Irrational Foot Fear?

[Still Hunter]

Nothing like some South Texas Prickly Pear Cactus! Been around it all my life. Jumped in a cactus tree of this stuff to get away from some really angry bunch of Javelina after I stuck one with an arrow.
Buddies had to help me get out of it and were laughing hard at first. Just getting the jeans and the shirt off was
quite an ordeal. Crazy how all the deer and the cattle just keep right on trucking with it stuck all over them. You skin a south Texas Buck and there are red cactus needles all throughout their bodies. Tough animals!

My wife was still picking that stuff out of me 10 days later.

Good Leather boots in Cactus country.

 

[Mturney]

I was walking down a trail before daylight in the Texas panhandle early last fall and felt a pain in the side of my foot. I was very relieved when I looked down and saw a prickly pear in the headlamp light. I thought I had been bit by a snake. I pulled off my boot and removed the needle and then carried on.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Much more concerned with catching a cholla to the face/eyes hiking in the dark. I've never had an issue with it going through boots but wear heavier synthetic or leather.

 

[Dos Perros]

That cholla is worse, agreed.

 

[GotDraw?]

My brother and I have a saying when we're exhausted late in the hunt-

"I'm so tired I could sleep on a cactus!"

JL

 

[wapitibob]

Thinking leather is going to stop a cactus spine that hits a boot just right is pretty funny. I've seen them got thru thick plastic knee pads like butter.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Thinking leather is going to stop a cactus spine that hits a boot just right is pretty funny. I've seen them got thru thick plastic knee pads like butter.

Never had a cactus spine get through any of my Kenetreks.

 

[S-3 ranch]

Thinking leather is going to stop a cactus spine that hits a boot just right is pretty funny. I've seen them got thru thick plastic knee pads like butter.

I have been wading through cactus for 30+ years in some chipawaa boots
never had a thorn come through, Jim Green and redwing leather boots same thing

 

[Next Ridge]

I bought a pair of non-leather boots once, never again

 

[nphunter]

I’ve had to pack my dogs more than once over the years from them getting hung in a prickly pear. Had one walker get one in his foot and then bit it off and had it stuck in his mouth, had to hold him down and reach in and grab it quick in my fist before he ended up swallowing, needless to say that one hurt us both.

 

[def90]

Okay guys, this may sound ridiculous, but is anybody besides me also concerned about cactus going through their boots and annihilating their feet?

I've hunted in NC, AL, and AK, and have never had to deal with cactus like when pronghorn hunting here in CO. I dont know if I'm being irrational or not, but every night when I take my boots off, I spend 45 minutes pulling iron-like cactus spikes out of my boots with tweezers out of concern for both my feet and longevity of my boots.

I've spent a good amount of time hunting an area in SE Colorado where I have counted a dozen different types of cactii. The most prevalent being the stuff that just grows along the ground in mass and is impossible to walk more than a few steps without stepping on it. I wear Scarpa Zodiac Plus boots and have never had a cactus thorn penetrate my boots. My hunting pants on the otherhand..

 

[Oilfieldmiller]

Been on a few hunts in cactus country near Sonora, TX. Both times I’ve had cacti needles penetrate the outside edge of my Danners (in leather portion) and into my foot. I now carry a leatherman while hunting there to make it easier to pull out. Doubt if they would do the same with my kenetreks though.


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[grfox92]

Kenetreks will solve that problem. I step right on them all the time. Not on purpose but if your hustling through sage brush you are going to step on them.

I've only been hit by them when wearing sneakers. Never with leather boots. And simply because of cactus, I won't wear light hikers antelope hunting.

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[WBrim]

Good boots will help, but still not irrational to be concerned. Foot pain drives me crazy.

 

[Formidilosus]

People worried about cactus and thorn puctures really out to look at Courtney Boots with the tire tread sole.

I used these in the worst place I’ve personally been for thorn punctures- multiple sole punctures in nearly all boots in a few hundred yard walk, and for 5 years how have not gotten a single sole or side puncture. Not that a side puncture in the leather can’t happen, but with the double leather (Cape buffalo and impala), it hasn’t happened. Short of a full weight plant on a 16d mail, I don’t see anything getting through the sole.





For just standard cactus the Vivo Tracker Forest ESC’s have done very well for a few years of antelope country with no full punctures in sole or sides-

 

[trophyhill]

Foot problems can undoubtedly ruin a hunt! And fast! Cactus is not something i worry too much about though. I've hunted mule deer and quail a bunch here in NM and occasionslly AZ, and its all cactus country. The key for me is watching where I'm stepping for the most part. And this has got me busted by big mulies more than once! Looking down and ahead of you at the same time is tough. And on occasion when i do step on or thru them, my Meindl's have proven just as effective in the desert as they have in the elk woods. When hunting deer i am much more aware because i do alot of crawling thru that crap and have had plenty of cactus in my hands, forearms and legs which also is not fun but I'm able to power thru it and take the pain. Number 1 for me is my boots in a cactus scenario.....

 

[PurpleDriver]

Crispi gtx has kept my feet cactus and other massive thorns free for the last 5 years. Always tried to hunt in lighter boots and finally gave in for the reasons you mention.

 

[PA Bruce]

Get leather boots.

I agree, never had problems with leather boots