December has traditionally been my time to transition from big game to upland game but that was before my obsession with mushrooms (i.e. Woody grouse hunts: 1, mushroom walks: 10).
The grouse hunt we did was at the timber property and was really an excuse for me to check some trail cameras. The snow was at least two feet deep and that is where Woody's long legs paid off with only minimum belly dragging. We eventually flushed a single ruffed grouse (yup, that is how my pointer rolls). But then he earned some redemption by baying at the fir tree where the bird was perched. Just enough protein to offset about a tenth of our efforts but it made for some great crispy "chicken" sandwiches.
The trail cameras are pretty quiet this time of year but there was one monster lurking. The biggest mule deer I've ever gotten on camera (and bigger than any I've seen in the wild) was on our property during my special tag while I was miles away chasing ghosts. I had hoped that meant this old guy would go on to make someone's day with some enormous sheds but when I forwarded this picture to a local, he sent me back a facebook post from someone who found him on the last day of the special muzzleloader season.
The mushroom hunting was much more productive. We got into the last chanterelle hauls of the year before they got really soggy mid-month. An undisclosed Seattle park yielded my first blewits, a pretty substantial mushroom that is hard to crisp up in a pan but went well in some bear bourguignon. The most interesting identifying feature is that the gills have a distinctive odor, reminiscent of frozen orange juice concentrate (tragically not in evidence after cooking).
A second undisclosed Seattle park yielded candy caps after a couple visits. These guys were my biggest target for 2024 due to their distinctive maple syrup scent during and after air drying. Across 2023-2024, I'd already dried at least 10 other finds of similar looking lactarius without ever yielding the right species. This time I felt really good about the rough texture, almost transparent lactation, and fluted edges but it took almost a whole day of drying before I got the confirmation. Ground up, they add a fun aroma to a banana bread but further testing is required to find out if they add anything in the flavor department.
The candy caps were the ninth new species sampled in 2024 compared to the 19 I got to test in 2023. At this point I've only got a couple local species that I know of to track down in the new year but I'm sure that's only because I'm forgetting a slug of them... But in an effort to extend my season and maybe find some exotics, I convinced the family to load up for a roadtrip to central California.
We got to spend about half the trip in Sacramento but things were a little colder and damper than we had hoped so we headed to Monterey for a few days (with a stop along the way at the Jelly Belly factory) and then eventually headed back up the coast to check out the Redwood National and State parks. We didn't find any black trumpet mushrooms like I had hoped but did see some chanterelles, a cauliflower mushroom, and a whole grove of oak trees infected by monstrously large honey mushrooms. I'll just throw down a pile of pictures at you and try to get started on my January field report. Happy New Year!!
