Scott, the topic starter is asking for
young osage saplings, not big trees. Hence, that topic is pretty useless for him, although it has really nice pictures
An osage sapling is best identified by its leaves. In winter, you need to identify based on the twigs and buds, which can be really difficult. Here are a few pictures taken from the internet of osage branches with
good identification characteristics. A picture of an entire osage tree is useless to ID a young sapling in winter. Focus on the young bark, leaves, spines and buds.