Raspberry bushes for deer or bear?

[tikka-guy]

I have some raspberry bushes that I ripped out of our property. They grow like weeds. I was wondering if it's worth planting them at our camp for deer or bear, or if it'll basically just end up being bird food. Anyone have any experience?

 

[interlock]

I understand that your white tailed deer is of a similar make up as our roe deer (only bigger, everythings bigger in america, apparently) If this is the case roe deer love fruit bushes etc. They like rasbery, bramble and rose bushes. plant these out and you will have deer come to them. If it was in the uk you would need to protect them unil they were established otherwise the deer will eat them to the ground.

so my guess is that they will attract deer.

 

[Skyshot]

In Tennessee, the black bears really love any kind of berries. In the late summer from August until the first frost they will feed heavily on any soft mast, that includes blackberries raspberries and grapes. The deer will feed also on the soft mast but, with my own observations, its seems that bear have the bigger sweet tooth when it comes to berries. If the hard mast is availible the deer will hit it the most.

 

[drsfmd]

Don't know much about blueberries, but the raspberries will be all done in early july, long before hunting season.

 

[Bubbles]

I planted raspberry bushes along the side of my garage. The deer have never shown an interest in them. I don't know if the bears will go for them or not.

The variety I planted is "everbearing" so they'll produce fruit from early July through the first hard frost.

 

[interlock]

its the foliage the deer really like, not so much the fruit

 

[Asherdan]

I found a patch of wild raspberries a couple of years back, with scrub oak mixed in the area as well. I'd glassed deer bedded down in the area as well so I took a sneaksie in.

Turns out there was plenty of sign and fresh beds:



I'd been pretty good about easing in there so I was a little disappointed to miss the deer, I decided to sneak down the ridge a bit more and poke through the scrub oak as well and ran right into Yogi. We had a little yelling match and parted ways, and I learned to have a bear tag on me when hunting deer in that area.

A little bit down the slope I ran into:



and wished I'd hit that first for a heads up rather than the depositer.

So what's my point with all this? It might help and it won't hurt unless you plant them between your camp and somewhere you might want to go.

 

[Tom Held]

not controllable

Having bought some hunting property in Illinois a few years I can tell that positively I would never introduce an invasive plant species onto my turkey and deer land. I've had to spend over $5000 and busting my ass so far just trying to keep bush honeysuckle, japanese honeysuckle, and multifloral rose under control (you can never eliminate them). Had a forest management plan done and was recommended to burn off 10 acres of Mississippi Riverf bluff for a 5 year period just to get it under control.

Raspberries will be long gone before hunting season and you'll be left with brush. Every berry seed that will be eaten by birds, raccoons, deer, etc. will be carried with them and crapped out somewhere on your property or your neighbors. Not a good idea and you'll regret it. Better off planting lidano clover which deer love, only requires some spraying every year and the deer love it, it's very digestible, and promotes growth. If it spreads that's even better.

Just my opinion.

 

[Happypuppy]

I would not to it. They are a parasitic bush IMO. I had about 500 feet of it I wanted to remove. I had to have a backhoe rip it out, then the ground treated and left a year to plant. It is impossible to cut with anything less that a chainsaw when mature , and horrid barbs


Sent from my 300 baud modem

 

[tikka-guy]

Some interesting thoughts. This is pretty thick woods, so I think they'd have a hard time spreading too far in the immediate area, but then again, seeds spread in all sorts of ways, as it was pointed out.

We have some food plots, and I likely won't ever hunt over these. I guess I was just thinking I'd have another place to watch deer or set up a trailcam. I thought it'd be an easy thing to plant in the areas that aren't suitable for other foot plots.

Given how hard and painful it was to rip out these young plants, I'm thinking I might not mess with it.

 

[hardluk1]

Plant them. They well help to keep game in your area . So long as the bears don't raid your camps. Plant them around your stands. Not around camp.

 

[vtbluegrass]

Don't know about the deer but any it certainly will attract all sorts of wildlife when in season. I'd be out there fighting the animals off to pick those berries if I was you. Make some jam, a pie, or if your like me they hardly make it home.

 

[langenc]

I wish mine in the garden would grow like Tom and Happys.

 

[spclpatrolgroup]

I dont think rasberries count as an invasive species, they grow in the wild, but one thing you will find is that wild rasberries will be very small and not as sweet as dommestics. I do not know if that is because of the variety, or the fact they are competing with the surrounding weeds\grass for nutrients not like when they are in a garden. If you do plant some and let them be in the wild, I would like to hear the results you get,

 

[spclpatrolgroup]

Speaking of Turkey, my mother cannot keep the turkeys out of her rasberry bushes, she complains they eat so much she doesnt have enough to make jelly with.

 

[rcmodel]

My hunting buddy has a wild blackberry patch within 50 yards of his permanent deer stand.

Over the years, I have seen no interest in them from the deer, other then giving them a wide berth.

rc

 

[.45Guy]

We had 27 acres of black raspberries on the farm. The deer didn't bother them, it was the robins, starlings, and grackles. Green beans on the other hand, are a deer magnet. Our crop damage tags were always filled in the beans.

Some interesting thoughts. This is pretty thick woods, so I think they'd have a hard time spreading too far in the immediate area, but then again, seeds spread in all sorts of ways, as it was pointed out.

Oh they spread quick. What portions of the woods that aren't covered in multiflora rose are overgrown with raspberries. Too bad controlled burns aren't allowed anymore.

 

[p35]

That stuff is a gawdawful weed and will take over your land if you don't put a lot of work into keeping it down (around here it's Himalayan blackberry, but same idea). Don't spread it.