I would bag them quickly. I seems to me they are a fall thing. I can remember picking them in the wild when I was a kid. I don't know anyone who has native ones growing anymore.

Are yours the native variety?

I got them through the Conservation Department so they should be native.
I think I planted five originally. Four of them were back along our fencerow where I only kept them watered for the first year or two. At least a couple of those survived but after the ice storm, when we lost so many trees, my dad used his tractor to pile stumps and brush in that area. I don't think they survived that. The leaves aren't very distinctive so it's hard to tell. I get a lot of elm and hackberry seedlings and the leaves look a lot alike to me.

I need a lesson on bagging a hazelnut bush.

I think the critters eat them if you don't protect them somehow. I tried to grow them once and didn't have much luck.

I got them through the Conservation Department so they should be native.
I think I planted five originally. Four of them were back along our fencerow where I only kept them watered for the first year or two. At least a couple of those survived but after the ice storm, when we lost so many trees, my dad used his tractor to pile stumps and brush in that area. I don't think they survived that. The leaves aren't very distinctive so it's hard to tell. I get a lot of elm and hackberry seedlings and the leaves look a lot alike to me.

I need a lesson on bagging a hazelnut bush.

I was thinking about just bagging the clusters; probably way too big a job. You might check into that polyspun stuff to toss over the bush. It is hard to defeat critters when they are determined.