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My Dad used to send me Hickory from trimmed trees on his property, but before he shipped them he made "hockey pucks" from the ~4" logs with his chop saw for me. In the summer here in Florida I stored them in a charcoal storage bin exposed to full sun and I used them in about 5-6 months and they were VERY, very dry and smoked nicely. Dad's gone but I still have wood from his farm house property and use it after all these years. If kept dry, and bug free in my experience hickory can be stored as a smoke wood indefinitely.
I have a nice mulberry tree that I'm going to give a haircut this fall, I'm looking forward to using it next season.