Squirrel :-(

[MaineMapleDave]

I won't elaborate on the details, unless anyone is really morbidly curious, but let me say the following: "a drowned squirrel in your sap storage tank will ruin your whole day."

I am sooooo blue. Dumped about 45 gallons of sap yesterday after the discovery. Doesn't sound like much, but with my small operation that represents a gallon of syrup, or about 25 to 30% of my yearly yield.

So, fess up. Anyone else had a similar experience?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Dave,

I have never had anything like that to happen. I always try to keep lids on everything even all my big tanks. Also, keep a lot of weight on the lids and maybe that will keep that from happening again!

I am sure that was pretty discouraging! :( :(

[Al]

Never in a tank but found one in one of my buckets last year. Sorry to hear about losing the sap.

No, but one of the &$*! built a nest in my flue pan last fall. Took hours to clean.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I don't have any squirrels around the sugarhouse but I am always afraid a mouse may build a new in one of my pans, so I try to keep them covered as good as possible but it is impossible to keep them out if they want in. :( :(

[RUSTYBUCKET]

I found this board a short time ago and wanted to say hello to all you fellow sugar makers. I just registered today so this will be my official first post as a new member.

A couple of years back, I attended a sugar makers seminar. Bunch of crusty old gents and a few others that stopped by to get warm and have some refreshments. During the discussion, the subject of finding critters in your sap came up. One fella summed it up rather nicely. He asked what was the difference between a NY sugar maker and a VT sugar maker when it comes to finding a squirrel in the sap.

He enlightened us all when he said the NY sugar maker cusses the squirrel and tosses the sap. The VT maker wrings out the squirrel and keeps boiling. :wink:


Russ

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Russ,

Welcome to the Trader, but I do want to warn this that this sight is very addictive. Hope you find a lot of helpful information here and no question you have is dumb or stupid. Anything you want or need to know, post your questions and some one will have an answer, probably lots of them since most questions have several answers. As far as your input, any and all input you have for others is appreciated.

As far as the squirrel, that is really funny. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Always ready for a good laugh and everyone takes every joke here great! :D :D

[MaineMapleDave]

You cannot imagine the soul-searching I did before deciding the let the sap return to the earth.

Maybe I'm just a wannabe Vermonter.........

On a bright note, the trees ran like crazy to make up for it, so I still have plenty of sap to play with.

a friend of mine told me that late last year after a late nite of boiling he returned to find a drowned raccon in his syrup pan,,he trew it out the door and set to cleaning his pan,,at some point he went outside and the coon was slowly makeing a break for it,,it must have been rolling around for a while trying to find its feet caus it was covered with leaves and sticks,,he often wonders how long it took it to get cleaned up or if it even made it Parker

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I bet the honey and bumble bees loved that racoon for a while! :D :D :D :D

[WF MASON]

I've seen a good many mice floating in the front pan over the years , thats why the 'paper prefilter' was invented , you just skim him out and start boiling. The filters catch the rest. If your uncomfortable with that first batch you drawoff , it goes to your inlaws!