Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Best season to harvest stave?

Growing season or dormant? Going to look for some Dogwood

I thought that you wanted to harvest in winter when the tree is dormant and maybe the sap levels are different, but that was mostly from an old timer who did bows out of Osage.

I don't think it matters. You'll chase out whatever ring your after. If I had to choose, I'd say cut it down in the winter, not fall, winter and let it dry for as long as you can. Split it right away though and wax the ends, and pull the sapwood off. I've left sapwood on a few and had it crack clear through the belly of the stave.

Always cut in the fall when the sap is down. Less chance of checking. Dogwood shoots makes better arrows than bows. Not sure you'll get a long enough and wide enough stave to make a hunting weight bow. Yew would be the best choice for building a bow in the northwest.

It is believed that after the Dogwood was used for the cross, Christ promised the Dogwood Tree to never grow large enough again. Slender and twisted, it shall have blossoms like a cross for all to see.

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