Deer eating cactus?

Saw this picture this morning from one of my cameras. Couldn’t figure out what this deer had in it’s mouth but it is cactus. Guessing it is eating it because of the water in the bottom part near where the roots would have been? Anyone ever seen this before?





This is the type of cactus it has in its mouth.

I don't believe that is cactus. And yes they eat it. Only time I see deer eating cactus is in the winter when there is nothing else green.

If you look close in the second pic you can see the small spines on it. I trimmed some of that back inside the feed pen under the feeder on the right. If it isn’t cactus idk what the heck it is then.

Yucca

Looks like yucca to me. Deer eat cactus (prickly pear, tasajillo, etc.) year round due to the high water content and high levels of carbohydrate. But, never seen one eating yucca (although yucca blooms are highly desired by deer and pronghorn as well).

I used the word cactus loosely but yes it looks like yucca after doing some searching online. Thanks for the replies. Interesting creatures that are pretty adaptive.

Neat pics. Never seen one eats yucca...

It's eating Sotol.

Yep, and it is also used in making Tequila and mescal...

Guess that’s common?

We hunted Ft Stockton, Bakersfield, in 60s n 70s and used to break em up at bases to attract deer. I was young and can’t remember exactly what we did but it worked.

I have only seen them eat prickly pears. One year I had a buck standing in the middle of a big cactus patch, he was eating away at the prickly pears. He was there for 30 minutes eating like a pig.

We cut one down in the pen, guessing that is the one that he is eating. May cut a few more down and see what happens.

During drought periods we would burn the stickers off the prickly pear and deer would eat it

I watched a spike eating cactus one day, when the feeders were fairly close by. You could see the drool coming out as he chewed and he looked uncomfortable to me, but he ate several pieces.

They eat quite a bit of it in late winter, it is not uncommon to see a deer carrying around a patty or so with them. Several years ago we had a grass/brush fire and the hogs/deer etc. hit the cactus really hard, enough to kill much of it. Not sure if it was because the thorns were burned off or if it was jus the only thing left to eat till new growth came back.

Used to see mule deer chewing on it all the time years ago when I used to hunt around Sanderson.

yep, looks like Sotol ... Dasylirion texanum of the Agavaceae family ... Sotol

all over around our place SW from Ozona, I've busted a few up driving to feeder/stand locations, and the cattle (and feral horses) seem to work them over once busted apart, I would suspect deer would too

Back years ago when I hunted Mule Deer with some friends on a lease north of Sanderson, they would take a machete and cut down Sotol and the mule deer were on it within hours. It was a great attractant for mule deer and whitetails out there. My first mule deer buck I killed was bedded with a doe in a spot were they had cut/chopped up the sotol. The lease I am on now has very little sotol but you can see where it has been eaten on in the past by either livestock or mule deer during the drier times.
CKWRI has done studies in South Texas on just how much cactus plays a role in a deer diet. In some areas it can 45% of a post rut bucks diet or all deer in late summer. Those two periods were key no matter how wet or dry it was. I have watched buck eating cactus pads during a month long rainy spell were we had 9" of rain. Also watched them eat it during Jan/Feb in a drier time. They really like the fruit or tunas also. Even seen a buck eating Tasajillo fruits last fall.

Thank you. Beat me to it. Sotol has a bulb under it that can be cooked. Native Americans used to eat it.

Tasajillo is a cool plant. It's also called Christmas cactus. What's cool is that the spines have a very fine sheath on them that when one gets into you the sheath comes off and frequently gets into the wound.

That is a well watered Tosajillo plant. The ones in western Val Verde county take a long time to get that tall and full.

Neat pics....thanks for posting them..

We called it Turkey Pear or Christmas Cactus also. That ranch had gotten a lot rain in the 60 days before I took those photos....14" in September alone.

Beat me to it! I made a really nice super light weight and strong walking stick out of the stalk of one.

The buck has sotol in its mouth, but the whole plant picture you posted isn't sotol. Sotol has the saw-tooth along the leaf.

I was on a lease for a short time that the guys would dig sotol up and throw them in the feed pens. Deer love the roots, as stated above.

Having looked at deep Indian grind holes in rocks south of Marathon, and had yucca burn pits pointed out to me on my property, I've come to the conclusion that, unless you killed something, life sucked to be a Native American in central and west Texas.

Thanks. I pulled a picture from online before I knew exactly what plant I was looking at but you are right it isn't sotol.

Shot a deer on a lease near Cotulla years ago and when I went to start cleaning him I noticed that there were several prickly pear spikes in and around his mouth.
And it wasn't a dry year so it wasn't like he had to be eating it.

Cattle will do the same thing. Protein content can get upwards of 10%. Prescribed fire and grazing can do a number on pear.