I stepped over a down log today, stabbed one of these thorns thru my boot and into my calf. Never seen one of these trees around here before now. What is it?

Maybe a honey locust?

Are there any big long bean looking pods hanging or on the ground?

Black Locust pretty sure. ... Edited... after goggling black locust trees....thorns on the trunk is not a characteristic trait of black locust.

looks like a locust to me probably honey

black typically have smaller thorns

Did not notice any bean pods

We have black locust around here it is not that

We call them honey locusts here Gleditsia triacanthos

honey locust

Around here, black locust have paired thorns and never on the trunk; just the branches. Flowers and beans are way different too.

Honey locust, if that is on your property you need to eradicate it now. Cut it down and spray the stump. They spread fast

I don't know the name either. I hunt in a river bottom that has a few of them, those thorns can be 6 inches long. I have cut a few clusters off and brought them home as a conversation piece.

they got some kind of poison on the thorns. get jabbed and it aches for days

Honey locust. I can show you a few.

Honey locust. I see lots of them in Kansas. Some of the best cat trapping I have had was in and around those trees. If the cats weren't there, I would not go around them. Those spikes are 3-4 inches long, If you bump into them or step on one you wouldn't soon forget that moment.

I guess evolution found it necessary for those Locust to develop those spikes to protect the trees from mammoths and other tree foraging animals.

Keep a close eye out for infection. My brother got stuck with one of those in the side of the knee and ended up having two different surgeries to clear out the infection.

Yeah they affect people differently. If I get poked by one in a joint it really stiffens up and is sore/stiff for a couple of weeks.

I hate honey locusts and have 5 wounds from the thorns, that heal over and come back from time to time.

They have pretty, fairly useful wood.

Kill them all. They have me cost me hundreds of dollars for new tires and tire repair.

The thorns evolved to keep mastodons, wooly mammoths and other mega fauna from eating them.

Keith

Good deer food right there. Long pods with a sweet pulp. Deer eat them like we do corn on the cob.

Honey locust is uncommon here and tends to be short lived.