tapped in Stockholm NY (Saint Lawrence Co.)

[Jon O'Connor]

tapped 600 on 3/11 and 3/12, hopefully get some good weather soon!

[ibby458]

I'll second that motion, but the forecast doesn't look promising.

[Fred Henderson]

It will be at least another week before we see sap of any amount out those trees. Sure glad I am not paying for a new rig this year.

[SteveD]

We aren't getting much in the way of sap here in north/central VT either.
I was wondering how St.Lawrence Co. was doing....our family farm is up in Parishville. Maybe sooner or later the weather (and the sap) will free up.

Steve

[maple flats]

I have tapped about 250 taps so far and gotten a total of 320 gal sap over the last 2 weeks. One location had been the best til today (open roadside hill country sugars) As of today most of my 57 gal collected came from my woods for the first time. May be time to tap me last 60-70 taps in the woods. Today the open location only gave 15 gal on 90 taps, the woods gave 42 gal on 160 taps and they were still running as of 8:00 tonight. Will finish tapping tomorrow or Sat. Will also can my first batch soon. All sap is in canner except what I flodded the pans with at quitting time tonight. Lots of sugar in the pans for next boil. By the way, I am in central NY, Oneida.
Dave

[ibby458]

I could have gathered a couple hundred gallons late Sunday afternoon, but with the cold and wind coming in, I opted to let it freeze in the buckets to provide weight to keep them from being blown away. Worked pretty good, with only 2 plastic buckets in the woods tipped over, and 2 metal buckets blown off the roadside trees. Can't say the same for covers, though. I probably have 30 blown off. Since there's no rain predicted, I'll leave them off til the wind stops and the temps come up a bit.

Parishville is likely a bit worse off than us flatlanders. They're maybe 400 feet higher in elevation, and that makes a difference. I've seen a few years when I'm pulling taps just as their runs peak.

[Flatfoot95]

I am in Franklin County and I am getting NOTHING for almost a week now. Buckets are dry!! Hope things turn around soon..Anything moving in St.Lawrence County?

[Fred Henderson]

Nothing moveing here either, We are all in the same boat across the top of the state. Looks good from Tues. on thru the end if the week.

[ibby458]

Not a drop flowing here in Potsdam. I suspect (and hope) that when they bust loose, it'll come a gusher. An old timer told me to hang on for a couple monster runs, then a couple weak dark runs, then it's over. I don't know why he thinks that, but I have no information to dispute it. I have a bit over 1000 gallons storage. Hope it's enough!

I'm biding my time putting up more sugar wood. Since everythings all froze up hard, I'm cutting off the edges of the beaver swamps. Standing dead tamarack, cedar, ash and other hardwoods. Bone dry with the bark off, spilt clear thru to the center. Ought to boil sap like crazy!

BTW - How do you like the Grizzly as a work horse? My Kodiak will climb trees and haul a barn off the foundation. I thought about trading it for a 660, but the guy at John Harvey's said the belt drive on the Grizzley wouldn't hold up to what I was using it for.

Wish I was boiling sap!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

One thing is almost certain that you will get at least one huge run before it ends. Likely more, but one huge run is almost certain after a huge cold spell if it would warm up for good. :)

[Flatfoot95]

The Grizzly is awesome...I plow snow, harrow food plots, skid logs...you name it..bought mine from Harvey's. I have had it 3 years now and have had no problems..

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have a 450 Kodiak belt driven and it is awesome! :D

[Fred Henderson]

I had 2 ATV's, both were Polaris 425 Mag chain drive and a 500 mag shaft drive. I loved them and they did a lot of work for us. Even skidding white cedar logs with the 425 in the winter. But when I was doing firewood I always had to have a trailer and sometimes they can be areal bear to back up. We sold both of them a year ago and now we have a Kubota RTV 900. Backing is no longer an issue and I have fallen deeply in love with that hyd dump box. It won't go where the atv's did but I am getting a little too old to go there anyway. I built a stack rack for it and can pile about 5/8 (face cord) of wood in it. Hauled 2 loads out today.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Fred,

Sure is an awesome machine. If I had some extra $$$ to blow, I would dump the atv and get on of those. They are built like a tractor and with the diesel engine, probably last forever! :D I can get one down here for a little over 9k. :D

[Flatfoot95]

I was considering one of the Yamaha Rhinos. Not diesel but still have the go anywhere of the ATV with the dump box.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Spend $ $ 1500 more and get a Kubota. They will haul a lot more and have a truck type frame under them and are diesel. 3 times the machine for a little more $$$.

[Fred Henderson]

Brandon, My RTV was 10.4. The windshield I made and the roof was another 200. The RTV is said to be 90% work and 10% play where as all the others are just the opposite. The RTV tranny is a little hard to get use to be one thing for certain you will never have to put brakes on it. My dealer told me that when Kubota started designing it, it started out as a 21HP tractor.

[ibby458]

I'd sure like a rig that I didn't have to shift, but when the dealer says it won't hold up - - - (I showed him some pictures of what we do with the Kidiack)

THe RTV is a nice rig, but not right for the places I put it thru. I use the Yamaha with a 100 gal tank in a trailer to gather the places the tractor won't go. If I won't put the tractor thru there, you can be sure it's pretty rough. I often have 2 tires on opposite sides off the ground for a moment or two driving over rocks. I need all the ground clearance I can get. (Thank God for skid plates!)

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Pretty impressive that you are able to pull that much sap behind it. Where I gather, I would be lost as some of it is up hills and when you get a few inches of snow with an empty trailer behind, I couldn't go with my Kodiak. :?

[ibby458]

I rarely have the 100 gallon tank full, or even half full. I use the ATV to collect small loops off the main trail, then meet up with the tractor & pump it into the big tank. My trailer for the ATV has fairly wide 13" car tires on it, so it rolls pretty good and is plenty high enough to clear the stumps and rocks. If there's still snow, I have a trailer with skis, but you can't back it up.

Tires are the secret to getting the Yamaha to think it's a mountain goat. I put ITP 589 tires all the way around, running between 3 and 5 psi so they're soft. I've got V-bar chains for all 4 tires when it gets REAL hairy, but they don't slip and it's hard on the driveline. I've had to replace U joints before because of that non-slip grab. I haven't put them back on since I fixed it the last time.

The HI-LO range helps a lot too, when you can just crawl.

I've never been to WV, but I've got relatives in Pittsburgh. I wouldn't even think of hauling sap up and down some of those ridges!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

WV is way worse than Pittsburg. :lol: :lol: 8O

[Flatfoot95]

Thought I might have had a small run today....no dice....hopefully tomorrow...How bout the rest of you in this the great white north.

[Fred Henderson]

The spills just started to thaw out around 4PM. I was in the bush and saw an icicle hanging from a broken sugar maple twig, I broke it off and walked on my way with my maple popsicle. Tasted good.

[ibby458]

I had a few wet spouts yesterday, but few that were dripping. That's on the roadside trees. THe bush trees are still sleeping.

I think it's gonna run today. I'll run out and put up the last 50 buckets, replace blown off covers and rinse out the bulk tank and gathering tanks today. We'll be ready for a gather tomorrow if it warms up enough to loosen the ice in the pails.

[treefinder]

like i said in my other post. going to hang the rest of my tubing in the next couple of days. and i'll probably tap on thurs.weekend looks good for sap if it gets up in the 40's with rain.alot of snow in the woods in north bangor i was in the woods on sunday to break roads out with tractor and the snow was just above the knee's this makes hard walking for hanging tubing.


4x12 leader oil fired
1100 on tubing
40 buckets for the kids
massey fergason 1105 for the gathering