At long last,

Oh you're talking about "snirt" . . . come Spring time while riding the sled you're often riding in "snirt" -- a combination of snow, ice and dirt that often cakes up on your snowmobile.

Hahaha...good description! Osage WILL grab you with those thorns, too. Seems to have a mind of it's own when being "attacked'.
"Bodark" was origionally "Bois D'arc" or "Bow wood" in french. The tribes, including the Osage tribe it's named for, in it's native range of west Texas / southern OK traded staves extensively with other groups. It will make a shorter, stronger, and more durable bow than anything else, especially with primitive tools and techniques.

Great score! The left 1/4 of that split in your closeup would make a nice hatchet handle, too.

Beautiful. If you do any woodworking- save some for projects. It darkens as it ages, and is incredibly strong. Polished up, it has a real fire to the surface. I've made several bows from it.

I saved a 24" section of a 9" split for my brother, who is a woodworker. It has a slight curve to it, which I didn't see when I cut it. What do I have around the house that I could seal the ends with to prevent checking until I can get it to him?

Any house paint, wood glue, shellac, etc. Almost any coating will slow moisture about enough.

I prefer using Anchorseal or a similar brand of water based wax emulsion specially designed for sealing green logs & lumber.Applied with brush (best method really,though its slow for large amounts),roller or spray.Its the best but around $30-35/gallon now.But sometimes use leftover latex paint,black jack roofing sealant,or old melted candles,they work also just not as good.

Main thing is do NOT leave the wood in strong sunshine or a very windy location.Keep it indoors away from heat source if possible.Otherwise it will crack/warp badly no matter what sealant you use. The wood needs to breathe,yet not dry so suddenly it has large cracks.Firewood I dont care how bad it cracks,nice lumber I've spent hours of hard work processing for future projects is another matter.

I seal all my staves with shellac thinned with alcohol and a big sloppy brush. Anything mentioned should work well, though

+1 on drying nice and slow to avoid checks / cracks