Oops, found two taps in trees from last year. Pull or leave?

[jrm]

When tapping yesterday, my son and I found two trees each with one tap/hook left in from last season. One is 7/16th the other 5/16th. We put new taps in each of these trees. Should these old taps be pulled out now? At the end of season? Or, just left alone given they've been in a year?

Thanks.

[Urban Sugarmaker]

Just pull them out now. The tree will still heal.

[Haynes Forest Products]

As Urban said pull them the hole will close quicker. To me its interesting how they look like they were just tapped with a grey wood inside. Now I found an old section of my woods that hasn't been tapped in 10 years and there are a few taps with just the crown of the old blue tap with the tubing bent outward and still on sticking out of the bark.