Bucket surprise

[Rangdale]

Was emptying my buckets today and popped the lid to one and found two less than alive flying squirrels floating in 2.5 gallons of sap. Those things are going to take forever to boil down! Anybody else ever found something odd in their buckets? Pretty dam nasty

[js4fn]

Dog chased a squirrel into the sugar shack today. squirrel went around the arch twice before finding the way out think the dog did 4 rounds then found the mud hole to run through he got hosed off with cold water

[Ausable]

LOL! No way can I top that. I have had bugs, bark and bird poop - but - never dead flying squirrels. Now - I use drop tubes to buckets and I weight the lids with a chunk of slab wood. The gathers are now boring - with little in the sap.

[rayi]

I hear if you boil them long enough they taste like chicken

[Baker]

Had a red squirrel dead and floating in one of my sap sacks last yr.was super nasty.

[jmayerl]

11538 last seasons surprise

[DrTimPerkins]

I think the saying is something like....

If you're from Massachusetts and find a dead squirrel in your sap, you dump the whole bucket, wash it, and rehang it on the tree.

It you're from New York and find a dead squirrel in your sap, you remove the squirrel and toss it, but keep the sap.

If you're from Vermont and find a dead squirrel in your sap, you keep the sap, and squeeze out every drop of sap from the squirrel before tossing it.


I hear if you boil them long enough they taste like chicken

Apparently if you're from Michigan you toss the sap and boil the squirrel.

:D

[Poor Farmer]

Was emptying my buckets today and popped the lid to one and found two less than alive flying squirrels floating in 2.5 gallons of sap. Those things are going to take forever to boil down! Anybody else ever found something odd in their buckets? Pretty dam nasty

Now I feel inadequate. My best effort was only one flying squirrel in a gallon of sap.

[seclark]

that is some surprise indeed.I am wondering if the bucket lid is tight,how in the world did they get in the bucket??????

[Rangdale]

It was the blue style 3 gallon bucket with the lid that attaches to the tap. Keeps the rain out but clearly not the squirrels.

[motowbrowne]

I think the saying is something like....

If you're from Massachusetts and find a dead squirrel in your sap, you dump the whole bucket, wash it, and rehang it on the tree.

It you're from New York and find a dead squirrel in your sap, you remove the squirrel and toss it, but keep the sap.

If you're from Vermont and find a dead squirrel in your sap, you keep the sap, and squeeze out every drop of sap from the squirrel before tossing it.



Apparently if you're from Michigan you toss the sap and boil the squirrel.

:D

Man, Dr. Tim you crack me up with this stuff. I think it's so incredible that we have access to so much info from one of the world's leading minds in the industry. When you chime in on a syrup topic we are so lucky to have your input. Then you give us gems like this (and your comments on your favorite maple-themed cocktail) and it really makes me laugh. Thanks as always!

[GeneralStark]

I have on two occasions found young grey squirrels drowned in buckets. The first time was quite a shock (for me), and on both occasions I did dump the squirrels and the sap.

[Galena]

So far been lucky enough to not have drowned red squirrels or any other mammals, but plenty of half-alive moths of varying sizes and colour.

Dr Tim...if you're around...maple-themed cocktails? I know here in Ontario the LCBO publishes Food and Drink magazine and did have a feature on cocktails which include sirop d'erable. So which one's yours?

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr Tim...if you're around...maple-themed cocktails? I know here in Ontario the LCBO publishes Food and Drink magazine and did have a feature on cocktails which include sirop d'erable. So which one's yours?

I consider it my scientific duty to try them all. As a researcher, it is generally necessary to do several replications and take the average of them. Tough job, but somebody has to do it :D

[motowbrowne]

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?8425-maple-drinks

Here's the thread I was referencing.

[Helicopter Seeds]

When I got the idea last year for this addiction, I mean hobby, I heard stories of the commercial producers finding mice and squirrels all the time, just tossing them out like nothing happened. Yeah, I know it gets boiled, but seems to me that if we concentrate down 40 to 1, then we also concentrate whatever else is there unless it evaporates at a lower temperature such as alcohol. I filtered my sap before I boiled, strainer skimmed during boil, super rinsed my pans. I don't even want to see a blade of grass. I used drop line buckets with lids, which were bungeed closed. Don't like the idea of galvanized buckets for the same reason, and I may be wrong - just a feeling. But the way I see it, the less foreign stuff that touches the product, the less chance of introducing funny tastes.

[dcast99]

Yesterday during final cleanup my buddy pulled a bucket that we have by the sugarshack only to find a dead flying squirrel in a gal of sap. Didn't even know that we had flying squirrels in the area, only greys. Of course we tossed both squirrel and sap. Not much meat on those little suckers.:lol:

[argohauler]

Found our first 2 dead flying squirrels of the season, when we gathered Tuesday.

Is it squirrel mating season? Yesterday I walked out of the shanty and there were 3 blacks on a maple that was tapped with lines. They looked at me and weren't scared. They starting chasing each other, then 3 more blacks joined in and me with no gun to blast them.

[Birdland Sugarbush]

I'd always heard that a sugarer from Vermont looks around, picks out the squirrel and flings it into the woods. If you're from New Hampshire, you look around pick out the squirrel, wring it out into the bucket, then fling it into the woods... :)


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