Mycology and entomology are just weird passions of mine. I'm not a professional in either field. I do know quite a bit about both from a life of observation and interest. I was living in Missoula and dating a girl whose father was a professor at the university of Montana. One day in the spring he asked me if I had ever gone morel hunting. I said no, but I knew morels were good from times I had them at fancy dinners. It was the spring after the 2000 fire season that burned the entire Bitterroot Valley. Morels tend to have bumper crops following burns. He took me to Blodgette Canyon about 40 mi south of missoula. It was unreal.... there were morels EVERYWHERE for as far as you could see. Huge morels... the biggest I picked was 15 inches tall and about seven inches thick. I filled a thirty gallon bag in about ten minutes and didn't go more than 15 feet from the parking area. I had shot a 1000lb 6x6 bull elk that season too, so I had elk steaks and morels for a year and a half! After the season was over, I ran into a guy at Weir Creek hot springs. He said he made almost $75,000 in six weeks of picking. Not bad!
I agree that you need to be POSITIVE of what you are picking before you eat anything. If you are unsure, don't eat it. There are fewer than ten deadly mushrooms found in the US, but they are very common and some can be confused with edible species. The Death Cap, The Destroying Angle, and The Deadly Wood Galerina are among the most common and deadly. One bite is more than enough to kill a grown man and there is no treatment to save you. Morels are pretty easy, as only false morels look remotely similar and once you have seen a true next to a false, you won't confuse the two.
The Great Morel - False Morels
Razor J, Try them! They are a true delicacy. If you don't like em, send them to me. They are worth quite a bit of money!
