Caution: Mushroom Hunters

It’s that time again. Those beautiful and delicious fungi are popping up already. Before you go out a few cations and warnings are in order.

Ticks, ticks and more ticks. This really is serious stuff. Lyme disease and other tick related illnesses are real, and they can cause long term health problems. It is best to cover up well and use insect spray. Showering immediately after being in the woods is a good idea as well.

The wooded areas in Cedar County are home to a large variety of plants with barbs, thorns and needles that can cause damage to mushroom hunters. Cover up as much as possible. This may include heavy pants, shirts, hats and gloves. It is a good idea to take along a pair of clippers to cut those pesky briars.

Make sure you have permission from private landowners before venturing to hunt mushrooms. If on public lands, check to make sure there are no prohibitions for picking mushrooms.

Be careful about the kind of mushrooms you pick. Some mushrooms are extremely poisonous. Even a small bite of the wrong mushroom can cause illness or death. A pocket mushroom identification guide is very handy.

Finally, watch out for strange things in the woods. Dwayne (last name omitted for privacy), a morel hunter living a quarter mile north of the ElDo golf course, commented recently that he saw something very unusual a couple of days ago. “I’ve seen a lot of things out there but I saw something that shocked me. I’ll try to be delicate in describing it. I came upon the biggest pile of scat I’ve ever seen. You know, I’m a country boy who’s been around large animals all my life, but I have never seen a pile like that. I mean it was ABSOLUTELY HUGE. Don’t know what it was that left it, but I sure would not want to meet up with it.”

Sheryl, an avid morel hunter in the same neighborhood who would not give her last name  said, “Yesterday when I was  looking for mushrooms I seen sumthin out of the corner of my good eye. I didn’t get a real good look at it but whatever it was, it was BIG – I mean REALLY BIG. I been to Africa and I seen myself a gorilla. This warnt no gorilla. The thing I saw was awalken on two legs and at least 7 feet tall. It had long dark red hair. Ya know, sumpin like that gives you the heeby jeebys. The weird thing is I seen the same thing exactly one year ago on the first day of April.”

Dan Yoder