I went out to scout for deer for a bit yesterday evening. We have no open hunting season in Idaho but I had the itch to get out. I found some favorite black bear foods and decided to photograph them. This area is at a lower elevation but I have seen bear sign in the past. There must have been a homestead around at some point because there are a couple old apple trees.
Service Berries…these weren’t quite ripe but they will be soon.When I find them in lower elevations around some sort of water (like this one) they can be huge. When I find them them at higher elevations, they are usually in a low spot where water holds and typically more like a bush than a tree.
I ate a few ripe berries and they are ok but not great like a buckle berry or thimble berry.
Elder Berries…these can be anywhere and everywhere. They don’t get sweet until later…like early/late September. The bears don’t seem to key on them until the huckleberries are gone. You can tell the patches bears have used in the past when you see large sections of the bushes broken off. The bears pull them over to get the berries.
One day I was watching a little drainage that had some elder berries at the bottom. It was super thick, I couldn’t see the ground but I could see the tops of elder berries shake and then disappear. This went on for an hour or so. Every once in a while I would get a glimpse of the bear but never enough to take a shot. It was fun to watch.
I don’t honestly know what these are but I have always referred to them as “choke cherries”. I tried to identify them with google yesterday but I got several different answers. What I do know is that bears eat them. I’ve never witnessed it in person but I have found poop piles under these trees. I assume they pull these over as well. I have found them at lots of different elevations and don’t seem to need lots of water.
This is a RARE find for our area and I was STOKED to find them. We just don’t get many blackberries in the areas I hunt. I’ll be back with a bucket later next week!!
Wild raspberries…less common than blackberries but not nearly as surprising. These were all but done for the year but the berries in the picture ended up in my mouth right after the picture was taken.
Everyone knows what these are. I can’t wait to check these in a few weeks! This was where I found a ton of bear poop last fall while hunting deer.
There are a few more berries that bear eat but I didn’t find those on my trip.
Good luck Billy.
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