Maybe Virginia Creeper. Can you provide a picture of the plant they were on?

No, not a creeper. A small tree/shrub. Leaves are all gone so nothing to show.

Could it be Cornus alternifolia? aka Pagoda dogwood.

Branches are straight and not alternate. I thought it was Aronia, but the red stems are wrong. Maybe another dogwood? There are nice Grey Dogwoods nearby but they have white berries.

Even without leaves pictures of twigs and the shrub would help. Are you quite sure there wasn't a leafless vine climbing the bush?

The berries, the red stems and the form really do look exactly like VC.

Ok, ok. I'll go get another pic.

I should know better than to battle wits with Flora. She's always right!

How could I miss those creepy things.

😉 I spy a tendril too.

Looks like Virginia creeper to me as well - stems at the base can become quite thick and woody with age

The only Cornus I know of that has blue berries with red stems is Cornus amomum or 'Silky Dogwood', quite common around my old place in the country.

The blueness of the berries and redness of the stems can vary according to time of year and maturity.

But that last picture does have that VC (bent vines) look to it.

I'm not sure why there's still any doubt. The Virginia Creeper vine with berries attached and complete with tendrils is clear in the second, confirmatory picture.

Let me throw some more confusion into the pot.

It isn't Virginia Creeper after all as it isn't present in my county.

From Mn wildflowers,

Parthenocissus inserta (Woodbine)

You could have fooled me as I always thought I had VC on my property. Now I have to try to remember a new name. But Flo still gets the credit!

https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/shrub/woodbine

dandy, VC is not in my county either.

So, I've been seeing Parthenocissus inserta all these years and blindly thought it was Parthenocissus quinquefolia?

Of course, the only place I ever saw it was when it was crawling up a 40 ft. jack pine and generally in the wintertime. I must confess, I really never paid much attention to it back then.

Thanks floral!

Dandy, there is Virginia Creeper in your county. There is also Parthenocissus inserta and P. tricuspidata. They may have similar red stems in autumn?

Jay,

Parthenocissus tricuspidata, I believe, is not native to MN.

I have seen Parthenocissus sp. growing here in town on chain link fences and in trees along the cemetery.

I'll have to take a closer look next time I get a chance.

Parthenocissus tricuspidata is an invasive that's native to east Asia, and there's a bunch of it in Minnesota. Japanese Creeper. Most of it is located around Minneapolis, Rochester, St. Cloud and Duluth. There are no observations in Dandy's county, so we can rule it out.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=38&taxon_id=166162

Maybe look around the bush on the ground. There may be fallen leaves which could help.

From the minnesotawildflowers link...

"Also known as: Grape-woodbine, Thicket Creeper, Virginia Creeper"

?

Common names of a plant are never reliable.

I cannot add to the identification but while reading this discussion I found a write-up that had very pretty illustrations in helping determine: What’s the difference between Virginia creeper and False Virginia creeper?

https://lizzieharper.co.uk/2019/04/whats-the-difference-between-virginia-creeper-and-false-virginia-creeper/