Here's a question for the botanists in the bunch. While goose hunting today I noticed a very odd looking fruit tree in the gull

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

I was thinking maybe hawthorn but couldn't find any variety that looks quite like this one. Its fruit seems to be twice if not three times the size of any hawthorn I have seen. I have hunted another hedgerow further up the valley that definitely has hawthorn shrubs along with chokecherry, Saskatoon berries, wild currents, a few blueberry bushes, and tons of raspberries. Quite the cornucopia.

Bubba, the sloe is dark colored well before it loses its leaves whereas this thing has bright red (almost iridescent) fruit when almost no leaves are left on it.

[Longrifle]

OH, If you are pretty sure it is not a Hawthorn, of which there are many varieties, I would venture to say it is in fact a crab apple. There are also many species of crab apple and the wild ones here are thorny. Saw some online that look to be in clusters. Another possibility would be some type of wild plum or even wild pear. I get wild crab apple in overgrown pastures that are real thorny, but don't fruit in clumps. The fruit is yellow and the size of a bantam egg. This reminds me I once shot a buck in bow season that was full of dark red crab apples about an inch in diameter. I might revise my guess to crab apple first, hawthorn second, plum third. Or plum, crab apple, hawthorn?

The hedgerow you mention sounds like just the place to get the side dressings for cooking or glazing your goose!

[bruisedsausage]

Well the fact that you're still typing means it probably wasn't yew tree berries. j/k

Sounds to me like a hawthorn of some type? but without seeing it...well it's just hard to armchair.

Could also be a crab apple as those have thorns sometimes too.

[habben97]

hey Ontario, as a rule I don't go around eating unidentified fruit. good way to get sick or worse.

[Carl Huber]

OH I think you're wrong as far as Crab Apples go. True the many apple trees in North America are transplants. But the Crab Apple was indigenous.

[Carl Huber]

PS; Another aspect of Apple Trees. They for the most part are not propagated through seed. Rather cross pollination and finally grafting from a host to root stock.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Interesting. I have never seen a thorny crabapple tree. The fruit clumps make me think it is a hawthorn of some sort but the size of fruit would very large for one of those. I'll take the real camera out in the next day or two and get some more photos. First time hitting that field this year (actually spotted that tree two years ago) and it's hot for geese right now. Only shot two yesterday but that was plenty. Lots of them were landing out in the middle. I pulled the decoys in close to the edge because I really didn't want to get loaded up. Freezer is already packed. Beautiful morning and I was more interested in watching the birds and checking out that tree. Only wasted one shell. I passed on a ton of 40 yard shots.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Carl, you are correct ... sort of. The Oregon crab apple is native to the West Coast all the way to Aleutian Islands. And its fruit grows in clumps! But the fruit of my mystery tree is more rounded and "apple" shaped whereas the Oregon crab fruit is elongated and almost plum shaped. Also, the Oregon crab doesn't appear to have thorns.

The mystery tree has fruit tree-like leaves whereas I believe the hawthorn has lobed leaves. This tree was clearly seeded naturally and not cultivated. Perhaps it is a new variety. The first Macintosh apple was also discovered growing wild (in Canada!). Interesting that a chunk of the trunk from that first tree was rediscovered a few years ago. They are doing DNA analysis to see how much variation if any has occurred in the species since its creation.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Rocky, if I wanted to read a book or look something up in an encyclopedia, I would stay at home. I get out in the bush to get away from civilization, not drag it along with me in my pocket. I carry my flip phone to report poachers/MVAs, etc. and to take any emergency message from family. Can't remember when someone last called me in the fields ... and the coverage is better out there than it is at home in town. I have the dogs to keep me occupied when I'm hunting. They're a lot more personable and entertaining than some battery powered piece of plastic technocrap.

[Carl Huber]

OH I believe I may have solved your post. Like I said previously my Mom used it as an additive to jams & jellies for it's pectin. She called it Hagebuten. I goggled it and it is Rose Hips. It matches your description. Thorny tree, apple shaped fruit with fuzzy seeds.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Not a rose bush. I have several of those in my front yard too. This is a tree, not a bush.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Not a rose bush. I have several of those in my front yard too. This is a tree, not a bush.

[Carl Huber]

OH this is a tree not a Rose Bush. Goggle it and see if it looks familiar.

[mspl8sdcntryboy]

OHH I looked up the RoseHip tree and found out that the berries have tannin in them, which might be the reason for their pucker ability, much like acorns.

www.akuna.net/picture/Canada_WEB/PDFs/ROSEHIP.pdf

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagebutte
Sorry for the German in the second link but I couldn't find it in English. Maybe the pictures will help though.

[mspl8sdcntryboy]

I guess you will have to "copy-paste" the second link.