I've cut a dead standing osage before and made a couple killer bows out of it so far..still got a couple staves left of it....in my area the only dead standing wood id harvest is osage n black locust....I wouldn't mess with any other of the woods tho....although soy did make a bow or two from a dead standing walnut....and yew wood be the only other wood id do this with...small list. I have cut an almost dead standing locust and have made one bow from it(soon to be posted,n been done 5 days ago). Like everyone said,as long as it looks bug free,n the heartwood looks good when ya cut it