Shagbark hickory is a beast any time of year once it grows big enough to have the shaggy lookin bark. That stuff gets hard as a rock, flip the log/stave upside down and use a hatchet to get of the hard peeling lookin bark and eerything under it should come off easy enough. I use a dull but thick drawblade to strip it off fast. if you wait until may or even june its even easier.