About J. Wayne Fears

It was the old buck’s favorite hideout, and during much of the year it supplied him with not only secure cover, but also highly desirable fruit, green leaves, and tender young shoots that kept him well fed.

The big bramble patch, in this case wild blackberry, grew along the woods line on the edge of an abandoned field just behind the barn. Many times the old buck, slowly laying his antlers on his back, would silently observe orange clad hunters walking by the thick tangle of thorny brambles. They never knew this wild food plot was the hangout of the elusive big buck they kept seeing on their trail camera’s night images.

What are Brambles?

According to the dictionary, a bramble is any rough, tangled, prickly shrub, usually in the genus Rubus spp, most often blackberry, dewberry, and raspberries. These brambles are commonly found in much of the eastern United States west to Texas and Kansas. They occur as early inhabitants of clear-cut forests; abandoned fields; and along fencerows, roads, or utility right-of-ways. They are an excellent example of a desirable wildlife food plant that takes advantage of the edge effect in deer habitat.

Brambles, such as blackberry, produce fruit, leaves, and young stems that deer relish.

For the purpose of this article we are going to concentrate on the blackberry as it is the most widespread of the brambles. Management instructions for blackberry generally apply to dewberry and raspberry as well.

Blackberries, where they are found, are one of the most important sources of fruit and green browse for deer. The green fruits turn red before they ripen to black. Fruits are readily sought by deer, wild turkey, quail, raccoons, chipmunks, ruffed grouse, squirrels, and many birds including woodcock. The fruits are eaten from June to October mainly when fleshy, but even the dry berries are eaten, when available, by deer in the fall and winter. Leaves and young stems are a significant part of deer diets from last frost through September. Large bramble thickets are used for cover during the winter, and often they are bedding areas for overlooked bucks, as it is too difficult for people to penetrate the thickets and thus they receive little human pressure.

Managing Existing
Blackberry Thickets

Management of wild-growing blackberry is easy.

Thickets should be stimulated with disking or prescribed burning during the winter or early spring. This encourages new growth and keeps the desirable growth from becoming too tall or dense for deer to reach.

A light application of 10-10-10 fertilizer at a rate of 200 pounds per acre applied in early spring will help bring on a good crop of new growth and berries during years with adequate rain. Dry weather during the fruit development stage can cause these plants to have a poor berry crop.

	Blackberry loves sunlight and grows well on edges, such as this old field.

Overstory removal is important as thickets growing in the shade are poor fruit producers. Blackberries love sunlight.

Planting a Blackberry Food Plot

Blackberry is an easy plant to grow and maintain, and there are several hardy varieties to choose from, depending on your soil and climatic conditions. A call to your local Cooperative Extension Service agent can get you a list of the blackberries that grow best in your area.

However, before you decide to purchase blackberries to plant as a food plot, consider searching your property for existing wild blackberry plants. If you find a patch, in the spring dig up some of the plants, being careful not to damage the roots, and plant them in an area that gets plenty of sun. Wild blackberries are hardy and easy to establish from a transplant.

If your property has no blackberries to transplant, or you want to grow some of the garden varieties of blackberries, many nurseries offer a wide selection. They are usually available as bare root plants or root cuttings.

Deer love new growth blackberries; as such, new plantings need to be protected until they are established.

For planting bare root blackberries:
• Keep bare roots moist and cool
• Trim off long or broken roots. Cut back top growth to about 6 inches.
• Choose a well-drained location that gets plenty of sunlight.
• Dig a hole twice the size of the root mass.
• Set the root ball into the hole and fill with loose soil and water
• Space the plants 3 feet apart, in rows 6 feet apart.
• Mulch with 2-3-inches of compost to retain moisture and keep weed growth to a minimum.
• Be sure to flag each blackberry plot since you will be planting them in natural sites and it is easy for the plot to get lost in leaves and weeds.
• In areas of dense deer populations it may be necessary to cover the new planting with chicken wire to keep deer from eating the new growth.

For root cuttings:
New blackberry plants that are sold as root cuttings should be planted in fall, winter, or very early spring.
• Plant them lengthwise into the soil at a depth of 3 inches and 2 feet apart.
• Water root cuttings and keep the planting area damp, but not wet, throughout the growing season.

A Word of Caution

A large patch of blackberry bushes may not look like a food plot, but they can be a valuable part of a wildlife management plan, as they supply a lot of food during the warm months and cover all year long.

While deer may go out of their way to feed on the fruit, leaves, and young stems of blackberries, as well as other wild growing brambles, many landowners consider thick growing bramble patches a pest. Left to grow uncontrolled, these wild, thorny bushes can become a nuisance. Kept under control, they can be used to successfully attract deer, wild turkey, quail, and a variety of small animals. Be sure to get landowner permission before introducing brambles to a property.