>>2647524When we was kids we learned to break of a few steps of Mule Weed, which was everywhere it seems.
Use the stems with the leafy tops to brush the fruits as they are still attached to the pad.
It doesn't take much brushing and swatting, the sticker spines just fly off with little pressure.
Then we use our fingers to pluck the fruit off the pad easily, no stickers.
Going threw the scrub brush hiking around the desert just barely touching a cactus will fill your legs, arms, hans and clothes full of the tiny needles. We always learned the hard way.
Nowadays I use a small plastic broom i salvaged somewhere and attached to a two foot piece of saguaro rib I had laying around. It works fine for picking cholla buds in spring too.
