Palmettoes are they a Blessing or the Devil

[Kip]

One of the hunting areas I have to hunt the ground cover is covered with palmettoes here is a ground view.
 
Here is a treestand view
 
Now lots of times deer eyes will be blocked by the large fans so you can get away with a little movement and if you make a good shot you also get very good blood trails like this one.
 
 
and success
 
But the devil kicks in if you make a bad shot unless you fool the devil and have a dog.
I would never have found this deer without the dog.He was so proud.
 
I guess the moral of this story is make good shots if you screw up keep looking and maybe have a dog or friend with one.Kip

[Florida lime]

I would love to have palmettos that sparce - they are usually too thick to get through around here !  

Bad shots present tough tracking, no matter what the flora!

Dang, I feel kinda like "Friend" just typed that!                      

Bisch

[awbowman]

Nice job Kip!  Sometimes you just have to hunt them where they are traveling.

[LA Trapper]

Great pictures Kip.  Hunting those coonazz palm trees are tough.

[fmscan]

Kip, that looks so alien to our woods up north, nice that you and your buddy teamed up to recover the deer....nice memory and job!

[wapiti792]

Way to Kip!!!!! Way to go pooch

[ChuckC]

Bisch. . .          
ChuckC

[SheltonCreeker]

Good stuff Kip! None to deal with where me and Mike are as you know!

[drewsbow]

nicely done Kip , congrats

[Trooper]

Good job Kip!  Looks like the woods I hunt in.  I'm already looking forward to Oct 1st!!

[ChuckC]

Remember. .  that works both ways.  It also gives the predator a place to hide.
ChuckC

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Congrats Kip!

[Sam McMichael]

Good shot. I have only hunted in palmetto once with no shot opportunity, but have shot a fair amount of 3D in it. If you are "hiding in the bushes", it can be great. If you are trying to line up a shot, it can be very challenging. Looks like Kip has worked out that little issue.

[D. Key]

You can make a great ground blind with them, too.  Covers both your outline and when the wind blows, covers any sound you might make, especially when they are dried.

Great pics. BTW...

[Charlie Lamb]

   

[hawkeye n pa]

They are very hard to sneak through on a calm day.  They make a great blind  and good shade for the hogs.  But after seeing a huge gator on the Savanna River I didn't like not being able to see my backside. Devil.

[JLeMieux]

Sometimes I love them and sometimes I hate them. I love hearing bucks chasing through the palmettos and like you said, they're great when you have a decent blood trail. A lot of times you can pick up the deer's trail from the water splashed onto them as they ran. There's usually no scanning the woods for a white belly though. You could literally be just a few yards from your deer and not know it.

[Basinboy]

We don't have them in the swamp where I hunt. But I have hunted in them. If you ever need a dog my gyp is eager to blood trail. Congrats!