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The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) confiscated approximately 179 pounds of chanterelle mushrooms after two men allegedly harvested them illegally without a license.

While patrolling for deer, a WDFW sergeant stumbled upon the pair of mushroom bandits in a truck on private property. They initially denied having any mushrooms before telling the sergeant they harvested “some” without disclosing the amount. After a brief inspection of the vehicle, the sergeant found they foraged 179 pounds of mushrooms without a license.

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“The mushrooms were taken to a buyer and sold with the proceeds being held by the court,” WFDW stated. “The pair is being cited for trespassing and no forest products permit.”

According to WDFW, wild edible mushrooms cannot be harvested in quantities of more than five gallons without a specialized forest products permit. In addition to Washington requiring a permit and having limits on how many can be foraged, there are additional rules based on the number of harvesting days allowed per year, the certain seasons and windows when foraging can happen and any other special rules for specific types of mushrooms.

Chanterelle mushrooms can not be grown commercially, making them more expensive than most other mushrooms in stores. They can be found bountifully throughout the Olympic Peninsula, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens and the Kitsap Peninsula.

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Washington is known as a “mushroom hunter’s paradise” as it has quite a diverse selection growing naturally. There are approximately 2,500 members in the .

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.