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Was out turkey hunting this morning with my son. Today was youth turkey day. We ran across an old sugar bush deep in the woods that looks like somebody just gave up! Hundreds of taps left in trees thousands of feet of tubing down all over the woods just a disgusting mess! This kind of neglect really pisses me off! Many of the taps hav e b een in so long the tree has overgrown the tap
Is this your woods?
Makes me wonder if something happened to the producer during the season. I wonder sometimes what would happen if I met some horrible fate from February to April. I've told my wife that if that happens, there are some guys nearby (five to be exact) she can call and they'll know what to do. They can probably guess who they are. :D
Lol don't get too excited, sounds to me like you found a good sugar bush. Maybe talk to the land owners and see if you can tap it if you clean up the mess.
It hasn't hurt the trees. We used to find metal spouts in trees that had been missed taking buckets down that had almost completely grown over just like barbed wire fences do. If you are looking to expand, looks like a good place to explore the possibility with the land owner. Another reason it may have happened is a disagreement with the sugarmaker and the landowner.
Years ago before I started sugaring someone had done the same thing in my fathers woods. When they were done they just picked up their tanks and left the tubing there with the taps still in the trees. My father pulled the taps and then when I started sugaring a few years later I removed all of the old tubing. I re-tubed it when I tapped his trees and removed everything when I stopped tapping his woods.
No woods we were huntingQuote:
Originally Posted by wiam
Based on the tubing color (some purple) can anyone guess how long the tubing has been in the woods hanging? There are some big trees that have fallen and taken long runs of tubing down
25 to 30 years ago
So you were in someone else's woods complaining about how it is taken care of? Sounds like a lot of the hunters around here.Quote:
Originally Posted by johnpma
Yeah and drinking beer and shooting shells off randomly because hunters are evil people right???? Actually you are out of line and wrong!! The property is owned by Mass Wildlife and is open to hunters and mountain bikers and hikers and fishermen and others that want to be in touch with nature!Quote:
Originally Posted by wiam
That's interesting I was trying to figure that out based on the overgrowth of the taps some almost completely encapsulated.....Quote:
Originally Posted by maple maniac65
Maybe if you are going to complain about a situation you should tell the whole story up front.Quote:
Originally Posted by johnpma
regardless of who owns the property or how I spend my recreation time I do not feel that it's ethical.....and many are right there may be more to the story that I don't know......Quote:
Originally Posted by wiam
great point! Could be a gold mineQuote:
Originally Posted by n8hutch
Maybe the person was tapping this before Mass Wildlife acquired the property and after they did they wouldn't let him continue tapping. He may have just walked away then and figured they could deal with it. Good luck with getting permission from Mass Wildlife. I know someone who was tapping land in Cummington and when M.W. acquired it he could no longer continue.
Very important who owns the property. If it is privately owned the owner can do whatever they want. It is their trees. You don't have to like it.
exactly how I feel about people who don't hunt or like hunters.......i understand clearlyQuote:
Originally Posted by wiam
I'm going to start by contacting them to see if we can clean up some of the mess of tubing all over the woods and see where it goes from there. We have helped in the past after some of the bad storms clean up the trails of down trees and they were very receptive. Maybe they lease usage really not sureQuote:
Originally Posted by bill m
This sugarbush is beyond our capabilities but maybe there is somebody that is looking to expand in the area interesting about the person in Cummington
yeah it is a shame that the woods where left like that , i think i know who used to process the sap for the woods anyway. but i believe it was the past land owner that tapped the woods to sell the sap and when he passed away during the end of the season from old age, the family donated the land just the way it was because they where city slickers ..... don`t get to worked up , because isn`t always the neglect of the person who put them there.... im sure he is looking down wishing someone would pull his taps for f#$& sake ... john i think you could help that wish of his come true
Maybe I'm outta line here, but maybe you should understand the whole situation before passing judgement?Quote:
Originally Posted by wiam
The OP didn't say he was calling the pollution control agency on anyone, just that the situation he described is "not very cool". I'm inclined to agree; anyone leaving any woods like that is not very cool. I'm not gonna get my undies in a bundle about it, but if I, or anyone else wants to post on a forum about how cool it isn't, that's their right I reckon.
Be thankful it's just tubing and taps, in southeastern MA, people use the MWA for their personal hazardous waste dump, and murder victims. ..
Saying "not cool" and "I'm pissed" is passing judgement.Quote:
Originally Posted by motowbrowne
William you seem to have an axe to grind and are unable to let this go?? Is it because I'm a hunter? Or that I care? William let me ask you this: would you ever leave your property in the condition described? For me it's not cool and I am pissed but I'm willing to investigate and do my part to make it better, offer my help and hopefully turn what was once a productive sugar bush into something beneficial for somebody.....My God!!Quote:
Originally Posted by wiam
My family spends a ton of time in the woods hunting hiking fishing. I have always taught my boys to leave the woods with more than you brought in..and yes on land we do not own! They respect the land we are allowed to hunt. They clean up their empty shell cases and have even volunteered to help farmers that allow us usage of their property........
I work closely with a logger in Bennington VT...how would your own state look at the described situation if it was part of the Green Mountain Forest?
Nothing to do with your being a hunter. I hunt. It is because you are complaining about an inaction by someone you don't know or the circumstances surrounding it on land that is not yours.Quote:
Originally Posted by johnpma
You're right William, the OP is totally wrong. It is super cool that someone left a bunch of plastic garbage in the woods. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by wiam
Really don't want to get involved with this thread, but leaving a woods like that has actually crossed my mind a few times. Kind of depends on the terms and the situation. If you were more than fair for many years to a landowner and they kicked you out from tapping, would you clean up the woods? or just walk away?
I think it's not so much what the OP said about the way the land was left but the way he said it, while I tend to agree with the OP that you should always leave someone else's property in as good or better condition than when you borrowed/used/recreated on it there still is a thin line between having an issue with how someone potentially leaves or maintained their own property. It's just a different way of thinking that's all.
I certainly don't want anyone to tell me what I can do with my property and the original post was kinda headed that way. Hense the "Don't get too Excited".
Exactly what I am saying. I would not leave my woods like that. They are my woods.Quote:
Originally Posted by n8hutch
Personally I'd clean it up.......but you are correct maybe the owner just boot the producer off his propertyQuote:
Originally Posted by markcasper
Actually now the land belongs to every taxpayer in Massachusetts........ I have contacted Mass Wildlife.......interested to see their responseQuote:
Originally Posted by wiam
yeah we are going to at least try/offer to help clean up the woods.....guess I would not get so worked up if it wasn't such a beautiful place.........and I know in a lot of states things like this would be frowned on by the local government. The irony is that they frown on throwing old fishing line and 6 pack rings out in the wilderness and then you see a mess like this and nobody says a thingQuote:
Originally Posted by WESTMAPLES
yeah your moving in the right direction trying to offer to clean it up.... i hope they let you do so. honestly ive seen other sugar bushs, farms and houses left in the same state when out hunting, fishing or even going to look a a new excavation job.... and it does hurt to see mother nature dumped on like that, but who is to blame for the mess you found?? i wouldn`t place the blame on the dead farmer, more like the family, but even then they passed the buck to the MW . trust me ive picked up my fair share of roadside trash to try to help me feel like i still did my part in keeping my little area of the country nice or nicer then it was
Update- Mass Wildlife has ordered the stewardship biologist to evaluate the disaster that was left over the acreage and devise a plan to clean the mess up. This sugarbush will become available to lease from the state only because it was an established sugaring area for a long time. They agree that it is unacceptable and needs to be addressed.
very good job john !! since you reported it, you should try to lease a small amount of it , to make it a sweet ending to the horrible mess you found
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Originally Posted by wiam
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Originally Posted by johnpma
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Originally Posted by motowbrowne
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Originally Posted by motowbrowne
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Originally Posted by wiam
Do we all need a quit room to go into with ocean sounds and a light wind blowing so relax us 🤣