Mother of all hen-of-the-woods finds

Nick Epley shows some of the mushrooms, largely hen of the woods that he and Austan Goolsbee found Sunday. (Provided)

Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and Nick Epley, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, “hit the all-time hen-of-the-woods forage” Sunday.

That’s putting it mildly.

“We thought about first going to the Guinness Book of Records crowd but opted for Bowman Outdoors out of loyalty,” Goolsbee messaged on X (formerly Twitter). “They were so expansive we couldn’t fit in a selfie so we took turns in front of the bounty.”

Austan Goolsbee shows one of the hen of the woods that he and Nick Epley found Sunday. (Provided)

I noticed chicken of the woods, too.

“A couple of boletes and corals, too, but once we started finding the maitake/hen of the woods we realized we wouldn’t be able to carry anything else so stopped gathering others,” he messaged.

Maitake is the Japanese word for hen of the woods.

Mushroom hunting is allowed at many Illinois Department of Natural Resources sites (state parks, etc.), but prohibited at area forest preserves, park districts and dedicated nature preserves.

Mushroom of the Week, the celebration of hunting for mushrooms around Chicago outdoors and their stories, runs as warranted.

To make submissions, email (BowmanOutside@gmail.com) or contact me on Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or Instagram (@BowmanOutside).