While on a hike the other day, I came across this giant of a mushroom, the cap easily 9-10″ across with a velvety, light brown top. The underside was filled with spongelike pores versus gills, a thick stem with visible netting. It was growing in a field on the side of a hill. It kind of looked out of place, however, the extreme amount of rain we’ve had this spring could have forced the growth out of its normal fruiting season being late summer/fall. When I consulted the Peterson Field guide series on mushrooms, I found 36 species of Boletes, some edible, some bitter and some quite poisonous. Which one is this, remains a mystery. The old adage “There are old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushrooms hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters”, came back to me. So I left it alone and only took photos. (Peterson Field Guides Mushrooms, K. McKnight and V. McKnight 1987