Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Eric Krewson on December 20, 2014, 10:11:30 am
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Years ago I noticed this tree across a field and behind a cemetery in Muscle Shoals, I could tell it was huge but never looked at it close up and forgot about it.
A couple of days ago I was in my gym parking lot and saw an the same osage tree I had forgotten about 20 years ago. It was hidden by a row of arborvitae trees but I could catch a glimpse of it through the screen of greenery and decided to check it out.
My first close up look at this tree took my breath away, although there is nothing in the picture to indicate its actual size, it is between 5 and 6 feet in diameter.
I have seen some huge osage trees in my day but this one tops them all. It has been pruned at some time I the past as there are limbs at least 15" in diameter that have been cut off on the top of the tree. These limbs might have been bow quality but it is unlikely that the trunk would be worth fooling with, gnarly in an understatement for its condition.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/osage%20cutting/osagemonster001_zpsa3d44e61.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/ekrewson/media/osage%20cutting/osagemonster001_zpsa3d44e61.jpg.html)
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Very cool. Thanks for posting a picture of it.
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I wonder how old a tree like that is and what stories it could tell?
I remember years ago a guy posted a pic of a big osage like this one that he wanted help to cut down. I think it was even bigger than this one. It was growing between two houses. I don't think he attempted it. Just trying to figure how you would split the butt log once it was on the ground was a dilemma. Someone suggested an exploding wedge made for splitting big tree trunks.
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There is some like that by where my osage patch is, they can get huge.
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Man that thing is a beast. When I was living in southern IL I found 3 of the hugest osage trees I have ever seen on a 100+ year old plantation style farm. The trunks were about that big around but much but much much cleaner and taller straight trunks. I would have never thought they could even be osage if it weren't for the biggest hedge apples I've ever seen occasionally raining down.
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thats a beautiful tree , thanks for posting
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Don't know whether This link will work. But this relates to the famous Osage on George Washington's "River Ranch". Various stories say it was a) a gift from Jefferson to Washington and b) brought back East as a seedling by he Lewis and Clark expedition. Both cannot be true because Washington was dead before the expedition set out. Still, I wonder if I could get permission from the current owner to come in with a Stihl and...
https://www.google.com/search?q=river+farm+osage+orange+tree&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=H66VVMegIIubyAS4pYGYAw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=320&bih=460#facrc=_&imgrc=Ipcymm1RjQHxXM%253A%3BsTbvQu7fy0h64M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fgardenrant.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2012%252F10%252FAHS-osage-orange-Rose-Cooper-Kurt-Bluemel-0922121.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fgardenrant.com%252F2012%252F10%252Fthe-undaunted-and-undented-osage-orange-2.html%3B480%3B640
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Cool tree! I wonder if it is male or female. And if it is female if as tree that age still produces.
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Eric. that sure is a big one. I also saw a big osage in KY at some fort.
Is that the same Muscle Shoals mentioned in the song "Sweet Home Alabama"...Lord I'm comin' home to you...?
Jawge
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Eric. that sure is a big one. I also saw a big osage in KY at some fort.
/quote]
Jawge,
That is one of the coolest osage trees I have ever seen. It is at Fort Harrod in Harrodsburg KY, the first settlement in KY back in the 1700's. If anyone is close to Harrodsburg Ky is worth the time to see it....
DBar
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Yep George one and the same, most of the osage in my stash came from Muscle Shoals.