What diameter hickory

[bentstick54]

I have a few hickory’s growing along the creek where I deer hunt. I would like to locate one for cutting next spring, and was wondering what size diameter most of you selfbowyers prefer. My only experience so far has been with Osage, and I have used trees from 8” to 12”, reason being is that is as big as I can handle by myself. Will an 8” straight hickory have a realistically chance to quarter into 4 workable staves?

[Morgan]

Yes. If it splits clean, You could get more but won’t know till it is down and split. Most of the staves in my shop are from 8-10” trees and all were quartered.

[Pat B]

Anything 2" and up. 8" to 10" will give you a flatter back. You could probably get 6 staves from an 8" tree but like Morgan said it will depend on how it splits. If the trees are straight and without spiral growth you could bandsaw out the staves.

[bentstick54]

I won’t be able to hunt this weekend, but hope to get out the following weekend. I’ve got 2 trees I believe to be hickory that I spotted when hanging my stands Labor Day weekend. They both look as straight as a fence post from a distance, so definetly worth a closer look. I will try to get some pictures of bark and leaves before they fall, to verify they are hickory, and what type.

[H Rhodes]

Debarking will be a pain now.  I would cut it in the spring after the bark turns loose.

[bentstick54]

Yeah, that’s my plan. Just want to locate a couple of potential trees while I am there during this deer season. Then I will know where to go come spring, and how much work I will be in for to get the logs out.