Pepper Hunting in Downed Timber

Pepper, Nate T's dog, out yesterday.  Found a groundhog in an old collapsing fox sette, but let him be as the dogs could not negotiate the sette, and it was very long and I did not want to disturb it -- I've bolted too many foxes from that one!  Mountain found a raccoon in a sette that I am sure was nearby, but we spent four hours or more looking for her in pretty thick brush, and she never surfaced.  As the day was getting long, I sent Nate and friend off, but just as they were packing up, Mountain comes up to the truck very tired.  She had probably been underground the whole time and had a few small bites for her troubles.  How do I know it was a raccoon?   Mountain will come off a groundhog, and in this soft soil after a rain, they can dig away.  Too warm for fox, and a possum would be dead quick.  But Mountain will stay forever on a raccoon.

While looking for Mountain, we found the two items below on the ground.  Based on location and color and proximity to each (a cespitose cluster?), I assumed they were mushrooms, but not any kind I had seen before, so I took a picture before picking them up. I pulled one apart and knew what it was, but had never seen them this color before. They are ____?