Puffballs

[lonehunter]

HeyDave , the puffballs are showing up everywhere in my area !
Yesterday had a dozen in the yard hazel nut size up to golf ball size , went good with the venison steaks and wild onion on the grill [] .
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[davetclown]

wow, I have never seen puffballs in july.... maybe I will look around next time I am in my favorite magic dragon site.
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[davetclown]

[center]any one reading this info needs to cunsult an expert befor hunting and eating of wild mushrooms.[/center]

You are a hundred miles or so north of me, so with out a picture of it I could not identify it. "ya know its a seeing to beleive thingy" Puff balls dont usualy grow during the dog days of summer. at least not around my area... If your seeing puff balls now, I would expect to be ice fishing in november....[]

I wonder if those puff ball you seen werent earth stars? [url "http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Mushrooms.Folder/Earthstar.html"]Earth Stars[/url] are in the puffball family but are not edible and are in the immature season about the time you spotted them. The biggest earth star I ever found is about 3 inches.

or ya know they could be truffles, Truffles resemble puffballs and grow underground, but it not uncommon for them to serface if they grow large. Truffles are normaly hunted for with trained pigs and dogs. Truffles are in season, thogh american truffles are not as prized among mushroom hunters as Euripian species because it is hard to maintain a shroom hunting piggy.... Many town frown on pet pigs....

most truffels I find are quarter sized, but I have found them grape fruit sized.

[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuber_%28genus%29"]Tuber[/url] species, (the truffle), Truffles belong to the ascomycete grouping of fungi. The truffle fruitbodies develop underground in [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhiza"]mycorrhizal[/url] association with certain trees e.g. [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak"]oak[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poplar"]poplar[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beech"]beech[/url], and [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazelnut"]hazel[/url]. Being difficult to find, trained [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig"]pigs[/url] or [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog"]dogs[/url] are often used to sniff them out for easy harvesting. [ul] [li][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuber_aestivum"]Tuber aestivum[/url] (Summer or St. Jean truffle) [li][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuber_brumale"]Tuber brumale[/url] [li][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuber_magnatum"]Tuber magnatum[/url] (Piemont white truffle) [li][url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuber_melanosporum"]Tuber melanosporum[/url] (Perigord truffle)[/li][/ul]

Truffles dont need water to grow and do well in drouts where as Puffers needs lots of water and a cold snap.

I went out yesterday looking for puff balls in my favorite placeses. "Nothin, nither old or new" Its still a bit early for them here still. they dont ususaly show up for another week or two. after a cold snap and lots of rain to start them growing, Much like morells it takes a cold rain to get the spores to germinate.

I have found puffers the size of bushell baskets.

Puffers require that you blanch them or saute' them prior to freezing, otherwise the go bad amost emediatly. They can be slieced or cubed then dried if you have the dryers to do it with. They can be canned but I dont know any one who has a recipy.

I did see the ferry shrooms, "toxic to humans but not squrils" "the ones that look like white umbrellas.
============================== [center]Puff balls[/center] [center][url "http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Mushrooms.Folder/Puffball.html"]Puffball Homepage[/url] [/center] [center][url "http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Mushrooms.Folder/Puffball%20Overview.html"][size 4]Puffball Overview
[/size][/url][red][size 4](Read this first!)[/size][/red][/center] [center][#ff0000][size 4][/size][/#ff0000][/center] [center][/center] [center][url "http://www.indianrivermi.com/shroom.html"][/url] [/center] [center][black][size 3]September 2000[/size][/black][/center] [left]

[black][size 3]Looking more like a puff boulder ...[/size][/black]
[black][size 3]Lindsay LaChance found this huge puffball in the Wildwood Road area south of Indian River. The puffball weighed 18 lbs. 4 ounces, and measured 48-inches around. LaChance said she planned to make dinner out of the huge fungus.[/size][/black] [/left] [center]
[/center][/url] [center][/center] [center]============================[/center] [center]Truffles[/center] [center]Pictures of Truffles from [url "http://www.natruffling.org/"]Nats web site[/url]. (North American Truffle Society[/center] [center][url "http://www.natruffling.org/elgr.htm"][/url][/center] [center][url "http://www.natruffling.org/elmu.htm"][/url][/center] [center][url "http://www.natruffling.org/hyva2.htm"][/url][/center] [center][url "http://www.natruffling.org/tugi3.htm"][/url][/center] [center][url "http://www.natruffling.org/cafu.htm"][/url][/center] [center][url "http://www.natruffling.org/lesp.htm"][/url][/center] [center][url "http://www.natruffling.org/malu.htm"][/url][/center] [center]There are lots more pictures of other species of truffles on their website link above.[/center] [center][/center] [center]Frequently Asked Truffle Questions [/center]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#what"]What are truffles?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#mycoph"]What is mycophagy?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#mycorr"]What is mycorrhizae?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#role"]What is the role of truffles in ecosystems?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#true"]What are "True" vs. "False" truffles?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#asco"]What are Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#poison"]Are any truffles poisonous?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#where"]Where are truffles found?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#how"]How are truffles found?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#pigs"]Pigs vs. dogs?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#maturity"]Truffle maturity and the market[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#dogs"]Truffle dog training?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#prov"]Which truffles are the gourmet edibles?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#pecan"]What are pecan truffles?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#cook"]How are truffles cooked?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#buy"]Where can I buy truffles?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#storage"]How do I store truffles?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#id"]I found a truffle. What is it?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#dry"]How do I dry truffles?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#farm"]What about truffle farming?[/url]
[url "http://www.natruffling.org/faq.htm#local"]How do I find my local mycological club?[/url]
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[bassass]

puff balls hahahaha steped on a few shot a few but never tryed one ...man they blow right up after being shot with a shot gun lol
how you all doing ?
fished st helen took 4th place ..had 15.88lbs 3rd place was 15.94lb ..so close huh?
sage lake in 2 weeks
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[lonehunter]

hey congrats on placing 4th [cool] !

home renovating going on here , a little fishing on the weekend just to keep my head strait [crazy] .

going to the pier (oscoda )the weekend after laborday , evening fishing , will have buds and a couple guys from work with me , stop by for a cold one if your in the neighborhood .
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[lonehunter]

Regular puffers , saw a squirlle going up to the patch and nibbiling on them .
saw another purple mushroom , couldn't locate any information on it , nothing in my book about one either .
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[davetclown]

found my first puffball yesterday. not much bigger than a golf ball, but still a puffer just the same.

I picked it, realy didnt want to but it was in the lawn I was cutting. I took it home and tossed it in my flower garden in hopes of a puffer next year...
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[lonehunter]

I have a couple dozen in the yard near the pinetrees , I should go over to my secret spot and collect the tater sized ones before the weekend [].
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[davetclown]

I was thinking the same thing, I need to go out to my spot and look for the volly ball sized ones.

Its kind of tricky going after the biguns, if ya wait to long to pick them they turn on ya and then they aint no good.

I only like to take one and leave the rest. I slice mine in to half inch steaks saute' them in butter then freeze on sheets of wax paper like you would with burgers.

I save them to serve up with deer carin.
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[davetclown]

I found two today,
I took a pictues of one,
[center][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/7990/cat/500/ppuser/89"][/url][/center] [center][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/7989/cat/500/ppuser/89"][/url][/center] [center] [/center] [center]this one is basketball size[/center]
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[davetclown]

I went out again today looking for shrooms again, and boy did I, Just none that I wanted to eat,

I saw them colorfull ferry type of shroom that get to about 8 inches in diamiter, white with flairs of orange and pink.

I found one of them fake puffballs, first one I ever found, It had already turned brown. just as huge as the puffball I found the other day.
[center][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/8060/cat/500/ppuser/89"][/url][/center]
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[davetclown]

I went out shroom hunting again today, different location than the other days, the ones I found today were stompped to the ground, beyond all reconition. [crazy]

so tell me, how are you going to handle a gun, a rod and net, and shroom bag in two hands for this satruday?[sly]

Good luck where ever you end up...
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[davetclown]

found another fungi today while out hunting tree chickens.

also found some poke salad, tho I think it wont be any good tomarow if after we get the frost they are calling for tonight.

on the poke salad, the berries are unedible, the stems are unedible, the main stem in the leafs are unedable. any one looking to eat poke salad needs to trim the leaf off the main vein of the leaf.
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[bassass]

fishing hubbard lake this morning burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr well all day
should get some nice smallies this time of year.... i'll report back tonight some time gotta take 30 lbs or better to win this one with 7 fish limit
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[lonehunter]

Hope you made your limit !
cold here too , the furnace is almost hooked up so we've had the fireplace heating the house .
My remodeling has been consuming most of my free time but I've sneaked in a couple hours working on my plaque for the deerhead from last fall .
I've already had to strip the wood down once because dog hair got onto it and this morning found the kids had put there hand prints into it during the night . Sometimes I feel like I can't get a break .
The wood is a solid piece of cherry trunk that is 26" x 38" with the bark trim , it's 2" thick .
My uncle went squirlle hunting yesterday with my lever action marlin 22 , hope he got a few .
After I pull some more wire today I hope to get out to do a little fishing or hunting myself .
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[bassass]

took 4th place out of 17 boats had 7 smallies with 19.85 lbs 20 some thing lb won lots of nice fish ......... i got 1 walleye ....
seen alot of other boats on the lake fishing for walleye .... we had 1 boat come in during the weigh in and they had 4 nice walleyes
fletchers pond in 2 weeks 29 and 30th..... if you ever get time to come up and fish hubbard for small mouth bass ..let me know ... you will have a blast one of the best small mouth lakes in Michigan ..maybe even the country..........
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[davetclown]

4th is bitter sweet.

congradulations,

are you guys running a yearly total on your events or are they all just singles?

Walleye is a nice treat if you can throw them in the tank for eating or dose your club frown on that?

I was out lookin for more tree chickens, I spyed a couple more types of shrooms, I took pictures of them, While taking a pick of one, my dog kept jerking me around, Dam am I slow, by the time I realized she was pointing at a squril it had gotten out of my range. LOL, It was probably a good thing I didnt shoot, I was getting a little close to the safty zone, "not posted" I woulnt have hit any thing other than the ground because I was in the bottom os a swale, the hill top was a good 30 above my head.

To bad, he was a nice fat one too.

any way, I will post my two shroom pics later on today, going to try and catch me a knap so I can go out again in the morning.
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[bassass]

yeah 4th place is my lucky number this year ...lol we can keep walleyes if we want .
they don't like us keeping bass tho .. the dead ones are ok to keep but they would rather we take a pic of the big ones and get a mount made that way....
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[davetclown]

[center][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/8092/cat/500/ppuser/89"][/url][/center][center] [/center] [left]these bright yellow ones are scarry, in nature bright colors usualy means poisenous. tho I did see something eating on them, probably ground squrils, but they eat acorns too that are not edible.[/left] [center] [/center] [left]I remeber stories of when I was a kid that you could boil acorns in milk to make them edible, well i can find better things to do with boild milk, "pudding"[][/left] [center] [/center] [center][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/8093/cat/500/ppuser/89"][/url][/center] [center] [/center] [left]here is the pic's of the shrooms I promiced, I have no idea if they are edible or not, nor do I intend of finding out, [/left] [center] [/center] [left]the bottom pic is the one ai was taking when the squril walked by me not more than 50 feet away...LOL[/left] [left] [/left] [left]I am not a big fan of killing an animal just for the sake of mounting, With Today's taxidermy you can both mount and eat your fish.[/left] [left] [/left] [left]even bass if given several ice cold salt water baths can be made palitable. so if I kill one I will keep it and cook it up. I found if you change the salt water bath about 3 times over the corse of a day the flesh cleans right up. then one fresh water bath just before cooking. I have heard of people giving fish ice cold milk baths, soaking for a day in regular milk in the bottom of the fridge..[/left]
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[bassass]

I seen 3 of those yellow ones out on my hunting land ..
I left them right on my hunting land too .not to sure about those ones..
I have had bass before not the best I'll stick to the walleyes and pan fish ..I like bass for the cash ..when I get lucky
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