# willard bay dog training area...



## Sprig Kennels (Jan 13, 2009)

Does anybody know if the large and ever growing stands of cactus out on the willard bay dog training area are there for some kind of wildlife habitat reason or just a bunch of wild growing cactus? if they are just wild, maybe a good project would be to get a group together and get those things out of there. it has been a couple of years since i have been down there and have always seen one or two but those things have exploded and now are a nuisance when you are picking them out of a dog's feet and legs because they have really taken off and started to spread


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## Bret (Sep 7, 2007)

I like having some of them there so the dogs learn to avoid cactus, but that's just me. Then by the time we are actually in the field I am not having to pick cactus thorns out of them all the time. There are a lot though for sure.


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## tshuntin (Jul 13, 2008)

My experience from the early spring was it was no worse than previous years. I have not trained there really at all this summer.

Sounds like we have a volunteer to head up a project out there. Cool!


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## Sprig Kennels (Jan 13, 2009)

travis, you really cant seem them from the road or where we would normally run a lab. i only saw them while running a shorthair and was out in the middle of the place about halfway from the road and the south fence. I have never seen that many there before but normally running a retriever i would never walk out that far but i did have a chocolate lab get covered in them the other day when their owners let them go for a free run for a bit, which is how i found them. for labs i guess it isnt as big a deal as you can change the mark or blind but for a free running dog like a pointer it can be an issue with how many there are.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

Hmmm, I was out there quite a bit this spring/summer and never picked a single thorn out of a dogs paw. May be Zeb is just good at avoiding them. (i doubt it) or may be I just didnt notice them. Interesting...


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## Sprig Kennels (Jan 13, 2009)

they arent all over the entire place but pretty thick however in certain places i have seen. the one place i saw the worst was about 2/3 the way to the west end out from the road about 250 yards.


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## Bret (Sep 7, 2007)

That is by far the worse of it.


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## Sprig Kennels (Jan 13, 2009)

i think the problem is it will just keep growing and spreading and will become an even bigger problem down the road....kind of like the phrag problem we have on many of our WMA's


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## tshuntin (Jul 13, 2008)

I have ran marks this spring starting anywhere from the fence out a couple hundred yards from the fence going a couple hundred yards and again, from where I was, I didn't notice it any worse. Hope it is not. 

So what is your plan to whipe them out and keep the cactus from spreading? I am sure there would be people that are interested in helping.


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## Bret (Sep 7, 2007)

Lets not wipe them out completely. Cacti are a problem bird dogs have to learn to deal with. Reducing them? OK. But wipe them out? Why not have them deal with it in the training area instead of being full of thorns on your hunting trips. I use that cactus area to run my young dogs in sometimes. They learn quick out there to avoid the cacti, and I'm not spending time pulling thorns out when I should be trying to get over the hill to pin birds below us. I can see how sending retrievers on a hard charging retrieve through that area would suck, but I train my setters there twice a week all off season too.

I would be happy to help with a project to reduce,but not to wipe out. The project would have to be after hunting season though. I trained all spring and summer its time to hunt right now.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

If you wanna teach a dog about cacti just go down to AZ for a week and hunt quail. That's a crash course in Cacti 101!


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## Bret (Sep 7, 2007)

or..... I can just train at willard training area.lol It is a lot cheaper. You can also hunt a couple of seasons over a dog pulling thorns out, but it is nice to train in the situation you hunt in.


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## birdboy (Sep 11, 2007)

I know the area that you are talking about. I do not think it has spread any more this year then it was in the last 3 or 4. I would leave them and not worry about it, but I am just a retriever guy...


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