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Palmettos anyone?

Sugcain04

Sugcain04

Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2017
Messages
45
I hunt majority public ground in Louisiana and we battle A LOT of palmettos with the majority 5’ or taller. Some are are even clear cuts covered by palmettos... just curious if anyone has to deal with similar conditions and what’s their thought on being consistent.
 
No advice my friend, have only hunted in them a few times and they're tough to hunt in but they hold some big deer.
 
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Never know what’s on the other side of the palmettos


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Ol swampfox...this is when I wish they had a “laugh at image” button!
 
It was Copperhead heaven in there. The big palmettos were spaced apart and you could walk under. The small ones were packed so tight it was hard to walk through, unless you hit a wasp nest in one, then you would fly through them.

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Damn swampsnyper...that last pictures looks awefully familiar...I’d like to stress the awefull part! Them palmettos are bitter sweeet cause I know the caliber of deer they can hold...it’s visually seeing them in there consistently is the problem.
 
Swampfox said:
This is a nest made of palmettos that hogs make when they have piglets

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Click to expand...

That’s the craziest thing I seen the 1st time I walked up on one. Thought aliens made crop circles! Lol
Nothing like having a hog 10ft away popping his jaws at you and you can’t see it. Had that happen one time so I started backing out real easy. Jumped a woodcock and liked to sh*t myself.
 
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swampsnyper said:
That’s the craziest thing I seen the 1st time I walked up on one. Thought aliens made crop circles! Lol
Nothing like having a hog 10ft away popping his jaws at you and you can’t see it. Had that happen one time so I started backing out real easy. Jumped a woodcock and liked to **** myself.
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience on my first time seeing one of these. I had no clue what it was and thinking someone was hiding something under there I had to investigate, as soon as I stepped on the pile piglets ran out and momma came running in. She stopped 10’ from me all the while I was trying to get the gun unslung from across my shoulders. Thankfully she found her litter and I could manage slipping out of there.


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Palmettos can be awesome. They have a berry on them here that deer love. Not every clump will have berries but once ripe every clump that has them will get visited by deer. They are about impossible to navigate without making noise. Probably my least favorite thing about hunting palmettos is there is always a brown palmetto frond that I can barely see part of that I spend half the morning trying to decide if it’s bucks antlers or not. I wouldn’t hunt a large area of palmetto if I only had a short hunt. I almost always move a couple times before I am where I want to be.
 
swampsnyper said:
That’s the craziest thing I seen the 1st time I walked up on one. Thought aliens made crop circles! Lol
Nothing like having a hog 10ft away popping his jaws at you and you can’t see it. Had that happen one time so I started backing out real easy. Jumped a woodcock and liked to **** myself.
Click to expand...

You lucky at having it @ 10ft. I was within 6 ft of one and he was actually growling. All I could see was a black spot in the palmettos which were about 4 ft high. I was looking for a tree just in case but all there was, was a skinny sapling and that would not have been much help. At the same time my hunting partner was slipping through the palmettos he stepped on one and they took off as did the one that was growling at me. Yeah when you get too close they like to pop there jaws if they wind you up close. You never know how they will react.
 
wmahunterfl said:
You lucky at having it @ 10ft. I was within 6 ft of one and he was actually growling. All I could see was a black spot in the palmettos which were about 4 ft high. I was looking for a tree just in case but all there was, was a skinny sapling and that would not have been much help. At the same time my hunting partner was slipping through the palmettos he stepped on one and they took off as did the one that was growling at me. Yeah when you get too close they like to pop there jaws if they wind you up close. You never know how they will react.
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I was walking through a 2-3ft cockerburr field once and almost stepped on one. Took off from under my feet like jumping a rabbit. It was only like a 80#er. Another time I was in the swamp walking some ridges stalking hogs with my recurve. Was walking the side of a briar patch. Up ahead was a huge bore. I could see his teeth from a ways off. He was headed straight to me. I was behind a tree and my shot was head on so I knew that would just piss him off. Then I thought he was gonna walk right up to me and when he notices me he will be startled and run me over. I didn't know what to do except climb the tree at the last minute. As he got to about 10 yards from me, he took the trail to my left to go into the briars. I hurried and made a shot as he walked in and hit him. He took off through the briars and water. Never could find blood or any sign of him in the water. It was a hairy moment!
 
EricS said:
Palmettos can be awesome. They have a berry on them here that deer love. Not every clump will have berries but once ripe every clump that has them will get visited by deer. They are about impossible to navigate without making noise. Probably my least favorite thing about hunting palmettos is there is always a brown palmetto frond that I can barely see part of that I spend half the morning trying to decide if it’s bucks antlers or not. I wouldn’t hunt a large area of palmetto if I only had a short hunt. I almost always move a couple times before I am where I want to be.
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This is good information. Thank you.
 
I typically look for the transition with in the transition of palmettos. You will usually find one if you pay attention. Usually your first transition of palmettos is about knee high to waist high and the second transition is waist high and higher. However, I think when you get to the ones that are over your head its not as good anymore. I posted somewhere on here a few months back about scouting this same scenario and you could almost predict where you would jump bucks from. If you think about it, it makes sense from a bucks perspective. why would you travel completely exposed through belly high palmettos? It would be much more secure to travel with palmettos that were from belly high to head high. Also, I usually find them bedded along small creeks on "knobs" or "bends" when they are in palmettos as this gives them a slight smell, sight and hearing advantage in flat areas.
 
Y
Bogle said:
I typically look for the transition with in the transition of palmettos. You will usually find one if you pay attention. Usually your first transition of palmettos is about knee high to waist high and the second transition is waist high and higher. However, I think when you get to the ones that are over your head its not as good anymore. I posted somewhere on here a few months back about scouting this same scenario and you could almost predict where you would jump bucks from. If you think about it, it makes sense from a bucks perspective. why would you travel completely exposed through belly high palmettos? It would be much more secure to travel with palmettos that were from belly high to head high. Also, I usually find them bedded along small creeks on "knobs" or "bends" when they are in palmettos as this gives them a slight smell, sight and hearing advantage in flat areas.
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Bogle are you a Louisiana hunter or Florida?
 
Deal with palmettos a lot here in N. FL. tend just hunt the edges of the taller ones. I have gone in post season and opened up some pockets to areas that I Knew I wanted to hunt again. Mostly I hunt the drainages or swamps. We have a lot of controlled burning or now trashing to the palmettos to knock them down. One area out at the beach is head high palmettos and blackjack oaks where you can only climb about 10 or 12 ' and shoot through trash can lid size openings in the brush. Hard to hunt , but tons of sign.
 
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