We had the first big rain of the fall and I knew it was mushroom time. I went to my closest known Hen of the Woods spot and found this straight away.
beauty! When we were living in Dorchester my wife came back from her run one morning with a little clump of those. We looked them up and satisfied ourselves and then went back for the ~10 lb still at the base of the big chestnut. We sauted and froze and enjoyed at least once a week all winter.
Probably my favorite mushroom. Or at least in the top 5.
As far as what we routinely find here this and black trumpets are my favorite. We gather a few each fall, eat some fresh and make duxelle (sauted mushrooms with LOTS of butter) that we freeze. We dehydrate the rest for soups and my favorite: wild mushroom sauce with homemade pasta.