Just a reminder for the maple sappers out there, the trees are running. Not much, but running none the less. If you’re like me this caught me by surprise a bit, seems early but with all the snow it’s deceiving. So get out your buckets, boil the taps, and fire up those cookers! 
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time to get up to the shack, nothing beats tapping the trees then heading out on Mille Lacs and nail a few perch for supper, might wait another week to be sure, but the weekend looks like prime time also. Last year was a pretty quick season, not much collected.
Pete,
Our “sappers” are saying at least a week to ten days or more before they tap the trees, based on the temp forecast the next 2 weeks. Yes, it will drip a little each afternoon when above 32 degrees for a while but not enough to tap the trees.
Last year the run was short but a gusher while it lasted!
I’ll tap tonight and keep you posted, I’m a little gun shy from last year!
I was at a small concert where the band was selling cute one liners on t-shirts and my daughter snatched up the “whazz sapining” Shirt. Great info Red Door, we are just north of your ice shack yard, and don’t you have some sort of sugar shack out there? Kind of a picnic shelter with a gas heated stainless table to cook sap down? Our sugar shack is just a poured concrete pad, my brother was looking at some used stainless finishers from Vermont.
This will be the scene in a few days. The boiling pan is 39″ x 84″ x 8″ deep. We boil down about 1500-2000 gallons of sap each spring.
Nothing beats that smell coming off that sap when you boil it down
thanks for the pictures Red Door, hate to be the guy climbing the ladder with a full bucket after having a few too many warm-up cocktails 
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