some guys like to cut large trees/staves and let them season for quite a while, or at least it takes quite a while for large staves to dry before making bows. This presumes they can make good choices in tree selection, that will work out well later. There is actually quite a bit of labor in harvesting, splitting, proper stave prep and storage, protection from bugs drying etc. I cut a lot of wood when first starting out that never made the grade once I understood better what I was really looking for. Selection experience comes with making bows.
An alternative approach is to learn how to reduce a smaller stave to near bow dimensions to let it dry faster, and start tillering and learning a month from now. A white wood like hickory may be easier to learn on. Having a friend with 100 acres with osage is something many of us would kill for, and Osage is not the easiest tree to find a workable stave from. If you expect your friends wood will be available as you learn, start small and simple for now. If the land is to be cleared and the wood wasted, that is a different scenario.
if you have phone service at your friends farm, why not post a few pics as you cruise the timber? see what you can find for saplings. what other hardwood species do you expect to find on that old homeplace? overgrowth often produces thickets of saplings clear of branches and large knots, sometimes of invasive type trees that may also be worth looking at. Maybe some other guys on here from the deep south know better what to also look for.
Dont ignore osage deadfalls, as they may have some usable heartwood. whitewood deadfalls usually rot too fast, but again, I am not familiar with the other species you have available.
