west virginia sugaring ??

[twobears1224]

i,am seriously thinking about moving and w va keeps looking better.i,de have to move to a state where maple is made.i know you guys make maple down there but i,am wondering what part of the state is best for maple?? and i,am wondering when your season is?? how tough would it be to find trees to tap?? do guys just rent trees??

delbert

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Delbert,

I live in the southern part of the state and Larry Harris' operation is only about 3 miles from me the way the bird flies. In our area, there are quite a few maple trees, but not an overabundance. Mark(220 maple) is in the northern part of the state and there appears to be more maple there. They are all over most of the state, but most areas they are sparse.

Wish ya luck and hopefully some of the other guys on here will chip in and give you some good advice. Good state to live in and cost of living is much lower than NY, at least in property taxes!

[slammer3364]

My daughter lives in Fairmot W Va. Which is about 10 to 15 minutes south of Morgantown, W Va is truly a beautiful state and very enterprising in this area . I hunt with my son in law there and you should be in good shape when you find the right piece of ground. Good Luck if you end up in this area send me a P.M. and I will look you up:) :)

[220 maple]

TwoBears,
There was a quote made by one of the researchers up north, I believe from someone at the Proctor Maple research center they said that there is more Maple Trees in West Virginia than in the State of Vermont. I suspect the only way that is possible is because of the the difference in land area. As for my season it starts the first week of Feburary and somtimes last until the last week in March. I love my trees but I wish they were located on the Allegheny Mountain or west of the Allegheny simply for the extra moisture that they recieve during the winter time with much more snow than on the east side of the Allegheny. That being said West Virginia is ripe for Maple Expansion in my opinion. I have a pretty good list of Maple Producers in WV. The largest camp I know of is a 16000 tap operation located in Preston County near Aurora, West Virginia. I do not at the present time have any trees rented but hope to have a lease agreement signed by next week, the trees are very near my camp and quite convient. I will gain 1600 hundred taps that will push me over 3800 taps. I have a friend in the Mathias West Virginia area that has over 2000 taps he is expanding this fall and should go over 3000 taps very easy.
There is one camp in Pickens West Virginia that has down sized from 8000 to 4000 due to health reasons and the lack of help.
Good Luck,
Hopefully I can be of more help if needed.

Mark 220 Maple

[twobears1224]

thanks for the replys.i like it here in northern ny but it costs way to much to live in this state and it,s getting worse.the ny state goverment is clueless.
i have alot of family and friends here so i,de kinda like to be close enough to come back to visit and like i said i need to be involved in maple.
i,ve traveled alot so i know w va has alot of trees.i also have another outdoor forum i go to and the w va guys like to post pictures..i wanta grab my chainsaw everytime i see that timber..
i,am going to look at a map and look up the towns you guys talked about.i,ve already been looking into this move and i,ve kinda desided i,de wanta be in the northern half of w va.
whats a acre of timberland sell for down there?? and how hard would it be to find land for sale with maple,ect on it?? do sugarmakers rent trees to tap down there?? if i wanted to build a sugarhouse or a house how tough are the building codes?? i have my own sawmill so could i use my own lumber to build a sugarhouse or house??? up here the studs have to be graded and stamped.

delbert

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If you outside of towns and cities, building codes for most part are non-existent. This is good and bad, good that you don't have someone watching every move you make and bad in the sense that some places aren't worth the match it would take to burn them down. Be nice to see a happy median, but I would guess property taxes are about 20% of what they are in NY not that Chuckie or Billary would care.

[220 maple]

Delbert,
Mountain land around me sells for 2000 a acre and up. For example a 593 acre tract that borders my land in Pendleton County in which I thought my first cousin was going to buy but he didn't, the owner wanted 2500 dollars a acre. I don't believe the owner ever did sell it I think he took it off the market.
The owner made a statement it has a half Mil worth of timber on it, that may be true but a lot of Sugars would need to hit the ground to come up with that amount. There are some real nice sugars on it I walked almost every inch of the property when I had hope my cousin was going to buy it and let me rent the trees. As far as building codes and zoning, Brandon hit the nail on the head. I think I seen a for sale sign on some property near Franklin, WV. that has a possible sugar bush, I'll double check tomorrow when I go to West Virginia.

Mark 220 Maple