I am ready to try my hand at turning FOG (found on ground) wood.  I have a couple of questions.  If I don't intend to start turning immediately, I understand the need to seal the ends.  My question really is with the bark.  Should I strip off the bark before I set it aside?  Would stripping the bark cause the wood to dry too fast and cause splitting and checking?  On the other hand, would leaving it on and turning it off later hide a bug infestation that I didn't see?  What is the tool of choice to remove the bark if I decide to go that route?  Hatchet, machete, draw knife, or what?  At this time, I'm not interested in live edge bowls, so the bark will definitely come off at some point.  Besides, I don't think I could put up with a shop full of future bowl blanks lying there "barking" at me.  Ok, sorry, I had to.

My experience is that FOG wood is already cracked since it has been laying around drying anyway.  If it is fresh cut then go ahead and seal it.  I leave the bark on unless I suspect it has bugs.  If I suspect it has bugs than I pass on it. 

If it's fresh and you can't turn it right away, seal it. Keep in mind that sealing will buy you time, it won't make the piece last forever. Wood loses it's moisture out the end grain, very little is lost through the side walls so it doesn't matter one way or the other.  If you do want to remove the bark the easiest way I found is from a Lyle Jamieson video. If you have a compressor, a cheapo air chisel from Harbor Freight is a marvelous thing for removing bark.

+1 on what Dan and Steve have posted. Seems like I always have some old TiteBond  glue. It really works great for sealing the end grain. If you store the "logs" outside, I'd leave the bark on. Usually by the time I get around to turning it, the bark is coming loose and is easily pried off.

I have used glue, latex paint and some stuff called Anchorseal and they all seem to work. I leave the bark on but as Dan said inspect it for bugs before you bring it into the shop. 
Paul