Thoughts on Osage orange/hedge

[Btaylor]

Makes a fantastic self bow and my favorite duck call wood period.

 

[catscratch]

Also great to build with. I know a guy with his own mill and he did A LOT of his house in hedge. For as yellow as it starts out, it turns a suprising deep red after a couple of yrs.

 

[OkieKubota]

Makes a fantastic self bow and my favorite duck call wood period.

x2 on the bow wood... I have made several from Osage orange over the years. Here is one I backed with rattlesnake skin...

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[KDdid]

Nice Okiekubota! Here's my best to date-bamboo backed Osage, deflex/reflex, 55lbs at 27". I've taken several deer with it, and it still shoots like new after 16 years.

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[OKbio]

Scratch, you got several bowyers drooling with straight-grained hedge and awesome growth rings. Regarding its use to deer, not sure that its the same in W. Kansas, but don't see why not. Noble Foundation (south central OK) did a pretty significant study a few years back. Having trouble coming up with it now (best I can find has just the summary in it, http://oklaenvirothon.org/pdfs/wildlife/white-tailed-deer.pdf), but they found it one of the highest preference foods and preference was throughout the year (all 4 seasons of collection). Primarily it was from the leaves, crazy protein levels in there. I can vouch, as I've got a food plot in a draw filled with bois-d'arcs and pretty well have to annually trim out limbs that hang over and try to pull me off the tractor. When stacked in a location that our cows (longhorns) can get to them they will stand around the pile, stretch their tongues out and pull leaves off the cut branches.

 

[OkieKubota]

Scratch, you got several bowyers drooling with straight-grained hedge and awesome growth rings. Regarding its use to deer, not sure that its the same in W. Kansas, but don't see why not. Noble Foundation (south central OK) did a pretty significant study a few years back. Having trouble coming up with it now (best I can find has just the summary in it, http://oklaenvirothon.org/pdfs/wildlife/white-tailed-deer.pdf), but they found it one of the highest preference foods and preference was throughout the year (all 4 seasons of collection). Primarily it was from the leaves, crazy protein levels in there. I can vouch, as I've got a food plot in a draw filled with bois-d'arcs and pretty well have to annually trim out limbs that hang over and try to pull me off the tractor. When stacked in a location that our cows (longhorns) can get to them they will stand around the pile, stretch their tongues out and pull leaves off the cut branches.

Deer certainly like those leaves too...the browse line behind these deer on Home 25 is all deer

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[Prairiesneak]

Around here Osage is about the most preferred woody browse along with mulberry. I hinge individual limbs on mine to keep some growth within reach for them.

 

[T-Max]

An old timer around here said if you want to grow osage orange all you have to do is cut a hedge apple into quarters and bury a quarter a couple inches deep. Never tried it, but if you can get one started, you can't hardly kill it. When we put a stand in osage orange, we treat any limbs we cut with Tordon. It never kills the tree, but keeps suckers from forming at the cut.