Favorite Edible Plants Of The Backcountry ?

Love finding a good blueberry patch in the BWCA. Headed up the first weekend in August, but sounds like the berries froze in early June and are now pretty withered due to the heat.

Which outfitter did you work at? I worked a few summers at Tuscarora off the Gunflint trail.
I worked at LaTourels east of Ely.
 
I wish everyone had pictures for the non- common foods. I pick morels/blueberry/blackberry/blackraspberry/winter. Beyond anything else extremely common it would be a guessing game what they all are
 
I like how those edible plant books list a plant as edible and then in the "interesting facts" section they say that Indians used it as a purgative....
 
Aside from basically any and all mushrooms (other than corals), I'm big on huckleberries, thimbleberries, salmonberries, blackberries, dandelion greens, and wild asparagus.
 
Huckleberries are my favorite, although I can't pass up a bush with ripe berries of any kind. I also enjoy morels and boletes.

I'd like to start trying a few wild edible plants. Does anybody have any handbook reccommendations for field ID of plants in the western US or Sierra Nevada range?
 
Huckleberries are my favorite, although I can't pass up a bush with ripe berries of any kind. I also enjoy morels and boletes.

I'd like to start trying a few wild edible plants. Does anybody have any handbook reccommendations for field ID of plants in the western US or Sierra Nevada range?

This one is good and has a lot of info including Native American uses of the plants.
 
First thought was blueberries. Then I remembered high bush cranberries. And cranberry ketchup/ sauce that takes wild game to the next level. Or On turkey n such.
Maybe add some blueberries or next favorite berries to extend n make new flavors. Watermelon berries would work good.
Chaga could be up their too. Oh boy got my mouth watering thinking about it
 
Great thread. Just had many thimbleberries and some huckleberries while hiking in GNP with my son. We both didn't think much of the serviceberries.
 
This is what I’m talking about.
View attachment 191276
A soul cleansing wild experience! Haha!

We could use a thread on the best wilderness shit paper! Haha! :)

For me... it's typically my current boxers cut in t.paper straps. Not really a wild side toward t.paper though when that's not really available, there's a reason I use a top end water filtration device...
A hand full of wet, borderline mudish - followed by a natural hand splashed, nut shrinking bidet :)

After that it better be some safe as Jesus baby bottom, God blessed useful large leafs! Haha!

Very little sucks as badly as getting a serious case of the Hershey squirts deep in the woods!
 
A soul cleansing wild experience! Haha!

We could use a thread on the best wilderness shit paper! Haha! :)

For me... it's typically my current boxers cut in t.paper straps. Not really a wild side toward t.paper though when that's not really available, there's a reason I use a top end water filtration device...
A hand full of wet, borderline mudish - followed by a natural hand splashed, nut shrinking bidet :)

After that it better be some safe as Jesus baby bottom, God blessed useful large leafs! Haha!

Very little sucks as badly as getting a serious case of the Hershey squirts deep in the woods!
The sleeves on my old hunter orange hoodie uses to get shorter every year…
 
A soul cleansing wild experience! Haha!

We could use a thread on the best wilderness shit paper! Haha! :)

For me... it's typically my current boxers cut in t.paper straps. Not really a wild side toward t.paper though when that's not really available, there's a reason I use a top end water filtration device...
A hand full of wet, borderline mudish - followed by a natural hand splashed, nut shrinking bidet :)

After that it better be some safe as Jesus baby bottom, God blessed useful large leafs! Haha!

Very little sucks as badly as getting a serious case of the Hershey squirts deep in the woods!
If you can imagine we’ve talked about it…https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/where-the-sun-dont-shine.308177/#post-3239157
 
Hope nobody minds me rekindling this thread! Foraging is one of my absolute favorite things to do, especially while fall big-game hunting!

Where I'm from, the Oregon coast, there is SO much offered by nature, aside from the delicious animals. A handful of my favorites would have to be all the edible berries (huckleberry being #1, followed by blackberry, elderberry, salmonberry, thimbleberry, salal and strawberry) followed closely by the huge variety of mushrooms, my favorites being chanterelles, boletes and morels, and then the vast variety of greens and edible foliage like sour dock, wild onions and garlic, fir tips, dandelion, thistle hearts, cattail root... I don't think I could fit on one page how many things I have in my area. If anyone wants to chat about the subject, I'm all about it! 🍄🍀🍓🥬
 
Chaga could be up their too.
I took an online course last winter, based on the book Ancient Secretes of a Master Healer, by Clint Rogers. I learned of Chaga, which is all around my home. We are surrounded by many edibles, all with medicinal quality. Chaga tea or coffee, I've havested and tasted much since "I discovered" it.
 
Has Timpsila been mentioned.
A starchy root, pretty common in MT and the west.
The tops dry and blow off in early summer and hard to find after that.
 
I had my first Giant Bolete this fall and they are unbelievable when cut into a big steak and fried in butter. This one fed me for a whole week. (Chanterelles in the background).

2981C2CD-53D0-4E6B-9F22-7A7436F3E512.jpeg

A couple other ones I like to snack on are Sego Lily bulbs, Fairy Bells, Twisted Stalk Berries, Glacier Lilies, and probably some other strange stuff.

I’m visiting PA now and have been snacking on wild grapes and beech nuts. Chicken of the woods was great this summer. Lots of stuff laying around back east.
 
There was a time in my life that I decided to learn every edible plant and mushroom in my area. I've eaten over 40 different kinds of mushrooms and well over a hundred types of plants. It didn't take too long to figure out that there is a big difference between "edible" and "palatable." I also ate many different types of bugs and other little critters but they were almost always a one time thing. I still like to graze when I'm in the woods and sometimes collect food to take home but I am down to mostly berries, Black cap raspberries are my favorite, and 10 or so mushrooms. Saga lily bulbs are always a treat. Hazel nuts and even though they are a lot of work and hard to find without worms, Chinquapin nuts are both a favorite.
 
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