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Mr. Benson
Stranger
Registered: 10/24/20
Posts: 6
Last seen: 3 years, 2 months
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How to avoid getting caught while picking
#27059413 - 11/26/20 10:56 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I would like to hear everyone's advice and experience on how to avoid getting caught while picking actives in public areas. Of particular interest is your experiences in the pacific northwest. I know we tend to have a more relaxed approach to drug enforcement, but catching a felony for picking a couple mushies seems like a bad time.
Do you ever use a cover story while picking? Such as, walking the dog, fishing, etc? I have noticed many pickers are totally blatant about it, seeming not to care about who sees what they are doing. On the other end of the spectrum, I try to hit my spots at times when less people are around, and try to have a reasonable cover story. If I am scouting a new area where careful searching and staring at the ground is in order, I wont pick anything but I will take mental notes and come back later so I can get in and out quick.
I would like to hear your thoughts and tactics on the subject matter.
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HSapiensAmericanus
Stranger
Registered: 01/15/20
Posts: 337
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: Mr. Benson] 1
#27059471 - 11/27/20 12:12 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Keep it simple and honest and just say you’re hunting for mushrooms. Your back story being you’re into mycology and you’re not necessarily looking for anything in particular. Then pull out your Mycoflora Project vouchers and explain how you collect, catalog, upload, etc... Helps to be a geek.
But really, in the northwest you’re only going to run into sketchy situations if it’s anywhere considered a known “hot spot”. I had a buddy hunting at Marymoor park, didn’t find anything, got questioned, but honestly he was being a moron because that’s the last place to be actively hunting.
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manletto
Stranger
Registered: 11/23/20
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: Mr. Benson] 2
#27059554 - 11/27/20 01:27 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Bring a gun with you.
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Blazer420
ŦøжїϿ ÐȐȜȧƜƐȓ


Registered: 06/13/09
Posts: 4,825
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: manletto]
#27059568 - 11/27/20 01:58 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Tell them 2 mind their own business. If they start getting funny about it, just move on and come back later on when they aint around.
-------------------- ~ I used to get high on life, until I realized life was cut with morons ~ * You need 2 wake up and smell the music! * -We are all computer data in a materialistic world- |Sometimes you have to lose yourself, to find anything|
 
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Ghost
Chaotic


Registered: 06/27/11
Posts: 265
Last seen: 8 months, 5 days
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: Blazer420]
#27059569 - 11/27/20 02:06 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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No one cares. I was mushroom hunting on the Google campus walking through all the landscaping just as Google people were leaving work. Most people just walked right by, a few glanced in my direction and no one asked what I was doing.
Once when I was picking some allenii in front of an apartment complex the guy picking up trash asked me if they were magic mushrooms. I said yes, and he kept picking up litter and walked away.
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Random_Hunter
Stranger
Registered: 10/09/17
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: Ghost]
#27059574 - 11/27/20 02:29 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Sounds like you're doing things right. It depends where you're hunting, Oregon is supposedly more chill than Washington, likely more so in the future with 109/110. Rich areas with parents of young children might be more likely to call the cops. There is less risk if you are just looking during the day and come back at night. If you're not in possession, have reasonable excuses, and are not dressed like you're already high, you're safe. Having an interest in fungi is not a crime.
In my hunting spots I've never seen any authority looking for hunters. But even so, if I see anybody I just walk away and come back later, even if I know they're hunting too. If I've already been caught bent over, I just take my phone out and take photos, or my dslr if I have it. Don't let your guard down, it's more fun that way.
I'd bet on the coast anywhere from 10-80% of the people you see walking around are also hunting, depending on how hot the area is.
Edited by Random_Hunter (11/27/20 03:54 AM)
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Apples in Mono
Not a puppet


Registered: 09/21/17
Posts: 3,240
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: Random_Hunter] 1
#27059661 - 11/27/20 05:51 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I just act like i own the place
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Allium
Registered: 03/16/20
Posts: 2,722
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: Random_Hunter]
#27059665 - 11/27/20 06:04 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I must live in an area where not many people hunt mushrooms, because I have not one time ever gotten questioned for hunting mushrooms. whether it be on public lands, parks, cemeteries, golf course, etc. People just walk right on by me, like I'm not even there.
Heck, one time I found a huge flush of panaeolus cinctulus growing on a newly sodded lawn at a car lot, so I ran home and got my back pack. When I returned I just walked up in the middle of the grassy area right in from of all the cars and started picking them all. There was even a salesman out showing cars too. Of course he glanced over to see what I was doing for a brief second, then he went right back trying to sell a car, like I was never there.
Then one time, right in the front lawn of the local court house and police station, there was a big flush of cinctulus growing,and I did the same thing. A cop even walked right by me, snickered, and said I hope you don't eat those they could be poisonous! All I said was yeah, I was collecting them for a science experiment at my college, and he said, well have fun, and he walked off. Of course I never attended college in my life, haha, but that is one you could use if anybody ever does question you 
I also find that appearance is everything,and can get you out of trouble sometimes. For instance, if you're out hunting mushrooms in a Tye dyed grateful dead T-shirt, what do you expect that anybody including law enforcement is going to think about you? That you are a dirty drug addicted hippy, of course, and you will most likely get searched questioned to the third degree,and everything else.
I dress casual, and I don't wear anything that would draw attention to me like Tye Dye, Bob Marley shirts, shirts with magic mushrooms or cannabis on them, etc.
I do believe my kept up appearance coupled with good manors is what has kept me from getting in trouble my whole life.
Now, when I'm not out hunting mushrooms or doing anything "illegal" I dress my normal grungy way
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shroomhunter222
Silo sigh bees
Registered: 07/17/18
Posts: 97
Last seen: 1 year, 28 days
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: Mr. Benson]
#27059859 - 11/27/20 09:32 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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My "cover story" is that I'm part of a local mycology club collecting samples to take home and ID/study. I've never had to use it though lol
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MpSeph
Cow Field Creature



Registered: 06/17/19
Posts: 3,283
Loc: Gulf Coast USA
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: shroomhunter222]
#27059870 - 11/27/20 09:39 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I Mainly Use The Fishing Tactic. Rubber Boots, Fishing Pole, & A Backpack/Satchel Of Some Sort.
However, This Limits You To Hunting Areas Near A Waterway Of Some Kind.
-------------------- Tips For A Beginner Mushroom Hunter https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/27146775 One Who Hunts Mushrooms Is A Mushroom Hunter. One Who Eats Them Without Knowing What They Are, Is A Dumb Mushroom Hunter. - Seph
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Sk8nshram
pigskin footballs



Registered: 11/01/13
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Loc: PNW
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: MpSeph]
#27059913 - 11/27/20 10:09 AM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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"I'm doing a project on primary lignin decomposers for school"
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WASTE

Registered: 12/15/19
Posts: 114
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 2 days, 6 hours
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: Sk8nshram]
#27060174 - 11/27/20 01:12 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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"I'm a mycology student/mycological club member studying the impact of parasitic agaricus ganoderma cyanescens mycelium on local beetle populations"
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skOsH
Functionally dysfunctional



Registered: 07/03/19
Posts: 1,377
Loc: the PNW
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: WASTE]
#27060179 - 11/27/20 01:18 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Take pictures of random different mushrooms
Casually look around you, make it look like you're just taking pictures
If there's heat just come back later
Or, you could pick non actives in with your actives and that basically covers your ass. Least, it did for me one time picking liberty caps
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LeafRaker
nomad



Registered: 11/28/11
Posts: 718
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: skOsH]
#27060192 - 11/27/20 01:27 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I do almost everything mentioned above. I'm especially big on fungal photography, I snap a few dozen pics a week almost year round.
One thing that hasn't been mentioned: I make a habit of looking for actives in familiar territory. I know when people come and go and so can be collecting when it's least disruptive. I know how to blend in and not elicit extra attention. I would feel a lot less comfortable driving to an unfamiliar area and picking them willy-nilly and I think that would be more obvious to passersby.
-------------------- Knowledge is finite, ignorance is infinite.
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HAKR ELITE
"Sure. Mushrooms Friends."


Registered: 08/18/18
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: skOsH] 1
#27060195 - 11/27/20 01:29 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Dress up like a mushroom and just say your visiting some family and friends
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Edited by HAKR ELITE (11/27/20 01:30 PM)
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Whatislove
Stranger
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: HAKR ELITE]
#27060229 - 11/27/20 01:48 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I often use a corrugated cardboard box to hide myself in an urban setting, I learned with Solid Snake from Metal Gear.
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Whatislove
Stranger
Registered: 10/21/20
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: Whatislove]
#27060273 - 11/27/20 02:12 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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I'm actually a big noob but I like to be cautious, I only collect if I'm certain no one is around. If people are close-by I can wait around until they leave or I can came back another time. I like to really take my time when I am collecting, so I make sure I'm all alone. I usually get very stoned before I go hunting, I probably look suspicious.
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avidpicker
funnycolorsinmymushrooms



Registered: 08/08/06
Posts: 1,388
Loc: Mushroom Mountain
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: Whatislove]
#27060326 - 11/27/20 02:40 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Haven't had a problem in over a decade. When i first started i ran into a few situations where people would ask questions and be sketchy. Never had police show up or called though. Nowadays i give a shit less and have occasionally grabbed some with police close by with no problems. As suggested above stay away from known hot spots and where teenagers like to go. Don't trespass either and you should be good.Im in Pennsylvania btw it's very overlooked here too.
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MentalPariah
Pariah of my mind


Registered: 03/18/18
Posts: 3,903
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: avidpicker] 2
#27060364 - 11/27/20 03:01 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Personally I like to make myself look as suspicious as humanly possible.
-------------------- Whoever appeals to the law against his Fellow man is either a fool or a coward Whoever cannot take care of himself without that law is both For a wounded man shall say to his assailant If I live I will kill you, if I die you are forgiven Such is the rule of honor
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avidpicker
funnycolorsinmymushrooms



Registered: 08/08/06
Posts: 1,388
Loc: Mushroom Mountain
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Re: How to avoid getting caught while picking [Re: MentalPariah]
#27060966 - 11/27/20 11:36 PM (3 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
MentalPariah said: Personally I like to make myself look as suspicious as humanly possible.
 I'll never forget a time when I was in a public park kinda tucked back in a semi hidden mulched area. Was back there for a good 10 minutes then heard a quiet shuffle, looked up and an older woman probably in her 70s was painting on an easel. Startled me for a moment didn't see her the whole time. She smiled said hello I obliged and we both continued to do our thing. Good times
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