maple shoots

[jturkey]

ok while out deer hunting this week i noticed a patch of maple's young maples maybe 3 years old and some younger than that. they had limbs that were about 30" long with very few limbs off of them, !st will they make decent arrows shaft 2ndly how do you deal with the limbs do you just file them off with a rasp or sand paper they would be 3/8" at the thickest end or maybe a hair larger  and not much smaller at the nock end.

[Dazv]

how i deal with side branches is when the shaft is seasoned i just cut then flush with a knife then use a metal file to get them super flush with the main shaft. After that i just forget about them i never really have any problems do it this way.

[Pat B]

Doc, maple will work for arrows but you want to use the 2nd or 3rd year growth. Do as Dazv said and cut the side branches flush and sand them smooth. You may have to reduce the shoots to about 3/8" at the big end. I use a thumb plane for this.

[jturkey]

thanks guys that is what i thought about the shoots and how to deal witht he limbs but just wanted to make sure before i cut these and season them is maple a  bark on or strip the bark off before seasoning ? or do you just seal the outside with glue or something like a stave to keep it from splitting?!

[Pat B]

I'd leave the bark on for at least a month.

[jturkey]

thanks pat will do

[Pat B]

You might even do a test and strip a few to see what happens. Another option is to strip all but the last 2" of each end. I have heard of folks doing this without the shoots checking as they dry.

[jturkey]

since i think i saw about 100 of them out there i'll cut a bunch and test a few totally stripped and a few with only the last 2 inches left on and a few with all the bark left on and let you know how they work i'm not sure of which type of maple they are but do know they are maples from the few leaves that were left on them and where they were. but i'll figure that out later