[fiedlerh]

When we had our coonhound he would eat anything, including any mushrooms that sprouted in the yard. Never phased him. I assumed they were poisonous. Of course, eating a pound of M and M's never bothered him either.

[Greg Reid]

A dog's system can tolerate a lot of things that our's can't. I think it's the high amount of acid in their system...which is why they have no problem digesting bones or eating that rotten, maggot infested 'possum off the side of the road.
That's my theory anyhow.

[David Jones]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

Those are beauties Cliff...but me, while I have tons of them around my woods, I KNOW that I'm ignorant of what to eat and what not to....so mine come out of a jar.
I used to hunt 'shrooms when I was a teenager (see above) and I always say that until you've hunted for them, you can never imagine how many variations there are out there.

With you there Greg.
I'll eat a mushroom off of a salad bar or on top of a hamburger steak but nothing out of the yard.
35 years ago I tried the cow patty variety and then went swimming in the ocean at Panama City Beach. Once I finally found my face (it fell off....) in the ocean I vowed never to do that again.

[Greg Reid]

Ah...the good ol' days David.
Really, I haven't verified it but I've heard that the cow patty variety are actually mildly poisonous and that's what causes the 'high'....
Wikipedia doesn't support that though... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin_mushroom

[PonchoV8]

I never tried them. I've seen them in baggies and in their natural state on the "half shell"?, but I refrained.

[tripwr1964]

often wondered why the bow hunters sit in trees for hours and walk away with no food.
i mountain bike and the fall rides are 1/2 riding and 1/2 plowing through sticker bushes looking for hens. like cliff said they are very well kept secret around here too. my cousin got me into it 3-4yrs ago, now i can't wait for fall mushroom season! this has been a pretty good year for some reason.
stick to the non-lookalike shrooms and you'll be good.
hens, chickens, puffballs, oysters. i hardly ever come home without something to eat.
also, you can store the hens and have them throughout the year. i par boil them, make sauce, or chilli and freeze them. nothing better than creamy hen of the woods soup on a cold Jan day!
cheers

[tripwr1964]

here are a couple pics from this season...
hens, chicken, honey, oysters

[Greg Reid]

I've never seen a mushroom as large as that one on the right...but it does look like a variety that I have a lot of here on my property..