Too Much Prickly Pear?

Can cactus be so thick and so abundant that it discourages the presence of desirable wildlife?

(I mean WT deer, turkey, bobcats, grey fox, etc.)

It can be, but it's not likely that yours is that thick. I thought the same about mine. A member here, who had managed ranges for years, came and looked at it, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. And it is pretty thick.

I agree with Sneaky. Hunted a place West of Sterling city. PP was real thick and tall, if it wasn't a PP there, there was mesquite with small trails to cut through. Quail thick as I have ever seen them, good deer that where fairly well managed and all the varmints that come with it.

The LO did clear many acres in places/pastures for his cattle, but most all the wildlife where in the PP thickets mixed with mesquite and native grasses, or draws full of same..

Rats and rattlesnakes like it.

great habitat for rattle snakes, plus it takes up space where grass might grow

I like that it holds mice and snakes. I'm disappointed that after a year, I still haven't seen a rattler out there.

Any cacti is too much.

I bet humans are more deterred by it than the wildlife! Lol

Prescribed burn every 2–4 years as a means of control....works good on controlling it and cedar too. You will be amazed at how much grass you have after a couple of burns. Also helps reduce the risks of wildfire.

X2

Deer like it...

http://www.tecomate.com/content/index.php/site/comments/what_do_south_texas_deer_eat/

The prickly pear has long been a staple in deer diet. I was at a seminar 20 yrs ago where the guys from CKWRI talked about a study they did in the 80's on the Welder Cameron and Dobie. They found cactus to be 45% of the deer diet during the times of Jan-Feb and late summer(July-Sept) no matter what the range conditions were like. I watched 2 mature bucks eating pear in late October one year aftering having 9" of rain in Sept and October that year with a pretty we summer also. The pear in north Texas is not exactly the same as in South Texas. Deer moved from South Texas up to the North Texas/Hill Country areas will not eat that pear unless you burn it IME.

I've watched deer eat it plenty here in North Tejas. I read where deer can get up to 80% of their water needs from cacti. I'm thinking that was out of A & M.

Our rancher sprayed a product called "Tordon and Reclaim ". It is really good. Cleared up hundreds of acres in two seasons. Even found a couple ancient graves hidden by the cacti. They used helicopters to spray it.

I never even thought about that, thanks.

They also get water from browse and forb plants.

They eat it quite a bit around our place. When it was really dry a few years ago, we saw a doe that carried a broke off branch/couple patties with her. She would carry it to the feeder set it down eat and pick it back up when she left.