Beautyberries

[Dusty Britches]

What a cool web site!

ForagingTexas.com

[JhuntsAlot]

Its not a myth. Deer hammer them in houston co..
They are also edible for humans but not great. They DO make amazing jelly!

This^^

I have been in the tree stand and watched a couple doe's go from one to another eating them.

Like another post said, there is a certain time when they are right and they hit them.


J

[Drycreek3189]

Nobody has mentioned the most important aspect of the American Beautyberry. In an emergency, the leaves make very good buttwipe !

[sling shot]

One of the guys we hunt with brings jelly made from these to the lease and it's pretty good.

[Deerguy]

They are classified as a second choice food for whitetail deer.

Over browsing of them and other 2nd choice food is an indication of too high of a population and/or extremely poor range conditions.

Depends on where you are, preference is always a function of availability. BB is a first choice browse plant throughout the Post Oak Savannah. Less so in the Poacherwoods, i mean Pineywoods.

[Deerguy]

Deer love them...They grow and not touched by Deer then when they reach a certain point ..Then Boom Deer while them out...

Absolutely correct. If deer browsed them as heavily in the spring as they do in the fall, there would be no beautyberry (plant needs to mature first before it can withstand the grazing pressure). Also, at the right time, BB responds well to pruning (as an ornamental) and browsing. Grows back thicker.

[RifleBowPistol]

Deer don't eat grass (they might eat the seed pods, but not grass like a cow). I would suggest getting with your county extension service and/or your local biologist to put a plan together if you want to get serious about improving your property for wildlife.

Also, clearing under oaks can actually harm them, so be careful doing so. Btw, yaupon is also a second choice food source for whitetail.

I don't know, the deer sure love our bermuda grass, I know in many areas, they eat leaves of of small bushes, many areas they like eating sage leaves, even oak leaves. I know out in Val Verde County, they mostly eat leaves off of the various types of scrub brush out there and cactus leaves. I know in many areas, they eat cactus leaves. I know for a fact they eat grass, where there are good grazing grasses for them. I know where we are, since there really are not any natural grazing grasses, they eat the bermuda we planted and then in the evenings, they come out along the highways and eat whatever type of grass or grasses, growing along the highways.

[sqiggy]

Squiggy, you have many, many oaks and acorns on your place. American beauty is a secondary preference for deer. I hunted a pine flat that was loaded with the stuff and I always saw deer at SHNF.

Negative.
The last 2 years, I've been after one particular buck. He hangs out in the 90 acre pine plantation and just across the fence which they clear cut some years ago and did not re-plant. In this area, very, very few acorns but this beauty plant is every where. I've cut trails thru it. The deer just don't touch it and I see a lot of deer here, way more than I expected.
Here at my house, very few if any acorns last year and looking like the same this year. All I have here is post oak, black jack and hickory. Only seen one black jack with acorns but that beauty stuff is EVERYWHERE, untouched.
I just know I wouldn't set up a stand over the stuff as a food source, at least where I hunt.

[Bayouboy]

I would think most of us know deer eat it. My question was aimed more towards human consumption.

[AgHntr10]

Negative.
The last 2 years, I've been after one particular buck. He hangs out in the 90 acre pine plantation and just across the fence which they clear cut some years ago and did not re-plant. In this area, very, very few acorns but this beauty plant is every where. I've cut trails thru it. The deer just don't touch it and I see a lot of deer here, way more than I expected.
Here at my house, very few if any acorns last year and looking like the same this year. All I have here is post oak, black jack and hickory. Only seen one black jack with acorns but that beauty stuff is EVERYWHERE, untouched.
I just know I wouldn't set up a stand over the stuff as a food source, at least where I hunt.

Thats odd because where I hunt we have a bunch of it and it will go untouched for a while then like a light switch it gets hammered and there is nothing left but bare branches.

[SabineHunter]

Negative.
The last 2 years, I've been after one particular buck. He hangs out in the 90 acre pine plantation and just across the fence which they clear cut some years ago and did not re-plant. In this area, very, very few acorns but this beauty plant is every where. I've cut trails thru it. The deer just don't touch it and I see a lot of deer here, way more than I expected.
Here at my house, very few if any acorns last year and looking like the same this year. All I have here is post oak, black jack and hickory. Only seen one black jack with acorns but that beauty stuff is EVERYWHERE, untouched.
I just know I wouldn't set up a stand over the stuff as a food source, at least where I hunt.

Yeah, unfortunately, when I go pig hunting with you and your brother, it's too late for the American Beauty. Leaves start dropping after the first good frost.

[ElfEyes]

I don't know why but on my lease they hardly touch it but on the public land I hunt they kill it

[sqiggy]

Yeah, unfortunately, when I go pig hunting with you and your brother, it's too late for the American Beauty. Leaves stop dropping after the first good frost.

This is right there behind hog camp.
Only thing I figure, they just have to much other browse to choose from.
Next time I go out there, I'm gonna look closer and see if I see any changes.

[Greenheadless]

I think some are confusing preference with availability. If there is no availability of first choice, of course second choice would be what gets eaten. This is also dependent on regional factors as well as Deerguy points out.

[Pstraw]

I've got a really big bush in my front yard/ edge of woods that they have cleaned off all the berries and leaves that they con reach. Every winter I will cut it back to about 3 ft. so that it'll be full every year. There is also a lot of honeysuckle everywhere. Deer will usually eat on the plants before they go to the corn pile.