You may want to purchase a good tree identification book, and visit this site's section on North American Trees. What kind of tree is (or was) it? No, successful mushroom identification does not usually depend on the ability to identify living and long-dead trees with 100% certainty, but this information can often make the process much easier. Is the mushroom growing from wood? If so, is the wood dead or living? If the tree is still alive, where on the tree is the mushroom growing-near the base of the tree, or around the roots, or higher up? (To show you that I'm not just giving you woodland busy-work, notice that Laetiporus sulphureus and Laetiporus cincinnatus can be handily separated with the answer to that last question.) If the wood is dead, is it a log or a stick? Is the bark still attached to the wood, or has it been decaying for a long time? Since you will not be making this mistake (and since mushroom identification depends in large part on such information and will in the future rely on it even more), I have listed below some things to consider as you take notes on your collections. However, to make a very long story short, mycologists have never paid much attention to the ecology of mushrooms and are only recently discovering their mistake. It should be obvious that understanding mushrooms, therefore, depends on understanding the whole picture. Mushrooms have evolved along with plants and animals as integral parts of complex ecosystems.
I still scratch myself constantly, I had to take a Lyme Disease prophylactic for three weeks, and I will never go mushroom hunting without insect protection again. I will say only this about the insect repellent: I have rarely used it in my life, but as I am typing this I am recovering from over 300 deer tick bites I received a month ago. The Sharpie is for taking notes though you are welcome to use a pen and a notepad, I have found that writing directly on the waxed paper bags is the most convenient method-especially when it comes to sorting out, later, which notes correspond to which mushrooms. Also, since you can't really write on the collecting container in this case, specimens get confused and notes are not taken in the field. I have watched mycology students cram all kinds of mushrooms into the little compartments in their trays, then close up the trays and carry them around with the mushrooms sweating in the closed container and banging around with no padding at all. I'm sorry to be a curmudgeon, but this is one example of the new idea being really inferior to the old idea. A whole generation of mycology students is learning this method. Over the past 5–10 years, mycologists have taken to using plastic tackle boxes (or the sectioned trays from tackle boxes) to hold mushroom collections in the woods. If you want bags for larger collections, I recommend the larger waxed-paper bags that are sold as disposable containers for sanitary napkins these are also readily available online. Mushrooms tend to sweat, especially in hot weather, and you are likely to have a wet mess on your hands if you put them in plastic bags.
If you cannot get waxed paper bags, brown paper sandwich bags are the next-best option. Several companies make waxed paper sandwich bags these are the best mushroom holders, and they are easily purchased in stores and online. You will need the pocket knife in order to dig up the bases of some mushrooms (see Collection Methods, below), and the waxed paper bags are what you will use to store your mushrooms. By contrast, collecting mushrooms for identification requires a pocket knife, some waxed paper bags, a Sharpie, insect repellent, and a basket. I recently decided to take up fly fishing $400 later, I managed to catch a few six-inch brook trout.
We mushroom hunters are fortunate that our hobby doesn't require lots of expensive equipment. Be sure to follow rules and regulations for mushroom picking!
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