One of the best things you could do would be to get yourself a book on mushrooms. The
recommendations at the Hunting forum tend to be US-centric, so you should check your
local bookstores for books on mushrooms of your country. If you can get a couple
books, that's often a good idea. A list of recommended books mainly for the US can be
found
here.
Good mycology books for field mycology have keys. Keys are a list of choices where
you choose between alternatives and are directed to different places in the book. For
example, a typical early choice in the key will be based on what color the spore
print is. Don't waste too much time on the big coffee table books with the pretty
photographs, at least not at first. Those can be fun books to thumb through, but
they're usually not that helpful for identifying mushrooms you find in the woods.
Then go out and find some mushrooms. At first, don't waste time picking everything
in sight. You're not going to be able to identify all you find. Stick to a few fairly
distinctive, common species. In other words, what are the mushrooms you see most
often when you're out looking for them? Pick several and bring them home to
identify.
Expect to take a couple hours trying to identify the first ones you find. And
expect to be wrong in the end. That's OK. The time you spent reading and trying to ID
them will help you next time. As you do it, you'll get better at knowing what you
should be looking for.
If you know somebody locally who hunts mushrooms (not just actives or whatever),
ask them for assistance. Mushroom people tend to be helpful.
For the first year or two, try to not spend all your time looking at LBMs (Little
Brown Mushrooms). They're difficult for everybody, including professionals, to
identify. In fact, expect that, no matter how good you get, you will never be able to
identify every mushroom you find. I don't know a professional mycologist who can just
tell you what every mushroom is.
If there is a mycological society nearby, they often have several experts among
their members. Mycological societies tend to be organized mostly by and for people
hunting mushrooms to eat, not get high on, so if your interest is in the latter you
should be discreet. You especially need discretion if your country has laws
prohibiting the possession or use of active species - prisons aren't good places to
be anywhere in the world. Even so, you may meet others with your same interests in
mushrooms there.
Above all, get out there and find mushrooms, and try to identify them yourself.
There are places like this one to help you with the latter task. But help yourself by
trying to identify them yourself first, even if only to genus. And let us know what
your guess is, so we can confirm it or show you why you're wrong (most of us learn
more from our mistakes than our successes).
by ToxicMan
