Thanks for the info and advice Seasoned_Warrior.  Thanks goodness we don't have any of those "harvesters" around this area.  I guess I am a bit of a misanthrop when it comes to the out-of-doors.  When I am in the parks and see ATV's and hear leaf blowers and mini-bikes it drives me nuts.  I also agree, morels are the only ones I can eat as a meal.  Other's are okay for garnish only.  I don't even like to chow down on portabellos.  I will look forward to some receipes later.  Have a great weekend.

I'm pretty much an "opportunivore"  and a lot of mushrooms, in my opinion aren't worth the trouble.  I love the boletes, morels, chanterelles and the agarics. There are a lot of mushrooms that are edible but in my opinion why bother.  Some people just like the challenge of picking and eating mushrooms and that's great but for me its the sheer indulgence in the taste of the mushrooms. Mushrooms are an excellent source of protein however but my favorite way to get mushroom protein is with the mushrooms smothering a great piece of steak.  I don't know if your area supports commercial mushroom pickers but mine sure does.  We have groups of people showing up from Asia with leaf blowers to uncover the mushrooms hiding in the forest duff: they do a lot of damage to the forest environment. Most areas that have commercial mushroom pickers also have great identification courses for the mushroom buyers and I would recommend that you find one of those courses and take it.  The ID courses for mushroom buyers cover a lot of the fungi specific to your area. And there are important variations from area to area. A good place to get more information is at the mushroom festivals, a lot of them are run by either mycological clubs or by educational establishments.  In my area our Junior College puts on a great mushroom festival every year. Every year there is a mushroom festival in Telluride, Co (usually in early summer) that is nationally known. A lot of info can be found by joining one of the mushroom clubs, the American Mycological Society has a listing on their website  ( (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)) and so does the North American Myclogical Association ( (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)) and I know that there are local groups in your area. I'll post some of my favorite recipes in the the camping recipes section of this website in the next few days. Good luck

Seasoned_Warrior - you had some great ideas about Mushrooms.  I would really like to more about mushrooms (the edible kind).  I am only proficient with Morels.  I fact, for our May trip to the BWCA we have some freshly picked Morels I just harvested in my secret place down here in Northfield ready to take with for a gourmet meal.  Do you or anyone else out there have any favorite recipes you could share for batter and frying techniques for Morels.  Is it true you can freeze Morels with minimal damage?  How long will the keep on a trip before you better watch out? 

early spring is usually the ticket around here, if you go up spring trout fishing, the woods are full of the "mushroom" people!
they have festivals in the small towns in the areas that hold the best hunting and they stress what you mentioned about going with a experienced person first few times and when in doubt, throw out!!
my friend who's been at it for awhile say's he alway's eat's just a few of a "new" mushroom to him because  some people can have bad reactions to even "edible" mushrooms??
my main concern was that some people think buying a book is all you need to do(the do it yourself craze).
and while i'm all for that concept, in the case of something that could kill you or cause major problems, i would feel better having a book AND a experienced guide the first few times .

You make some good points Solotripper! I've been doing it for years and I teach a mushroom identification class at the local community college.  Mushrooms are not some thing to fool around with and I teach the old "If in doubt throw it out" philosophy. There really is no substitute for a class where you can see the mushrooms in your area. We usually have a mushroom feed at the end of the class with mushrooms we picked. Mushrooms tend to vary from area to area and while one of my favorites is the Boletus edulis (porcini or Steinpilz) we happen to have a Bolete in my area that is poisonous and it looks very much like the good edible kind to the untrained eye except that the tubes bruise blue (Boletus satanas). I am glad you brought this up because it does need to be stressed.  My grandmother came from the old country (Russia) and loved mushrooms but she didn't pick any in this country because she said that there were many that looked like the right ones but she just couldn't be sure.  So when do you get morels in your area? Early Spring? What's around in August?

I love mushrooms as well, and here in mich, the morel is king.
i have a friend who's picked for years but i've never developed much "confidence" in identifying the edible from the poisonous!!
considering the remoteness of the park and the the potential for illness  if you eat the wrong mushroom, i would strongly caution anyone to make DAMN sure you know what your doing and maybe if your new  to it, have a veteran watch your back the first few times??
i think eating off the land is a great idea, but sometimes being overeager and not having experience can get you in trouble??
i've been told by my friend that even old timers occasionaly get a bad fungi and take ill?
in the parks, that would be a real bad thing to happen especially if you were solo!!

How about mushrooms? Mushrooms are an excellent substitute for meat and some of the larger caps are excellent over the open fire. I love to hunt wild mushrooms (I love to eat them more) and I suspect that the BW/Q produces some excellent mushrooms. So many of the best edible mushrooms are mycorrhizal with the Pine species that the BW/Q must be a veritable feast of delectable fungi.  I can hardly wait! Now will the local constabulary allow you to pick (in California they won't)? After all, its only the fruit so if you can pick berries you should be able to pick mushrooms! When does the wild rice ripen? And there must be tons of berries. I like the fiddleheads also but you need to be careful. In Japan where fiddleheads are a delicacy there are increased incidences of cancers of the gastric tract which are ascribed to fiddle heads.  There should be little reason to go hungry in the wild. Foraging is one of my favorite past times. If you ever get a chance you should read some books a friend of mine wrote the "Handbook of Edible Weeds" and the "Handbook of Medicinal Herbs" both published by CRC and written Dr. James A Duke. Dr. Duke has written a number of other books and works for the USDA as an "Economic Botanist" as well as being a bona fide character growing edible weeds in his own weed patch or as he likes to put it, in his "herbal vineyard."

Regards,
Chuck

I am not familiar with the hunting season, but there are many ruffled grouse, last year also saw a quail.

On our trip to wabakimi, a pair of pine martins were trying to take down a snowshoe hare for almost an hour running through our campsite. The hare came and sat in the water near us while we ate lunch, and later disapeared back into the woods. Was the first time I witnessed a friendly wading rabbitt. 

I would guess that the Bdubs and Q has a rather substantial population of snowshoe hares...but they mostly inhabit the swampier, boggier terrain. So unless you are bushwhacked, lost, or both, you're not likely to see them or signs of them during paddling season...when most of your time is on rocky shore lines and all manner of portage trails.

Squirrels? Lots of red squirrels. Gray? Not so much...not enough mast trees to sustain them is my guess.

Beaver? Lots

The Beav

We were camped on Rog lake about three or four years back and we had a family of rabbits sharing our campsite.  It was fun to see, mother and three babies.  They were pretty bold, so you could get quite close to them, especially the little ones, of course.  Saw them out and about several times and I got a few photos.  They were large, I think probably snowshoe rabbits (but it was summer so they were brown.)  The young ones were about the size of an adult jackrabbit in Michigan.  Mom was bigger, obviously.

In 25 trips, have seen rabbits perhaps ten times, so I suppose they aren't that prevalent, or not easy to spot, anyway.  The little red squirrels, on the other hand, are everywhere!

We usually go in late June.