Huckleberry secrets revealed

MADISON COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI) - We traveled to a undisclosed location because Huckleberry pickers work hard to keep their special locations to themselves. We are nearing the end of the Huckleberry picking season and we did convince Ron Patterson with the University of Idaho Extension office to show us some tips to finding the berries and others to avoid.

Ron tells us, “It takes a lot of work to find your spot so you really don’t want to share it. You can’t keep them from finding it but you are not going to share it.“

He says the best way to find the berries is to work from underneath. "Sometimes when you are walking through you don’t see many berries but if you were to turn that upside down you can see there are a lot of berries underneath those leaves. You need to look from underneath to see the huckleberries."

He says you have to be careful not to be fooled by look a like plants. "You look at these and its got the red berries and some of your huckleberries are kind of a red color but these are actually poisonous berries – you don’t want to eat them." When asked, so you got to know what you are doing then? "That’s right. It’s not for the faint hearted."

Forestry officials remind people to pick Huckleberries by hand and not with rakes or picks that can ruin the plant for future harvesting.