SAP CAMP

SAP CAMP

There are many types of camps and as seasons change, camps can serve many purposes. So far, I’ve determined that there are hunting camps, fishing camps, party camps, ATV camps, trapping camps and reading camps. There is a “new” type of camp that I’ve opened on my own, “sap camp”. This type of unique camp kicks in during late February and continues into early April.

Sap camp lives by its own set of rules. The first one is, “What happens at sap camp leaves sap camp”. This is because the idea of this type of camp is to hunt and collect as much sap from Acer Saccuharum (Sugar Maples) as possible and then get the sap off the premises either as sap or syrup. Some sap camps are called “Sugar Shacks” but sugar shacks are more of a syrup camp, since that is where the sap is boiled down into syrup or sugar. A group of maples which are donating sap isn’t called a flock, gaggle or herd but is referred to as a sugar bush. ..even though they are trees and definitely not bushes.

There is some trophy management involved with hunting and tapping the wild or tame maple tree. You want to pass on the little ones so they can grow and you definitely want to seek out the biggest, broadest crowned, widest girthed trees that you can as they produce the sweetest sap. Being that maples do well with wide crowns, you must thin the bush somewhat to have better sap production. So, to the horror of some deer hunters who hold weird notions on management, like most other herds or crops, sugar maples have to be thinned so that those left will grow broad and strong. Having too many maples crowding each other is actually detrimental to the overall health of the bush.

A weekend at sap camp is not for the feint of heart or the halfhearted. You have to be dedicated to hunting maples. You can’t ambush them (even though they are gaggled in a bush), you can’t bait them to you or call them in. You must stride into the forest and go to them. However, the up side is that you don’t have to sneak up on them. To get to a maple takes some work. I happen to have a sap camp that is on the side of a steep mountain. Gravity helps get the sap off the mountain but getting to the trees takes a whole lot of fighting gravity. The last couple of years, in order to get to a tree not only was the trail steep but it was covered in hip deep snow. This year we had shin deep snow covered with a layer of ice and because that didn’t seem fun enough to watch for the maple Gods, they came back the next day and covered it with a foot of snow. Getting to the maples has become slow and somewhat treacherous. In fact, several times while hunting maples in these conditions, I thought that getting attacked by a mythical or real mountain lion would really bring some relief to my day. Mind you this work is for only about ten gallons a tap a season at $0.20 to $0.40 cents to the gallon, depending on sugar content. The money is in the boiling of the sap into syrup. (Our sap camp hasn’t engaged in the syrup making portion of the process yet, leading to legitimate questions about our real motivation or sanity).

Like most other things, sappers have to suffer predation. If you get mad at deer in your garden, elk in your apples, bears on your fawns and hawks on your game birds imagine balancing yourself on 2 feet of snow and ice, re-rigging tubing, taking an extra 15-20 minutes per tree, in freezing temperatures because a squirrel decided to chew on a tube, for no apparent reason. (A review of a squirrels dietary requirements and suggested vitamin intake indicates that NO PLASTIC IS NEEDED!) But every year there is just a little hole or two, per line, which will let gallons of hard earned sap that will not pay enough to replace your lines, even if you get all of it, dump onto the ground. No longer such a cute, harmless, little critter with chubby, chattering cheeks, is it? No, the little pip squeaks become more of a huge, buck-toothed, horror machine declaring war on your sap heritage. I’ll get around to suing someone over squirrel management just as soon as I have time and I’m not so stinking tired. There is work to be done.

So after that cheerful review of all the good things about sap camp and sap collecting you may wonder, “How do I get into this field of work?” All you have to do is get bad grades in school and fail a psychological exam. Then be willing to “invest” money you’ll never get back and you’re set. Other than that if you enjoy being in the woods year round under most weather conditions, have a general admiration for trees, like the smell of sugar smoke, being in camps, jawing with old timers and the idea of having a good excuse for hating squirrels; sap camp may be for you, too.

See you along the stream.