I know for a fact that wild animals use Amanitas at times of extreme hunger and being close to death - I was born in Siberia right next to taiga and it had taught me a lot about wild animals.
Amanitas have very special place in my heart, right next to Salvia 8) This is a unique psychedelic. In lower doses it provides nicely going drunkiness feeling and disinhibition, similar to alcohol. If that's what you're after, I'd suggest making a tea - crumble your mushrooms caps and steep with hot but not boiling! water with the lid on until it cools off by itself. Start drinking slowly - few sips and wait for 15 minutes, and just slowly work your way up.
IME tea never got me very high, so I prefer decarboxylated (just put in the oven with the door open on lowest for 15 mins or naturally dry them on the sun) dried caps - they taste like potato chips :D
As for the potency - it varies VERY much, not like Psilocybin mushies at all. It heavily depends on amounts of rain they were getting, and the place where you pick them, also the season - spring ones are the best if you can find them, as they're disappearing quickly. Autumn brings lots of those guys out!
I recommend to pick medium sized, not too small, not too big - small ones feel like poison and large ones are mostly bunk. Once you pick them, get to drying them immediately or they'll get spoiled and you'd have to throw them away.
I have been picking Amanitas for few years now and I've noticed a peculiar thing about where they like to grow - they always choose to be near trails, animal or human ones and once you see one by the road, look closer - it has to have connections to the whole family growing within 10-80 feet, usually under or near some trees. Those you pick from a big family are usually mild in effects. If you do find a single Amanita mushroom with no others nearby at all, it will be a really strong one!
Red skin with little flesh under it can be smoked successfully and combines very well with cannabis - waters your mouth and gives some tingling. I also make pot brownies with grounded amanitas - delicious and relaxing treat for me and my friends!
If you decide to go for it, I'd recommend a trip sitter for the first time, as you might start throwing up while lying down and it might become a choking hazard. I also recommend to use Vodka (about 100g) as a "softening" agent with dry Amanitas - makes a big difference on the come-up and drop down.
The actual trip is very different than classic psychedelics. Forget about any external stimuli (music, videos, people, etc) - this one is fully introspective! It always starts with the feel of a drunk "helicopter" - similar to what you feel when really drunk and laying down - everything starts spinning. I tend to close my eyes and lay down as normal walking becomes impossible, I focus on those spinning spheres in my mind's eye and the trip starts to emerge. Predominantly red and gold colors, lots of spherical objects, the spinning eventually turns into tangible concepts, feelings, emotions and images. The body does not feel any load after you "jump through", in fact, I always completely loose the feel of my body on heavy doses.
Before the jump into psychedelia, be ready for sweating like never before - my whole apartment usually becomes smelling like Amanitas when I take a large dose. And the sheets would be soaked from sweating 8(
Amanita mushrooms is the only psychedelic that allowed me to enjoy OBE (out of the body experience) for hours - "the spirit of mine"? just hovers around, able to penetrate anything and enter any object, animate or inanimate. There are some creatures that appear to me as Gods made of Fire that allow me to do that. I also get a floods of the archetypal images of our human Universe. Once I was completely sure that my spirit was on Jupiter - it felt violent and crowdy in there.
Sometimes I get rushes of energy and want to do some stupid things while under the infuence of Amanitas - I feel omnipotent, indestructible and crazy, so I'd want to run around and shout something so others would understand

, I think it doesnt happen on big doses, although the memory becomes pretty foggy afterwards. Throughout the trip it feels very clear, there's no fear of death, no fear of anything at all actually.%)
Next day after the trip be ready to feel like you've had a case of Vodka consumed last night - the hangover is excrutiating. A little beer, cholinergic supplements and cannabis always help me with that!
Also, as long as you decarboxylate your mushrooms, it's pretty much impossible to die due to OD of Muscimol - I took massive amounts, both fresh and dried. For fresh ones I'd recommend to use srping ones and only use medium sized caps - eat slowly and watch effects happenning. All the doses charts I've seen and recommendation for this mushroom is BS -
You have to establish a connection with Amanita and "feel" what you need, no other way around, unless you extract Muscimol straght up (I'm going to work on that soon).
IMO Amanitas possess a very ancient spirit of "liberation through fire", so go for it if you feel like that's what you need right now!
