Do deer eat osage fruit?

Yes, once they start to get rotten and smelly.

I've seen several licking away at them shortly after they've fallen from the tree too.

thanks for the info guys, im hunting in an area with allot of them

I've seen deer eat them but I'd say they aren't a preferred food.  But deer eat just about anything.

don't know about deer but squirrel and armadillo love em.

A guy in our hunting camp killed a nice 10 pt who was munching away on them.

Old folks up central PA swear they keep the spiders outa yer house, cabin or basement!

Beats me but sounds interesting...

Talked to a guy Saturday morning.  His son shot a 10 point that was eating hedge apples or osage as they are known.

-Charlie

I think it is the same guy bomofo was referring to.

can people eat them?

QuoteOriginally posted by always89s boy:
can people eat them?

The best answer to give to that question is no.  With any wild foods, research before you try, and don't just rely on one source.

They are great for camp pranks though.  Simply direct the young, inquisitive hunter to cut one open and then spend the rest of the day laughing as he tries to clean it off his hands, clothes, and knife.

QuoteOriginally posted by always89s boy:
can people eat them?

They go great with a Snipe hunt...

I was reading about them the other day and the artical said there isn't anything poisonous (I think) about them just a bunch of small seeds inside of them,so not much to them.The artical did say that squirrels love them and they are supposed to be a good spider and other insect reppelant.
                       Tracy.

I just did some research on the osage fruit. This is the only NON-edible fruit in the world!!!!! This is not a joke. Not sure why humans should not eat this, but the article did state that it should not be ate.

Here is a good link...

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osage_orange  


"Recent research suggests that elemol, one of the major components of oil extracted from fruit of Osage orange, shows promise as a mosquito repellent with similar activity to DEET in contact and residual repellency.[2]"

People also make Christmas decorations, by slicing them like a tomato and drying them out.

I'll try yo find some pics

another good link

http://hedgeapple.com/

When I was a kid the old timers in the neighborhood told us they were poison to humans....of course they also thought you had to cook rhubarb to avoid it killing you.....there is usually some truth to "old wives tales" but not always.