IT’S NOT THE time to make hay while the sun shines, but if you aren’t wetting a line for steelhead you can tap into something sweet during the sunny spell forecasted through Tuesday.
“It is time to tap your native maple trees to make your own maple syrup,” said Quilcene’s Ward Norden, a former fisheries biologist and owner of Snapper Tackle Co.
“The season lasts into March and the sap really pours into the buckets, or 1-gallon plastic milk jugs, whenever we have one of those rare sunny days that warms the treetops. My most productive trees are not the big ones. My best producers are the young trees, eight to 12 inches in diameter.
The mild winter thus far has the syrup flowing swiftly.
“I have been feverishly making syrup from our maples,” Norden said. “In all the years I have been doing this, I have never had trees produce this much so quickly. I only tapped three because I was tired of being overwhelmed. It still has happened. [Monday] those three maples dumped 2 ½ gallons into the buckets in 24 hours and I can’t leave the house for long as the sap is boiling on our front porch. Amazing!”
Other options
Norden has some other outdoors opportunities that are perfect for sunny days.
“For hunters who enjoy hunting our local blacktail deer, this is the time of year to get into serious scouting for next season, believe it or not,” Norden said. “The deer are very inactive to conserve valuable energy and rarely seen so, in my experience, if a hunter goes out for a walk on one of our rare sunny days and sees even a couple sets of fresh tracks, that is an indication of a healthy number of deer in an area. My theory for this month is that if I see a set of fresh tracks, that signifies seven or eight other deer also in the area.”
Steamer digging
Some low tides below 2 feet are planned this weekend, paving the way for some steamer clam digs.
“Steamer clams can be raked at any low tide below 2 feet since steamers live higher on the beach than other clams,” Norden said. “If memory serves, the first of those tides is [Sunday] (using the Port Angeles tide tables).”
Predator hunt
Coyotes have been raising a ruckus in my neighborhood near Lincoln Park, probably the same varmints that nabbed my cat Hank last August.
“This is the best time of year to hunt our local predators like coyotes, bobcat or lions,” Norden said. “For the next two or three weeks coyote pelts will be at their prime if you can find one without the mange disease (they all seem to have it from my experience). An injured fawn call or a mouse squeak call seem to work the best for me but not the jackrabbit or loud cottontail calls.”
Sportsmen’s Show
The Washington Sportsmen’s Show and Sport Fishing Boat Show runs through Sunday at the State Fair Events Center in Puyallup.
The event boasts a new kayak fishing pavilion, the Garmin Tech Center to dial in GPS devices, more than 50 seminars on all manner of outdoor information each day and a kids trout pond for ages 12 and younger. Kids 12 and younger are admitted free.
For more information, or to buy tickets for the show, visit tinyurl.com/PDN-SportsmensShow19.
