Keeping track of taps

[DuncanFTGC/SS]

At the end of this season, and 4 days after I thought I had pulled all my taps, I found one more. When I walked into the woods to retrieve it, I realized that I had missed that tap for the last two thirds of the season. Once the snow melted, I started missing it on my rounds.
How do you guys keep track of taps and buckets during the season and so that you do not leave them in the tree till the following year? I only had 50 taps in this year! LOL

[maple flats]

Mine are all connected to blue tubing. I just follow the tubes. I do not jump from one line to another, even though it would mean less walking.

[MapleMark753]

We use sap sacks, but its a similar collection deal. Every tree, every time. First couple of seasons I did miss one or two occasionally. What we do now is for a particular area, the taps are all on the same side of the trees (rotated a bit every year) so that when you're collecting that area all the stuff is facing more or less the same direction and is visible as I go in. Haven't missed any since. Only thing I'd add is that when you take your buckets off at seasons end, do the taps at the same time. Very easy to not see just a tap later with nothing hanging on the tree. Or, tree marking paint works too for identifying tapped trees. A three inch round "dot" is visible from quite a ways away.
take care, Mark

[Zucker Lager]

I don't have that problem because if I take off my shoes I can count all my taps. But I'm thinking why don't you weigh your taps before and after. If your scale is a half way decent digital it would pick up a single tap difference..............I think? Jay

[DuncanFTGC/SS]

I hate to add that I actually missed the tap, with the milk jug still hanging from it! LOL

[SeanD]

Mine are all connected to blue tubing. I just follow the tubes. I do not jump from one line to another, even though it would mean less walking.

Ha, ha. Good advice. I have to take mine down so, the first trip out is to cut the tap off and pull it from the tree to let the lines dry out. In one section, I went back to roll up the line and I saw that I had missed two taps clear as day right at eye level. I thought, how the heck did I miss those two?! Ah, because I jumped to the other lateral there. If I had followed the line like I should have, I would have had to cross over the stone wall a third time!

Sean

[Daveg]

I don't have that problem because if I take off my shoes I can count all my taps. But I'm thinking why don't you weigh your taps before and after. If your scale is a half way decent digital it would pick up a single tap difference..............I think? Jay

Too funny.
If a tap weighs, say, 1 ounce, and you tapped 3 trees and the scale says 2 ounces at the end, then do you still have to check all your trees for the missing tap? I pity the person with 1,000's of taps who comes up 1 ounce short.

[Wanabe1972]

It seems I miss a couple every year. I find a few when I pull the taps that were Never Put in for the year and then a few that never got pulled from the previous year. Jeff

[maple maniac65]

One tap, two taps, three taps, four, if I can find one more maple I can tap more

[DuncanFTGC/SS]

One tap, two taps, three taps, four, if I can find one more maple I can tap more

Nice, and that is why I have lost track of taps!!!! LOL Just one more maple, right over there, and quit out of the way!!!! LOL