Bazookapple Express and the Skunk Lion!

[Goldwasher]

I've been chomping at the bit to sluice a spot I sampled last fall below where I've gotten nuggets before. Theres quartz in some of the gold I'm still trying to decide if its undug material on the edge of handstacks or if its eroded from the stacks themselves. when I come across the material its very distinct and not like the material that's in the cracks actually in the waterway. When I find it in traps its pretty hard and shows really good chunky color.
Well. since we had this river of moisture coming in I knew there would finally be enough water to run my Bazooka. Between waves of rain I got out Saturday for about two and a half hours Sunday I got about an hour and fifteen minutes. I only ran about eight partial buckets maybe between the two days. This is an area that was originally dug by the Kanaka Hawiian Islanders that were here during the beginning of the goldrush. It was not reworked by the Chinese and during the depression work was focused on the rich pockets that are located on the ridges above. Like today the drainage only has water seasonally. So counting on water to placer mine was an issue back in the day which is a good thing for me. It made effective work sporadic. A modern prospector has more versatility dealing with the water situation.

I think the Islanders were looking over my shoulder especially on Saturday.

The day started out weird from the get go. I backed up my truck had put on my rubber boots I'm standing by my tailgate and I hear a couple tom's down below gobbling cool I'm thinking same ones I saw the other day same general area...spring season is coming up

I went to close my driver door right as I leave the back of my truck and hear a young cat/kitten meowing sort of a help me I'm right here meow. I come back around fully expecting to see a wet lost cat as I am actually pretty close to houses. As I'm walking coming around I hear it farther down the draw at the edge of the tree but don't see it then no more meows and no more gobbles
I throw on my pack grab bucket and shovel and head into the trees so I can hit the old trail to the diggings. There is an old road That I have cleared I can cover the distance to the diggings in total silence and its below the modern trail. I have this feeling that I really need to pay attention today. Walking slowly scanning the understory listening to the awesome sound of a swollen creek.
Make it to my spot drop gear set up sluice no rain some blue patches of sky. Set up my sluice start opening up the hole I want to work.On my second bucket I'm working in a t-shirt rain still hasn't come in yet but, Its on the way.
I'm on my second bucket even though I'm running a bazooka the material is mucky and the water fast so I'm feeding with my Jobe scoop but, feeding quickly like a four minute bucket. As I'm feeding I catch a faint stale skunk smell...keep feeding check my self for scent lol I was damp and had my down vest on earlier which does need washed lol...I smell skunk again same stale old smell....
Now my mind is going over a conversation I had with a neighbor the other day and I will give some back story. This is in the area of my claim. Sometime in late December a mountain lion killed a skunk and added it to its deer kill stash pile there are numerous scrape piles on the ground and several tracks about three and a half inches across a young cat. My neighbor and I were talking about how this cat was gonna be ripe for a while. I wasn't sure of the wind direction so I chucked a couple cobbles upstream in a few directions....still feeding sluice skunk smell stronger...I don't like this I'm scanning every direction. I don't like my thoughts or the feeling.
I climb up higher on the bedrock near my hole . I catch the wind direction its coming from the direction my back was facing while I'm cleaning the hole out. I'm scanning and looking.....in this one area...hmmmm don't see anything I am looking over this one area for a good minute...I go to look the other way not fully turning around right as I turn my head .....BOOM right from the brush I was just staring at something LOW LONG BROWN AND FAST explodes from the bush and runs directly up the tailings coming down from an upper bench. It was fast quiet and 20 YARDS AWAY. It bolted from right next to the creek. It must have thought I was looking at it, it held fast until I saw me turn.
Muscle memory is awesome...I do not remember drawing my 1911 but, since it was out I popped off a few rounds into the bank near where it ran up after the second shot I heard more cobbles come down the hill fifty yards up farther. never did I hear the clumbsy thumping sound of a bounding deer. This was a ninja of the forest damned Catamount trying to sneak up on me glad he ate a skunk a month ago.
I wasn't freaked out my hair never stood up but, it was hard to keep my head into my work very well two more buckets the rain was coming in pretty good. I went home to freak out my wife. The next day I went back and dug a few more buckets never smelled a skunk. If its the same cat he has been seen a few times in the last month young about 50lbs and seen during the day several times....he's not gonna last long if he keeps it up.

 

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[Goldwasher]

You can see the difference in water level from Saturday to Sunday. And I do not think the meow was a Mt. Lion just coincidence.

 

[arizau]

A spooky story well told. Thanks for sharing. Nice gold too.
More good luck to you!

 

[jog]

A couple of years ago I was spring bear hunting and came across a cougar sunning himself on a rock at the bottom of a canyon, one shot later and I was on my way down to pack it out. Let’s just say that the closer I got the more it smelled like a skunk. I packed the cat out in pieces and after all was said and done I had to clean my clothes and new pack several times with a skunk deodorizer. Wasn't even able to save the pelt after several attempts at deodorizing it. Somedays I feel like I can still smell it.
Very nice gold in that pan by the way.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Quite an adventure and it ends with gold in the pan

 

[The Gilded Lens]

Wow! Great adventure story! I've been up to the Kanaka area once, beautiful country!

Glad that cat didn't get the better of you! Also glad he had been skunked.

Beautiful pans! Love that chunky gold!

We had a run in with two cats one night. At the time our road had a small bridge crossing that continued over a lake dam and the garbage man would put the cans like 20 feet from the bridge on a gravel turnout. There was some bushes blocking the view of the bridge from there. About 1 am coming home from a friends house we stopped, hubby picked up the two garbage cans and got back in the truck. We turned the corner around the bush to drive across the bridge and two cougars were on the bridge! One sitting and one lying down. Inches towards them and the finally slowly walked the bank of the dam and skulked off.

 

[Goldwasher]

Not "the" Kanaka are But, "A" Kanaka area. This one is small and little known. Talking to a few of the homeowners just to make sure they knew, cat was in there backyard. I have found out that this one is not scared of people. A guy was panning upstream and it walked right by him on the other side of the creek!!!!!

 

[rodoconnor]

Goldwasher , if that was Kanaka Creek [near the Orig 16 to ! ], I worked it for a few years. I have a few ghost stores as well ! Kind of a haunted area I guess.

 

[Goldwasher]

Nope not there either But, I do like ghost stories.

 

[arizau]

Goldwasher , if that was Kanaka Creek [near the Orig 16 to ! ], I worked it for a few years. I have a few ghost stores as well ! Kind of a haunted area I guess.

One may have been my Uncle who worked for the 16 to 1 for many years until he passed away in the mid to late 50's. Many stories about Tommy Knockers in that and other local area mines. The town is a dump now compared to what I remember from the 50's to late 60's. I'm sorry I went back to see it last year. Too bad.

 

[goldenmojo]

Glad you didn't get added to the pile with the deer and the skunk. That would have been an unbelievable smelly mess.......

 

[Goldwasher]

...........

 

[DizzyDigger]

Generally, if you see the cat..he's not hunting you. Deer populations
are quite high all over the west, so these cats should have plenty
of chow readily available.

Jog: You didn't say why you needed to shoot the cat, but
I'm sure you had a reason. FWIW, a cougar isn't going to kill
a skunk unless it has no choice, but a civet skunk has a stink
that seems almost permanent. Cat must have spooked the skunk
into spraying..lol.

 

[jog]

Generally, if you see the cat..he's not hunting you. Deer populations
are quite high all over the west, so these cats should have plenty
of chow readily available.

Jog: You didn't say why you needed to shoot the cat, but
I'm sure you had a reason. FWIW, a cougar isn't going to kill
a skunk unless it has no choice, but a civet skunk has a stink
that seems almost permanent. Cat must have spooked the skunk
into spraying..lol.

It was spring bear season & I never bear hunt without a cat tag.

 

[goldenmojo]

I saw the kill site a few weeks ago and my thought at the time was an unwary human could end up on this pile. IT has happened before in the general area. Here is an article from about 20 years ago.


COOL, Calif. — Trackers hunted Tuesday for the mountain lion they say stalked and killed a jogger in the rugged Sierra Nevada foothills northeast of Sacramento.

The mutilated body of Barbara Schoener, 40, was discovered Sunday in the isolated Auburn Lake Trails area of El Dorado County.

Sheriff's detectives said she had been attacked by a cougar that bit her neck and crushed her skull, then dragged the partially consumed body about 300 feet and buried it under leaves and debris. Experts said mountain lions often conceal their prey and return when they are hungry.

The Sheriff's Department, releasing preliminary autopsy results, said in a written statement that Schoener apparently was running along the trail when the lion jumped onto the path about 20 feet behind her and attacked her from the rear.

 

[Goldwasher]

Generally, if you see the cat..he's not hunting you. Deer populations
are quite high all over the west, so these cats should have plenty
of chow readily available.

Jog: You didn't say why you needed to shoot the cat, but
I'm sure you had a reason. FWIW, a cougar isn't going to kill
a skunk unless it has no choice, but a civet skunk has a stink
that seems almost permanent. Cat must have spooked the skunk
into spraying..lol.

Dizzy everything you say is true in general that is.
I discovered its deer kill by accident late December. By accident on the trail I have made from where I park my truck and hike down to our claim. It is an area I'm in often so I was surprised when it was there one day and in the area. It had something cornered in some brush there were tracks circling three groups of brush. Few days later and the carcass was scattered more. Some of the fleshy stuff was buried in scrape piles nearby...sorta like he was sorting the keep pile from the pone pile. I took pictures. Then a few days later the business end of the skunk was on the bone pile kinda like " yuck wish I didn't have to resort to that"
I do believe this is a younger lion tracks are about three inches across he was moving quick when he jumped from his hide like maybe four feet not counting tail.
There is a residential road on both sides of the canyon and he it has been seen several times in recent weeks and caught on a trail cam.
Maybe it wasn't hunting me but, it was most definitely stalking me and sneaking up on me. Ending up about 20 - 25 yards away. I'm glad it stunk and was on the otherside of a fast moving creek below a deep pool. I'm also glad for the direction the wind was coming. It was approaching from my backside as I was on me knees cleaning bedrock. And then when I winded him my back was tuned and I was in the middle of the creek back facing it again. Keeping in mind it was 15 yards shy of pounce range. I don't want either of us to find out in the moment if I was too big of a prey Item. It had decided to get as close a look as possible that's for sure. The only reason I saw him is that I was looking into the wind at the closest brush too me that he happened to be hiding in, it must have thought I was onto him cause as soon as I broke what it must have perceived as eye contact he lit out and up the hill. The reason I popped some rounds off is to make him feel like people are very scary..so far it doesn't seem to feel that way. It is curios and active near homes during daylight hours. Its patrol seems to be taking him up and down this creek bottom....and its my creek bottom so he needs to go patrol elsewhere....or at least beat it when he hears/smells us in the area.

 

[sierra_ronin]

Thank goodness you smelled it before you saw him. Like you said, "ninja of the forest"...and with the rain falling to cancel out any audible sounds of it's footsteps it would have been on you before you realized it was there. Even a small cougar like that may have been curious enough to see if it could take you. I applaud firing the warning shots, this cougar sounds a bit too comfortable around humans. Nonetheless glad you got out of there uninjured and with some chunky gold to boot. Salute

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Glad you had a pistol with you, or you might not be here to tell us that story.

 

[TAKODA]

I expect that would intensify the senses a little bit . I know if I had a panther sneak'n around
trying to figure a percentage on my ass it would take my day up a notch .
Make a man feel alive .


Nice Shine .

 

[TAKODA]

Glad you had a pistol with you, or you might not be here to tell us that story.

I don't know .................... With a can do attitude and a good knife .......................



I like Washers chances against one 150 lbs or under .