This is what Tim Baker has said about cherry.
"CHERRY, black .50. Diffuse-porous. Grows tall and straight. A “bright” wood, taking little set, and probably having less hysterisis/returning less sluggishly than any other common bowwood. Cherry is so light and brash it’s almost too touchy for bow wood, but once made, a cherry bow is unusually sweet and fast shooting. If the stave tree was smaller than about 5” in diameter or bow limbs wider than 2” it’s best to decrown. A thin, properly applied rawhide backing makes cherry as safe as any unbacked wood. On the other hand, Paul Rodgers, a nearby bowmaking friend, made a lumberyard board bow, about 64” by about 1 ˝”, about 55lb at 28”. It’s still shooting after several years of use, still surprisingly straight-limbed and fast. This bow represents the good extreme. Sapwood takes more set in compression than heartwood. "
But it has to be dry, remember it takes roughly a year per inch to dry. Less time of course if you rough out a stave to near bow dimensions, but we're still talking months. The best way to tell is to monitor the weight, when the weight stabilizes it's dry, even then keeping it in a hot box will maintain good MC.
