Maybe it was Mushroom Bill!!!:shock:

John – my understanding is that they will eat a variety of different ‘shrooms. Without seeing a pic, it’s hard to ID the particular one you’re talking about. Of course, it might also have been…

This thread got me thinking about morels. Won’t be long!

I’ve seen deer eating a variety of mushrooms including: Russulas, polypores, truffles, and others I can’t remember the name of. I haven’t seen elk eat many mushrooms but I think its because there are so many herbaceous greens here. Wouldn’t surprise me though if they eat them.

Also, red/douglas squirrels, chipmunks, flying squirrels and people eat lots of shrooms!

I’ve been wondering for a while, but have never been able to find evidence of it, whether black bears eat mushrooms. I have never found them eating them. Anyone here?

John,

I’ve watched Blacktail deer eat mushrooms down by Nestucca river, but I don’t yet know enough of mushrooms to identify waht kind.

Where are you in Oregon? I’m over in Yacolt WA myself. Here if we find anything eaten in the forest, we just figure ‘squatch did it.

I think they eat the mushrooms that make them small so we can’t see them when hunting

OSQUINT wrote: I think they eat the mushrooms that make them small so we can’t see them when hunting

OQUINT- You can’t see the elk because of the mushrooms you eat! Hahaha!

I’ve not seen elk or bear eat shrooms, but I’m not out there 24×7 watching. I have seen mule deer eat them, but usually just a single bite, as if testing to see which ones might make them invisible. I worry about squirrels that spend so much time hauling shrooms to their nest each fall, since fungi are said to have zero nutritional values, calories, etc. Maybe they make good bedding. In the old days, I found some that actually made me larger, best I can remember. 😛

Dave,

Where do get the impression mushrooms have no nutritional value?

I know from firsthand observations as well as reading resources, northern flying squirrels rely on arboreal fungi (along with lichen) to get them through the winter. Truffle feeding, here in the Pacific northwest, is such a common behavior of deer and squirrels, that I would find it hard to believe there is no value.

Also, there is quite a bit of new information (and old probably) about mushrooms’ ability to fight free radicals in our bodies. A great book to read is “Mycelium Running”. Paul Stamets quotes a study, which scientifically observed mycelium transferring sugars from a healthy tree to a stressed tree of a different species! I mean that’s real world Avatar stuff.

Anyway, I’m curious where you get that notion?

I was talking to a guy here once who guides for bear and he said here in Wisconsin there is a type of mushroom that grows in the fall and on years where they are plentiful, the bears will flat out disappear of his baits until the shrooms go bad or they exhaust all they can find. I didn’t get the type of mushroom it was cuz at the time, I really wasn’t that interested. I’ll do some digging and see what I can come up with.

dfudala wrote: I was talking to a guy here once who guides for bear and he said here in Wisconsin there is a type of mushroom that grows in the fall and on years where they are plentiful, the bears will flat out disappear of his baits until the shrooms go bad or they exhaust all they can find. I didn’t get the type of mushroom it was cuz at the time, I really wasn’t that interested. I’ll do some digging and see what I can come up with.

Please do! I’m really interested to know what that was.

My experience and study with wild shrooms are largely limited to morels. I have read that they have no nutritional value in a couple of respected guide books. Perhaps I err, as so often, in generalizing. Turning your question around, I’d appreciate being pointed toward reliable edification re just what nutritional value, that is calories that will keep a body alive, which shrooms contain. In fact I lost a bit of my strong appetite for fungi after reading they are just bulk and filler. I’d like to get it back.

Morels are a source of Vitamin D and Iron, and well as B-6:

https://www.google.com/search?q=nutiritional+information+morel+mushrooms&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Even the plain old white mushrooms (and chanterelles) found at the grocery store have Potassium and Vitamin D:

https://www.google.com/search?q=nutiritional+information+morel+mushrooms&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=nutiritional+information+mushrooms

Oyster and Portobello mushrooms – good sources of phosphorous, potassium, niacin, riboflavin, etc:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/3050/2

Funnily enough, Shitake mushrooms, which command such a high price at the store, have very little nutritional value at all. But damn, they sure is tasty….:wink:

And from “Medical News Today:”

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/278858.php

I’ve enjoyed every mushroom I’ve ever eaten. The ones that secrete purple juices were especially satisfying.

Dave, here is a quote from Paul Stamets’ book “Mycelium Running”:

“Mushrooms are rich in protein, very low in simple carbohydrates, rich in high molecular weight complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides), high in antioxidants, and very low in fat. They lack cholesterol, vitamin A, and vitamin C. They are a good source of some B vitamins…as well as ergosterols…They’re high in dietary fiber…”

He provides charts for nutritional value for a bunch of popular edible mushrooms.

However, even if they had no value, they sure do taste good. And I’d still eat them! As I’m sure you would, Dave.

I should add, morels are one mushroom I have no experience with. I haven’t put in enough time to locate them. Here is Stamets nutritional breakdown for morels:

20% protein, 5% fat, 9% fiber, 64% carbohydrates.

Dave do you remember or have on hand the names of the books which said they had no value? Just curious if my library has them I’ll take a look.

David Petersen wrote: My experience and study with wild shrooms are largely limited to morels. I have read that they have no nutritional value in a couple of respected guide books. Perhaps I err, as so often, in generalizing. Turning your question around, I’d appreciate being pointed toward reliable edification re just what nutritional value, that is calories that will keep a body alive, which shrooms contain. In fact I lost a bit of my strong appetite for fungi after reading they are just bulk and filler. I’d like to get it back.

We may be getting hung up on “nutritional value.” The naturalist program that I’m in teaches that mushrooms aren’t valuable for meeting your short term needs in a survival/foraging situation because the nutritional inputs aren’t all that significant, particularly when weighed against the cost of possibly misidentifying one.

In the next breath, when we shift to a health and longevity standpoint, those same folks will tell you about all the benefits of incorporating properly identified mushrooms into your diet. Many of those benefits have some firm science backing them up. Some have a significant amount of “woo.”

Ptaylor wrote: [quote=OSQUINT]I think they eat the mushrooms that make them small so we can’t see them when hunting

OQUINT- You can’t see the elk because of the mushrooms you eat! Hahaha!

Hmmmm. I wonder if this figures into the 10% success rate for elk hunters in Washington state….