Good morning

I've never done any serious drying of green wood before (and
this particular example may be slightly tricky), so I have a question.

In short:
What wood be a useful way to dry out a freshly cut sapling?

In more detail:

I have a handful of walking sticks that I've made from some nice
branches or saplings that I've collected over the years.  Typically
I just do any minimal trimming that might be required, sand them up,
do some minimal apply a finish, attach a wrist-strap and a tip and
I'm good to go.

I have several saplings here on my land and I've been thinking
that I'd like to find some nice ones of an appropriate size, cut them
down to length (while doing some much-needed thinning of my --tiny-- woodlot)
and go from there.

So, here are some of my questions:

-- If I were going to do this, what might be the best time of
year to cut the saplings?

-- Again, I'm just assuming I want to dryi them out first before
working on them (but I do, don't I)?

-- How long should they be allowed to dry before I started the
final work?

-- How should they be "stacked" while drying?  Just lean them
against the wall?  Let them dangle from the ceiling?  Or...?

-- I assume I'd want to remove the bark immediately (correct)?

-- Just to mention, there's a lot of maple hereabout, so I assume
most of these would be maple.  But other than that I can't tack
down the species.  Assuming I stick to hardwoods, are there
any I should try to avoid?

-- Once I cut the fresh, green wood down to length, should
I do anything like paint the ends while they dry?

-- Anything else I've not thought of?

Thanks,
Nichael