Osage orange

[MaxMO]

Hello. New to the forum. Hoping to get advice and learn from people that know more than I do...

I have 40 acres in Missouri. Seems like at least 75% of it is cedar and Osage orange. I have a plan for the cedar, but I was wondering if there are benefits to keeping a lot of the Osage orange around? Would they be a good tree to use as hinge cut in bedding areas? Do deer browse on the leaves? I'm not a big fan of hinge cut, but if it's beneficial I'm open to it. If I cut some down, but allow the stumps to sprout back, will the new growth be good browse?

I plan to do some timber stand improvement and open up the canopy. This property gets some decent buck movement through it during the season, just trying to keep them hanging around more. Thanks for any advice.

 

[George]

deer eat the fruits that fall on the ground.

G

 

[Mennoniteman]

Hello. New to the forum. Hoping to get advice and learn from people that know more than I do...

I have 40 acres in Missouri. Seems like at least 75% of it is cedar and Osage orange. I have a plan for the cedar, but I was wondering if there are benefits to keeping a lot of the Osage orange around? Would they be a good tree to use as hinge cut in bedding areas? Do deer browse on the leaves? I'm not a big fan of hinge cut, but if it's beneficial I'm open to it. If I cut some down, but allow the stumps to sprout back, will the new growth be good browse?

I plan to do some timber stand improvement and open up the canopy. This property gets some decent buck movement through it during the season, just trying to keep them hanging around more. Thanks for any advice.

I like to hear the term "Timber Stand Improvement", this is about number one in deer habitat management.
I don't know much about Osage Orange, but you could research "random clusters" by @dogghr, I like this concept, it gives you a little bit of everything, mixed randomly throughout an area.

 

[gurgalunas]

Osage orange wood is very hard, and makes great fence posts. It is very slow to rot. I know guys that cut posts, sell locally and make good money. The thorns are painful if you get into them.

If you cut trees and make brush piles, they will be there longer than you will. And don't cut to burn in your fireplace- it burns too hot. Good for fish structure, bunny brushpiles. The stumps make good spots to put mineral sites. The critters will work on them forever after the site gets established.

All low-hanging branches show browse on the few trees on my place, and seem to be preferred. They are generally considered a nuisance tree in the natural landscape due to their wide branching canopy. They take up a lot of real estate, crowding out other vegetation.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Osage orange wood is very hard, and makes great fence posts. It is very slow to rot. I know guys that cut posts, sell locally and make good money. The thorns are painful if you get into them.

If you cut trees and make brush piles, they will be there longer than you will. And don't cut to burn in your fireplace- it burns too hot. Good for fish structure, bunny brushpiles. The stumps make good spots to put mineral sites. The critters will work on them forever after the site gets established.

All low-hanging branches show browse on the few trees on my place, and seem to be preferred. They are generally considered a nuisance tree in the natural landscape due to their wide branching canopy. They take up a lot of real estate, crowding out other vegetation.

They sound a lot like our black locust here in the east, except black locust is poisonous to wildlife.

 

[catscratch]

Deer love their leafs and browse the twigs. I've stump cut plenty of them. They'll regrow from the stump forever and provide for the deer.

I only use OO for the fireplace. It burns long and hot.

They are related to mulberry and can be grafted to Che. It's an interesting fruit.

No pests.

Great tree to have around, but don't let it be the only tree you have around.

 

[MaxMO]

Thanks for all the replies. They do cover a lot of the landscape. That's why I'd like to take some out and open up the canopy and get some undergrowth for bedding. I wont take them all out, sounds like they can be sort of a benefit to have. I'll keep all the wood for firewood for our outside firepit.

 

[catscratch]

What's the surrounding land like, is it mostly cedars and hedge also? Or are you an island of trees in a giant pasture?

Do you intend to replace what you cut down with other trees, or are you making clearings to let the sun hit the ground and get grasses/forbs to grow?

I've hinged hedge trees before. Didn't seem to help anything at all. I do prefer to just cut the tree down and let the stump sprout. That can make quite the mess in a few years though.

 

[KSQ2]

Osage orange wood is very hard, and makes great fence posts. It is very slow to rot. I know guys that cut posts, sell locally and make good money. The thorns are painful if you get into them.

If you cut trees and make brush piles, they will be there longer than you will. And don't cut to burn in your fireplace- it burns too hot. Good for fish structure, bunny brushpiles. The stumps make good spots to put mineral sites. The critters will work on them forever after the site gets established.

All low-hanging branches show browse on the few trees on my place, and seem to be preferred. They are generally considered a nuisance tree in the natural landscape due to their wide branching canopy. They take up a lot of real estate, crowding out other vegetation.

Actually hedge is THE favorite firewood here in eastern Kansas; I have several trees down and ready to cut for firewood in the next couple months, have to let it season at least a year though, which I have on these. Deer eat the leaves, and they will browse on it some as well. I like hedge, but I like oaks a LOT more.

 

[gurgalunas]

Actually hedge is THE favorite firewood here in eastern Kansas; I have several trees down and ready to cut for firewood in the next couple months, have to let it season at least a year though, which I have on these. Deer eat the leaves, and they will browse on it some as well. I like hedge, but I like oaks a LOT more.

I guess my comment was based on advice given by a fireplace installer. His opinion was that the amount of heat generated by the hedge was dangerous, in terms of being more than a fireplace was designed for. I have no knowledge myself of the fireplace ratings/BTU potential of hedge, but have always just used the wood in the firepit instead of fireplace.

 

[MaxMO]

Actually hedge is THE favorite firewood here in eastern Kansas; I have several trees down and ready to cut for firewood in the next couple months, have to let it season at least a year though, which I have on these. Deer eat the leaves, and they will browse on it some as well. I like hedge, but I like oaks a LOT more.

What's the surrounding land like, is it mostly cedars and hedge also? Or are you an island of trees in a giant pasture?

Do you intend to replace what you cut down with other trees, or are you making clearings to let the sun hit the ground and get grasses/forbs to grow?

I've hinged hedge trees before. Didn't seem to help anything at all. I do prefer to just cut the tree down and let the stump sprout. That can make quite the mess in a few years though.

I have about 35 acres of a 100-150 acre patch of woods surrounded by pasture. Wouldnt say all of it is osage and cedars, but a lot of it is. Quite a bit of black walnut also. Not as many oaks as I would like to see, but did fine 4 or 5 oaks that are pretty large on my 40. Trunks around 2-3 ft wide at least. First thing I want to do is thin out around those trees to take out the competing trees.

I plan to plant some oaks and other hard woods as part of my management plan, but thats more for my kids/grandkids to enjoy as part of the long game. I think I might just stump a few and allow them to stump sprout and kill off the rest. Main idea is to encourage grasses and forbes to grow.

 

[catscratch]

Tricky situation in my opinion. 35 acres in a patch of 150 that's all the same... why would they come to your patch specifically? The simple solution is to make your patch more attractive, but doing that is going to cause a lot of activity that may make your patch unattractive for a while. Are you ok with creating a disturbance that may spook them off for a while?

I love the "releasing oaks" part of your plan!

Also like stump cutting. This will give you more deer height cover and deer height food.

I'm also fond of a patchwork of grasses and trails in the trees.

 

[gut_pile]

osage makes a great turkey call

 

[yoderjac]

Tricky situation in my opinion. 35 acres in a patch of 150 that's all the same... why would they come to your patch specifically? The simple solution is to make your patch more attractive, but doing that is going to cause a lot of activity that may make your patch unattractive for a while. Are you ok with creating a disturbance that may spook them off for a while?

I love the "releasing oaks" part of your plan!

Also like stump cutting. This will give you more deer height cover and deer height food.

I'm also fond of a patchwork of grasses and trails in the trees.

You are right about disturbance affecting deer. We have a pine farm and recently did a heavy thinning. The farm is just under 400 acres. On average we take about 10 deer a year off the farm. Last year after the thinning, we took exactly 1 doe off the property. Hunter observations were very low. This year, I personally already took 2 mature does and we are still in archery season. Muzzleloader season starts Monday. A third deer has been taken during archery. I had very few hunts were I did not see deer this year.

Habitat improvements are great in the long run, but that can make deer harder to hunt as well. If a habitat improvement, like a clear-cut, creates food in cover, deer can react more to hunting pressure. It doesn't take much pressure for them to stay in cover and eat during shooting hours. As the clear-cut matures it looses food value. Deer still use it for cover, but need to move out to find acorns and other food sources.

 

[buckdeer1]

I know they will browse the leaves but if they eat much of the hedge balls you better look at your food in the area as it's lacking.I have seen them pick at it after they freeze and start to fall apart.I bet if you offer free firewood or cut post you will get rid of most of the OO and burn the piles.I would check the soils with cedars and hedge both wanting to grow there and see what the tests show.