Elkhound 1
Member
Yes Blackgum berry seeds.
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- Thread starter Professor
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Killer Kyle
Senior Member
Nope. All of you are incorrect! My suspicion was correct. Those are Winter grape seeds.
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Killer Kyle
Senior Member
I have eaten a lot of black gum fruits. Their seeds are smooth and ovate. I pick, eat, and cook with high bush blueberries every year. Their seeds are extremely TINY. The seeds in the pic are very large.....way bigger than Hawthorne seeds which have a triangular seed just like an apple or crabapple. These seeds are tapered and deeply pitted like a grape seed, because they are grape seeds.
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Professor
Senior Member
That looks like it. Although I did not see any vines, only these dried clusters on the ground.
Killer Kyle
Senior Member
Winter grapes have tall vines and climb high into tree tops. They usually do not drop fruit, but shrivel on the vine and drop as a whole unit in November and December. Animals in the mtns eat them once they drop in tje winter. They make a very small grape about the size of an English pea, and are not very palatable to humans. They usually only drop in winter. The vines looks like Summer grape vines, but summer grape leaves are very deeply lobed unlike winter grape leaves which resemble common muscadine leaves.
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Killer Kyle
Senior Member
The winter grapes always fall in clusters like that.
Killer Kyle
Senior Member
There are many species of wild grapes in GA. Many people call muscadines summer grapes or fox grapes or possum grapes. Many people call winter grapes and summer grapes by the same name. It is very confusing with all the true species being called by so many common or local names. I also ID'd a species I have never heard of last year while fishing on the Chattahoochee River on Chattahoochee WMA. It grew in a small patch in the sunlight on the river. It is vitis nigra....also called the river grape. Grape fruits no bigger than a green pea, muscadine like leaves, and very unpalatable to humans. Very, very sour and bitter.
Those winter grapes are so easily identified because they shrivel on the vine and drop in a cluster in November or December. They are basically the only ones that do that.
Although you didnt see the vines, they were somewhere near where you saw the scat. The bear was feeding on them when they dropped. I have seen a LOT of deer, bear, and hog feeding sign on them in the winter. Saw where hogs were feeding on them on Chattahoochee WMA today in fact. It is like clockwork, the game feeds on them every single winter.
Those winter grapes are so easily identified because they shrivel on the vine and drop in a cluster in November or December. They are basically the only ones that do that.
Although you didnt see the vines, they were somewhere near where you saw the scat. The bear was feeding on them when they dropped. I have seen a LOT of deer, bear, and hog feeding sign on them in the winter. Saw where hogs were feeding on them on Chattahoochee WMA today in fact. It is like clockwork, the game feeds on them every single winter.
Killer Kyle
Senior Member
You can google black gum seeds. They bear no resemblance whatsoever.
Professor
Senior Member
Fantastic. I kept looking up at trees and thinking: nope, this did not come out of that Red Oak. Now I know what he is eating and where he is eating it. Thanks for te ID.
strothershwacker
Senior Member
Thanks Kyle. Good stuff!
Professor
Senior Member
Kyle, looks like I might be late again. All those grape clusters have been eaten up. They seem to have moved on to another food. Can you Id these seeds?
Doug B.
Senior Member
There is actually a grape that we call fox grapes that is totally different than muscadines. If you ever eat them (or even smell them) you will never forget them. They make the best jelly that you ever put in a biscuit. They usually grow around a creek or wet place and only seem to bear once every few years. I have only found them in the mountains.
Doug B.
Senior Member
Those are persimmon seeds. Everything will eat persimmons. Even me sometimes, but only after a frost or two!?
Possum grapes are what we call them here. Dried into raisins. The deer eat heavy on them this time of year, too.
Doug B.
Senior Member
We call them fall grapes here in the mountains!?
Those are persimmon seeds, as DougB said.
Killer Kyle
Senior Member
Doug B was correct. Those are persimmon seeds. That scat should be from earlier in the fall as most persimmons drop in Sept-Oct.
After my post I did some research on winter grapes. They are most commonly called "Frost grapes". I think their species is called Vitis vulpes". The Latin for fox is Vulpes vulpes, so I guess that translates to "fox grape". Many people use fox grape to refer to many species of wild grapes, but it seems that winter or frost grapes are the real dox grapes.
After my post I did some research on winter grapes. They are most commonly called "Frost grapes". I think their species is called Vitis vulpes". The Latin for fox is Vulpes vulpes, so I guess that translates to "fox grape". Many people use fox grape to refer to many species of wild grapes, but it seems that winter or frost grapes are the real dox grapes.
Professor
Senior Member
I do find those seeds in little clusters and figured they were left after the scat had washed away. This scat was not that old. It wasn't there a week earlier.
Doug B.
Senior Member
Those grapes may be a species of fox grape, of that I'm not sure. The only fox grapes I know of are about the size of muscadines but grow in a cluster similar to Concord grapes. The Latin name is vitis labrusca I think. They are delicious. They make great jelly, juice, wine, etc. They are usually ripe from late August to mid September.
Doug B.
Senior Member
The fox grapes grow around creeks or damp places. It is not uncommon to find what we call fall grapes ( the picture from op) up higher on the side of dry ridges. They are probably about all gone now. You don't usually see them any later in the year. Grouse really like to eat them!
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