Picking Pine Mushrooms

i could be wrong here, and i didnt even bother to google it before responding (which is the first thing i would do before asking a question that may have a simple answer) but im under the impression that its pretty dangerous to pick mushrooms with no knowledge of what they are, i think theres only maybe a few hundred edible mushrooms out of the thousands that grow and they can be mistaken pretty regularly. i would be careful eating wild mushrooms.
 
Quick tip: Use a razor to barely slice the stalk...come back 15 - 30 minutes later. Where you sliced there should be a blue tinted bruised area. This is only one indication of the magic inside. Do your homework first though. Have a safe trip!
 
My advice is to go to a few forays/meetings of a local mycological society. There are TONS of them in British Columbia.

It's better to be taught by experts than learning from a book, especially if what you're harvesting may kill ya!

Here's one in Vancouver: http://www.vanmyco.com/

There are probably some folks associated with UNBC up in Ft. St. John.
 
I don't remember ever seeing so many different kinds of mushrooms as I have this year here in the Midwest. I think I found some Laughing Gyms but not sure either
 
Ive been drinking aminita tea the past week or so, there growing all over under the pine trees here in northern virginia, but after all they are a symbont mushroom to conifer, there not psylocyben mushrooms quite a different chemical, in its unadultered form its a neurotoxin but with proper drying technique you turn the bad into the good by natural chemical process, 5000 years of shamns and native people cant be wrong, i actually prefer ibogane to psylocyben these days, if i wanna see that much crazy ill just get puddled and spun out for twelve hours lol, be safe do your research and research again, not all mushrooms are going to always look EXACTLY like there description yyou have to put all the pieced of identification together, they may be a little deformed or something of the like, and always when in doubt throw it out! Some mushrooms are so poisonus that by the time you realise your sick your liver is already destroied and you will need a liver transplant no iffs ands or buts. Happy hunting!
 
O and aminita muscaria isnt just to get f-ed up on, it takes more than a little ti get you sick or have any psychoactive effects, some people actually do eat them for food
 
Be VERY careful picking mushrooms in pine woods. Amanita sp grow mycorrhizally with species of pine and a lot of Amanita sp are deadly or very poisonous. However you can find some edible boletes in pine woods
 
Update here since I haven't been on all winter!
I went pine mushroom picking and made a total of 116 dollars. They're really easy to get the hang of, and only look like one other mushroom, but once you figure them out...
 
Be extremely careful with i.d. one mistake and liver failure can happen. Watch out for Death Caps. Even mycologists have been fooled and died from misidentifying. Imbibing Fly Agaric goes back for thousands of years in Siberian shaman lore. Look up R. Gordon Wasson, fascinating man.
 
Even if you are sure what kind of mushroom it is, still... take a spore print! It's easy to do. Just carefully cut off the caps of two of the mushrooms in question and lay each one (gently) gill side down on two pieces of paper, one paper white, the other one black. Let the caps sit for 2 - 6 hours. Carefully lift them from their papers and see what color spore print they left. Spore prints are the patterns left on the paper from the spores dropping out of the mushroom's gills. Different mushrooms have different colored spore prints, black, purple, rusty, bright yellow, brown, white, etc. That's why I use both black and white pieces of paper. Any really good mushroom guide should list what color a mushroom's spore print is. When in doubt, take a spore print. Mushrooms can be tricky so be safe whatever your intentions are, neither your next meal or next high is worth suffering a painful death. Know what the mushroom you are after looks like, know what it's "look a likes" look like, know all their spore prints, and know their growing habits and habitats. I'm no expert with mushrooms, I just know a handful of them well and have the confidence to gather and use those for food. Start out with getting to know just a few mushrooms real well.
 
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