Last Saturday I put in a big day of shed antler hunting. Hiking in the woods is a simple pleasure and whether the reward is a deer antler or morel mushrooms, it’s worth the effort in my book. The big blizzard snowstorm was scheduled to come in that night and the only outdoor adventure on the docket for Sunday was shoveling snow. In other words, I was going to get my recreational outdoor time in while I could and while the ground was still brown.

I was hiking along a trout stream and every so often I would catch a glimpse of a small dash of red on the leaf carpeted forest floor. A quick glance made it look like splashes of a deer blood trail, but I knew that it wasn’t. I forged ahead and didn’t give the crimson red specks much more thought. 

I moved further north and got into a low area and sure enough I ran into some more of the red things. I did what I always do in such situations. I took a couple of photos and made a mental note to do an internet deep dive when I got home.  

Before I get into the results of that rabbit hole, the shed hunting was a little disappointing. For the time and distance logged I ended the day with two shed antlers. That is certainly better than coming home empty handed but also a bummer in that shed hunting was going to get snowed out in a matter of hours.  

The first flakes of the storm started to fall in the early part of the evening while I was in the comfort of the Dave Cave. I pulled up the photos on my phone of the mysterious red things that I had seen earlier in the day.

It took a half dozen tries but in the end, I found the answer that I was looking for. I had stumbled into a type of mushroom called Scarlet Elf Cup. The ones that I found were very young and just starting to shoot up.  They emerge in the late winter and the early spring months, which would account for the reason I have never really taken notice of them before. They typically sprout up after I’m done shed antler hunting and are long gone before I’m back into the woods to turkey hunt.

For you morel mushroom hunters who can’t wait until May, my intel says that these mushrooms are edible. The texture is waxy and the taste is described as subtle, mild, and earthy. They are commonly prepared by being sauteed. They are used as eye appeal in dishes because of their brilliant red color. Size wise, they are a little smaller in mass compared to a morel mushroom.

When I saw a picture of a full-grown version, I understood how the Scarlet Elf Cup received its name and how easy it is to recognize. The shape and color combine to make it pretty unique and not likely to confuse it with another type of mushroom. As always, the cardinal rule in mushroom hunting is when in doubt, check it out.

Didn’t get enough Dave this week? Visit “Outdoor Trails and Tales with Dave Beck” on Facebook or at  ottwithdavebeck on Instagram for photos and video of Dave’s adventures. You can share your own photos and video with him there as well, or by emailing him at dave@piercecountyjournal.news Also, check out OTT content on Instagram @thepiercecountyjournal