High bush cranberry

[hardwaymike]

Do you or anyone you know plant highbush cranberry for wildlife? I'm looking for something to help draw in and hold deer on my property. We only have 40 acres and no real bedding areas to keep them here. Any suggestions?

[hardwaymike]

By the way....I really don't have any access to farm equipment or implements. Although I do have a decent sized rototiller. Not to mention the tool's God gave me  :D

[Orion]

I live in the burbs, and we have a few high bush cranberries in our back yard.  The birds certainly like them.  Don't know if it's a preferred deer food.  We have them in the northern part of the state.  I see the fruit on the bushes quite late in the year well into spring.  I would think deer would clean them up earlier when the snow cover gets deep, but I don't see evidence of it.  Ruffed Grouse love high bush cranberries though.

Deer love red osier dogwood and Northern White cedar.  In fact, they like it so much that it's difficult to get any of it established in the northern part of this state, and I expect Michigan is the same.  The red osier comes in immediately after logging and is a deer magnet for two to four years until the aspen/birch regrowth crowds it out.  We have some white cedar in the north, but it's almost all older growth.

BTW, I learned these preferences through hunting and observing.  I don't plant supplemental foods on my hunting land in the far northwestern part of the state.

[lpcjon2]

I live in Jersey and we have tons of cranberry bogs.You can plant anything that will grow and when the pikens get slim they will eat it.And you can drag downed treas or cut down old dead trees to make bedding areas.Old brush works for deer and rabbits as well.Soy been ,Turnips,Clover and just plain grass works

[hardwaymike]

Thanks Orion. I just got our spring tree sale pamphlet in the mail saturday and talked to a buddy that works there and he said the same thing about the white cedar. He also said that the deer really like the highbush cranberries along with the grouse. I haven't heard of red osier dogwood though. Any idea where you can purchase seedlings?

[Orion]

I'm sure nurseries have red osier seedlings as well.  Oops, maybe not seedlings, but relatively small plants/bushes.  Might be on the expensive side.

[hardwaymike]

Yeah, I did find it on there(directly under highbush cranberry lol). Thanks

[Ragnarok Forge]

I can tell you that our coastal blacktails eat the heck out of the cranberry farmers crops and most of them will let you bow hunt their properties happily to thin the herd.  So western blacktails eat cranberry plants and berries.  Not sure about whitetails.

[hardwaymike]

Thanks everyone for all your help. All of your suggestions will be going into the planning for frost break.

[Roger Moerke]

I'm from MN. originally and a I know bears like them aswell, don't know about deer but the birds like them.

[Bill Carlsen]

Try Pokeweed. You can find it on the side of roads. It almost looks like elderberry and it is a perenniel. Where I have seen it growing in the wild or on farms/fields the deer just gobble it up, as do turkeys. I've got a bag full of the berries to set out. I did a test planting in my vegetable garden last year and they grew really well.