime temperatures, frosts and freezes. Plants that are native to warm places (like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants) are not cold tolerant. Even a light frost will kill them. You can start your “tropical” seedlings now in a warm indoor space (they take a long time to sprout anyway). For now, plant crops that are native to colder parts of the world. Here are just a few.

Seeds you can sow directly in early spring

• Greens: lettuce, kale, collards, Swiss chard, spinach, and arugula
• Root crops: radishes, carrots, turnips, and beets
• Peas: early peas and snow peas

Live plants you can put out in early spring

• Onion sets
• Hardy herb: rosemary and thyme
• Cruciferous vegetable seedlings: cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and kohlrabi

Create A Survival Garden Layout

Once you’ve figured out “where” you will be growing plants and “what” can be grown in the springtime, it’s time to create a plan. The most natural place to begin is to discover what resources you have at your disposal. Your options may be limited by the quarantine, but if you can still get out to the store or order products for delivery, you’ll have lots of options. There’s no use dreaming about the plants you can’t get now or the ones that will die in the cold. Just focus on the plants you can acquire (as seeds or seedlings) and pay some attention to calories. The caloric value of your crops should be the main focus in a survival garden. In your planning, you’ll also want to do some simple math. Figure out how much room you have to grow and the spacing that the plants require. This will allow you to calculate how many plants or seed packs to buy. Don’t cram too many plants together. They each need a certain amount of space, otherwise they will underperform due to competition for moisture, light and nutrients. Mel Bartholomew’s book Square Foot Gardening is a great resource, though you may want to leave a little more space between plants than the book recommends, for bigger and better results.

Read Next: 11 Outdoor Skills You Can Teach Your Child

Get Creative With Containers

If you’re blessed with a sunny patch of rich dirt and you can grow vegetables in the ground, count yourself lucky. If that’s not you, don’t despair. You’re still in the race. Most plants perform best when growing in loose deep soil. We can, however, still do a good bit of growing in containers. Don’t feel like they have to be special containers. Almost anything will work. It just needs to be able to hold enough dirt to grow a fairly normal root system for that type of plant or number of plants. I’ve grown plants in all kinds of vessels. Trash cans, bins and buckets are all great candidates for containers. Just drill or punch some holes in the bottom (if they aren’t already there). This will allow excess water to drain and create a healthier condition for the plant roots. Without adequate drainage, you’ll run a greater risk of fungal diseases killing your plants. Fill your waiting containers with any dirt-like growing medium you can get. You can use potting soil, mulch, compost, aged manure, or some dirt you dug up locally. This can be supplemented with fertilizer and it should be watered with clean water. Rain is ideal (where legal to catch), though municipal tap water can be de-chlorinated by letting a bucket of “city” water sit open for a few days.

Add High Calorie Crops As It Up

Yes, salads are good for you and most lettuce varieties excel in cooler weather, but salads will starve you to death without creamy dressing and bacon bits (neither of which can be grown in a garden). Since calories are the whole point of a survival garden, add some high calorie crops as soon as the weather permits. You can even use things you already have, like old potatoes. When white or sweet potatoes begin to sprout, chop them up so that each sprout has a good chunk of potato attached and plant them. It’s just that easy. The calories listed below are per 8 ounce cup.

• Peanuts (1200 calories, 4-5 months to harvest)
• Sunflower seeds (800 calories, 4 months to harvest)
• Soybeans (775 calories, 3-5 months to harvest)
• Chickpeas, kidney, lima & fava beans (600 calories, 3-4 months to harvest)
• Sweet potatoes (180 calories, 3-4 months to harvest)
• Potatoes (140 calories, 3-4 months to harvest)
• Carrots (80 calories, 2-3 months to harvest)
• Tomatoes (50 calories, 3-4 months to harvest)
• Turnips (35 calories, 2-3 months to harvest)

Add Perennial Herbs

Despite the cold of winter, some tough herbs can stay alive through the coldest times. These hardy woody-stemmed plants and bulbs can be grown near your kitchen door in most climates to give your food some fresh flavors during the coldest weather. When you’re tired of eating the same vegetables over and over, use your fresh herbs to transform the meal into something new. Perennial plants also represent a great financial investment, as your plants will live for years, instead of just one growing season. Prepare your soil for a few long term residents, and plant a few of these.

• Rosemary
• Sage
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Tarragon

Save Seeds For The Next Garden

The ultimate way to be frugal with your seeds is to save them from this year’s plants, to replant next year. This is best done when you are growing single varieties of each vegetable, to avoid unpredictable results from crosspollination. Let the vegies mature completely, remove the seeds and dry them for storage. An easy rule of thumb in seed storage is to add the storage temperature number (in Fahrenheit) to the humidity percentage number. For example, 60 degrees F and 30 percent humidity gives you 90 points. The total of these two numbers should always be below 100 points. Lean toward the dryer side in storage, and your seeds will sleep happily for years.

Grow Sprouts

Anyone can grow food, even if you live in a windowless basement apartment in the big city. You could buy a mushroom kit to grow fungus as a food crop. You can also grow sprouts in a jar. Simply add a small amount (2-3 tablespoons) of sprouting seed mix to a jar and add cool clean water. Cover the jar with a mesh lid or a piece of cloth (held on by a rubber band). Allow the seeds to soak for 8 hours, drain them and rinse them with fresh water. Rinse and drain them 3 times a day for the next two days, and eat them when they have sprouted and grown baby leaves. For best results, give your sprouts a few hours of sunlight before eating them, just to add some color and additional vitamins. Enjoy them in a salad, on a burger or as a snack.

Eat Some Weeds

It’s a shame not to take advantage of wild edible plants that pop up in the garden. Think of these unexpected herbs as beneficial plants, rather than a nuisance. Many common garden weeds are also wild edible plants. Make sure you have positive identification of the plant, and then treat those weeds as valuable vegetables. Frequent edible garden weeds include dandelion, chickweed, plantain, clover, chicory, lamb’s quarters, sorrel and violets.

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The term “paw paw” is often applied to the tropical papaya fruit in other parts of the world. But it’s also the name of an American treasure; the native pawpaw tree (Asimina triloba) can be found throughout the eastern half of North America. The pawpaw is an excellent tree for survival enthusiasts, and not just because it produces an edible fruit. The pawpaw can do more than just feed you. Here’s how the pawpaw can help you in the wild.

1. How to Find and Identify a Pawpaw Tree

Pawpaw is widely distributed in the eastern half of North America. The range of this tree reaches from western New York to southern Ontario, and across to Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa. It’s found in the eastern parts of Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. It can be commonly found in the Appalachian Mountains and the Mid-Atlantic on down to the Florida panhandle.

Because it typically growing in rich, damp soil, pawpaw trees are often found in river valleys and flood plains, though they can grow in many different environments. The tree has large oblong or obovate leaves (like an oval, but pointy on the ends) that grow in an alternate-branch pattern. Pawpaw has some of the largest leaves you’ll see in the Eastern Woodlands, which can often hide their unique fruit, which is easily the most identifiable feature on the tree. The odd fruits look a lot like a fat green banana, reaching lengths up to 10 inches long and hanging as solitary fruits or in small bunches. These trees start bearing fruit when they reach 10 to 15 feet in height, and the trees typically remain small, though much larger trees are occasionally seen. Pawpaws grow in colonies, so usually if you find one tree, you’ll find others.

2. Fruits of the Pawpaw

This sweet native fruit has probably been enjoyed by people since ancient times, and has saved many from starvation. Lewis and Clark’s expedition lived on the fruit for two weeks during their journey. Clark wrote:

“By Sept. 18 [1806], the party was within 150 miles of the settlements. It had run entirely out of provisions and trade goods…There were plenty of ripe plums, which the men called ‘pawpaws.’ Gathering a few bushels was the work of a few minutes only. The men told the captains ‘they could live very well on the pawpaws.’ “

What’s so great about them? The soft custard-like, yellowish pulp has a sweet flavor that tastes like a combination of banana and mango. Ripe pawpaw fruits each contain about a dozen large dark seeds. These seeds are not edible, but the pulp is. Simply toss the seeds into a shady area for a chance of growing more pawpaw trees, and enjoy the pulp raw or cooked. More calorie-dense than many other wild fruits, pawpaw boasts an impressive 80 calories per 100 grams of flesh. Personally, I love to eat them raw, right off the tree. When fully ripe, the low hanging fruits seem to slip off the tree branch when you cup your hand under them. The ripe ones higher up can drop off when you shake the tree, too. You’ll know the fruit is ripe when it is very soft, fragrant, and sweet tasting.   

3. Pawpaw Fruits Are Loaded with Vitamins

The size of pawpaw fruits can vary. Tiny ones weigh only a few ounces, but whoppers can weigh more than a pound apiece.The average pawpaw fruit, with its large inedible seeds removed, will give you more than a 100-gram serving. This small amount (3.5 ounces) is anything but modest in its nutritional offerings. It supplies small amounts of fiber, protein, and fat, and also provides more than 30 percent of the daily allowance of vitamin C. It also contains vitamins A and B. You’ll even get several essential minerals with each bite. That 100-gram serving provides 10 percent of your daily potassium, 39 percent of your iron, 25 percent copper, 11 percent magnesium, and a very generous 130 mg of the daily value of manganese.

4. The Leaves Can Act as Insect Repellent

If the insect repellent bottle is empty and you’re tired of being bitten by bugs, pawpaw can help. The large ovate leaves of pawpaw can be crushed and rubbed onto bare skin and clothing as a passable repellent, mainly for flying insects. For best results, tear up the young spring leaves. These are the strongest and most pungent, and they smell of tar or asphalt. You can also use crushed pawpaw leaves in debris beds and other survival shelter bedding to offer a little more protection from insects while you sleep. These leaves aren’t anywhere near as effective as DEET or even commercially available natural insect repellent, but any help battling bugs is better than none.

5. Use the Dry Bark to Spark a Fire

When pawpaw bark has rotted to a very fibrous state, and it’s starting to fall away from the wood on its own, this is the perfect time to use it as fire-starting tinder. This type of fuel needs to be easy for the struggling fire to consume, and the right stage of pawpaw bark fiber can fit the bill. This fiber can be easily stripped from dead branches and sapling trunks, especially when you break the wood into pieces. These fiber strips can be shredded by hand into small fiber strips. The fibers can also be chopped into smaller pieces with an axe or heavy knife. You’ll get even faster and better results by pounding the fiber between two rocks. This breaks the fibers into slender strands without cutting them.         

6. Twist Pawpaw Bark into Rope

For dead pawpaw bark that isn’t totally decomposed, long strips can be peeled and used as a raw material for cordage projects that require string and rope. It’s not the strongest fiber available. Plants like common dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum) produce a much stronger and rot-resistant cordage than pawpaw does, but in the absence of dogbane, pawpaw bark can work. There are three main ways that the bark can be used for lashing and tying tasks. The simplest way is using the flat strips of bark as they are, tying them the way you would tie ribbons (try using a water knot or sheet bend). For a better result, the flat bark strips can be twisted into a round cord. This could be considered “yarn” (at any diameter). For optimal results, the fiber can be separated from the outer bark and woven into two-ply cordage. This tree bark cord has a long history of use by Native peoples, being transformed into rope, nets for fishing, basketry and other fiber goods. As an additional option for springtime, the living bark can be peeled from branches and sapling trunks to be used as ribbons. 

7. Make a Friction Fire

Pawpaw gave me one of the best results I have ever had in front of a class with a field-built bow drill set. While taking a class to look for friction fire equipment along a river’s edge, a small pawpaw grove just kept giving and giving. I found some great branches for a drill and board that were both dead and dry, but not rotten. I was able to find another branch that was flexible enough for a bow. I stripped off some very rotten fibrous bark for tinder, and less rotten bark for cordage on the bow. The only part that wasn’t pawpaw was my handhold block, which was a local piece soapstone that I drilled out with a small chunk of harder stone. The whole kit came together in roughly 30 minutes, but the most astounding part of the demo was the part where it worked on the first try. Field-built kits often need tweaking and part substitutions before they start working, but that sweet little kit worked right away (which, as any instructor will tell you, usually doesn’t happen when people are watching). Pawpaw can give you great wood for friction fire components like drills and boards. As we’ve already discussed, the rotten bark can also be found in stages of decomposition that allow it to be both tinder and cordage material. You could even use branches as bows and chunks of wood for handhold blocks.

8. Pawpaw Leaves Are a Multi-Use Resource

For a creative survivor, the large leaves of a pawpaw tree can offer a wealth of uses. They can be employed as a makeshift thatching material for shelters and other structures. I’ve used them to line baskets so they stay clean. This trick lets you use your vine or grass baskets like plates for serving food, and you can toss the dirty leaf liner when you’re done eating. Pawpaw leaves can be used to wrap food for cooking (though they are just wrappers, and not edible themselves). These versatile leaves can even serve the ignoble use of toilet paper when your roll runs out. Just stack them several layers thick for the best result.

9. Pawpaw Wood Is Ideal for Carvers

Many woodcarvers enjoy basswood for carving figures and other artistic pieces, so much so, that craft stores sell basswood blocks (at a premium price). Basswood is great stuff, don’t get me wrong. Pawpaw, however, is just as good, and it’s free. I actually like the unusual greenish yellow color of the wood. While it’s not particularly rot resistant, it should last a long time if kept in a dry location. Light and buoyant, you could use this wood to continue the heritage skill of duck decoy carving. You could also carve and paint your own fishing bobbers. If your carving skills are superior to mine, you could even carve figurines and other keepsakes for your friends and loves ones. Whatever you can imagine carving, pawpaw wood can be the raw material for your craft. 

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