Troutman10

Does anyone know if deer or any other wildlife eat puff balls (fungi looking thing that has dusty residue)? I was recentlyscouting out in the woods I'll be hunting in and noticedthe fungi torn apart in certainareas.Might be a dumb question, but I'm just curious. Thanks in advance.

muckland

I have never seen any critters eating them, but they are very tastey. the smaller ones are great for eating. fryum up with butter yum yum yum...

Champlain Islander

I have eaten them but not after they get big and get the puff cloud. When they are white and small they do fry up in butter nice. If they are broken up it might be a person. I always go and kick them when I see them big in the woods.

timbercruiser

Probably so, I have dressed deer that had a lot of mushrooms in their stomach.

RDHunter

Same here I was scouting some woods and noticed a big area where theres was alot of these white ball like mushrooms and some of them had been eaten .
When I walked in to that cluster of melon fungi I noticed deer track all around them , I was completly dumb founded.
I never would have thought that deer would be eating this stuff.

treii28

Yes, the general rule is if they are white in the middle, they are edible. (there are some varieties of puffball that are black in the middle and they are not edible) but, as with any wild mushroom, make sure you know what you are doing. Even though puff-balls are one of the safest mushrooms to pick and eat due to their unique nature and the 'white inside' test, there is still one nasty look alike.

A young amanita 'bud' ( http://files.shroomery.org/files/14-...derma_egg2.jpg ) will look just like a small white puffball with the exception that when you cut it in half, you will see two gaps in the flesh that represent where the gills are breaking free from the stem. Make sure you know the difference before picking smaller puffballs.

Oldtimr

Lots of wildlife from foxes to deer eat them when they are first formed and solid and white inside. They are delicious sauteed in butter for people as well.

Mojotex

Not sure what exactly are "puff balls" ... but I have seen deer, rabbits and squirrels eat small , round, yellowish white mishroom looking fungi .... many times over these past 50 years or so of hunting deer in the SE USA.

Oldtimr

Mojo, Puffballs are round white mushrooms, when I say round I mean round 360 degrees like a ball, I have seen some as big as soft balls and some the size of golf balls. If you cut them in half they are solid and pure white inside when they are edible. As they age, which can be pretty fast they turn brown and the inside turns to spores like dust. If you hit them with a stick or kick them a puff like smoke which are is the spores comes out, hence puffballs.