osage orange fruit
Whitetail Deer
Do deer eat the fruit of the Osage orange tree? Commonly referred to as "Hedgeapples". I do not have them in my area.
They eat them a bit when they get mushy which is late in the season around here.
We don't have many bois d'arc trees here, but I've never witnessed deer eating the fruit. We call 'em " horse apples " , but never seen a horse eat one either. LOL. Squirrels tear them up and eat the seed though.
I don't know but they are good for keeping vermin out of your house. We used to keep a few in the laundry room when I was a kid. Seemed to work well.
To answer your question, from someone who has lived amid hedgerows, hedgetrees and hedgeapples for 56 years, the answer is YES, deer will eat hedgeballs.
But, they normally don't do it until a last resort, like in a cold, nasty winter when all the browse and grain is gone. A buddy has shot some very nice, mature, deer on hedgeballs and locust pods very late in the season, near a bedding area. Unlike the younger bucks and does, the big boys were willing to eat lesser food to stay better hidden.
My main use for them is shooting them with a high-powered rifle. Hit the core, the seed, and you're going to get a shower of yeller chuncks 60-70 feet across. But, you have to hit that center seed.
I've seen deer eat them late in the season. I guess the pickins' are slim elsewhere.
... same here guys, deer eat them late season after all the mast & favorable browse is gone.
I've seen deer stomp them with their front hooves to break them apart then eat them. Would not be my first choice of food to set up on unless there is a shortage of crops and browse in the area. Or as was previously stated a rough winter.
Here in Maryland I have seen both bucks and does eating the fruit from the Osage Orange. It is usually in December when I have observed it happening.
interesting, I've never seen that... good to know!
I have watched deer eating them several times in October around where I hunt in Pa.
It would be a very last resort. If Michael says they get eaten by deer I know it happens.
BTW, I have shot many squirrels that were eating hedge balls and they are greasy to skin and taste like a petroleum product most closely resembling # 2 diesel. I do not shoot squirrels now that live in hedge rows. No use.
I think you will find this interesting. Last year I took my granddaughters to a program called "Sunday with a scientist" at the University of Nebraska. It was a hands on presentation for the kids. One of the professors had some hedge apples. He said that the apples were a food source for the mega fauna such as mammoths and prehistoric camels. These large animals helped the osage orange tree reproduce since their digestive systems really ground up the apples before they were excreted. So the next time you drive down a dirt road and see hedge apples in the ditch, you are really seeing a direct link to the past.
Gary G. I have read some similar things, including wooly mammoth, etc as propagators of Headgeapple, as well as theories that the honey locust (ungodly thorny trees) developed those ridiculous spines to discourage browsing/bark-stripping by elephant (mammoth) similar to present day African thorn trees.
(They also have large, bean-like pods filled with sweet, fibrous material which encourages small animals to brave the thorns and spred the seeds)
Sure doesn't make sense for them to have such stickers otherwise.
http://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/trees-that-miss-the-mammoths/
We had milk cows eat the hedge apple. The problem was the milk was very bitter and not use able. I've seen where deer been eating them. Would it be a place to set up a stand?
Hedge is always a good place to set up a stand. ALWAYS! it offers cover and very, rarely any type of Human activity due to the thorns.
Never seen deer eat the "apples", But osage helps me eat the deer! Best wood for bows all day long.
if anyone wants too do a trade, staves for bow? or $$,...please send me a message here, or on the leatherwall...im a self bowyer looking for osage,,,and its pretty easy too send in mail/ups,....no wrapping just address with sticker and send etc,...
....I do not have any in my area , and its my favorite bow wood,.....snake/jeff
rattlesnake, how big a hunk do you need for a stave?
All osage is not created equally. Normally takes a bowyer experienced in working osage to ID potentially good wood for billets and/or staves.
1 out of 50 trees contain quality staves.
Russell, what area and what size osage trees are you basing that ratio on? Most >12" dia trees around here have at least a few decent billets, and a couple limb staves, and some of the better trees may make more than half a dozen good 50" to 60" staves (maybe one in ten)
Much easier to find 40" of straight Osage compared to 6'
Guess it depends where the trees grew. Stuff where I used to find good bow wood it took many trees to find potentially good staves.
Stuff in fence rows is always easier to find straight and clear than individual trees, Lots of it here in Northern Shenandoah valley. I can coordinate a cutting party come winter if someone wants to road trip....
Never heard them referred to as hedgeapples. We always called them monkey balls. Never saw deer eating them,but the trees always have a lot of squirrels around them. Bob
