Question about pokeweed/berry
 

The o'l pokeweed...

It is said to be poisonous to mammals....but yet, The bears in the area destroy the stuff....anyone eversee deer eat it, I never have....If it is poisonous, why do bears like it? More importantly why do some humans still cook the stuff and eat it...I can't image the stock is sogood to risk stomach pains...some thoughts would be great. Any one ever eat it?

RE: Question about pokeweed/berry
 

I know the bears around hear love them.


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RE: Question about pokeweed/berry
 

But I wonder why? If they make animals and humans sick why do bears love them. You would think something that severely up sets the stomach would be avoided. have you ever seen deer eat them?

RE: Question about pokeweed/berry
 

Yes, I have seen deer eat them. In fact I have had wine made from them. Birds love them too.

Might be kinda like Morel mushrooms. They make some people sick too. Others they are a delicacy. I love em.

RE: Question about pokeweed/berry
 

For almost every poisonous plant, it seems there is something that has adapted to being able to consume it. For humans, only the very young leaf shoots are edible. The young leaves can be eaten after cooking them using two changes of water and is still used to make Pole Salat in some places. I would not dare to try it unless I were starving.

RE: Question about pokeweed/berry
 

Ditto Snood...There are plenty ofplants/fungi out there that wild animals eat (e.g. deer and pokeweed, squirrels andmushrooms) that humans should avoid.

-fsh

RE: Question about pokeweed/berry
 

I've eaten the pokeweed shoots that come up in the spring. They are delicious. Get them before the red starts showing up, then it may be poisonous to humans. I've heard that it's not poisonous to deer. They definitaly eat it.

RE: Question about pokeweed/berry
 

All I really know about that stuff is, if you get the juice from those berry's on your clothes, you wont get it out. It stains like hell![:@]

RE: Question about pokeweed/berry
 

My wife got her first deer last year, a doe, and her stomach was full of 'em (the doe, not my wife).