Outdoors with Don Q: Wildlife in the area of the 'Quilici Cabin'

By way of background, the “Quilici Cabin” is located in a rural area of Plumas County at an elevation of exactly 6,000 feet on a steep hillside between Portola and Davis Lake in Northern California; and it is jointly owned by Jim, Kathi, Don and Elaine Quilici, all of Carson City.

That two-story cabin was built back in 2003, and from our deck, you have a spectacular, world-class view of the surrounding groves of pine trees and quaking aspen trees plus the nearby and the faraway mountains.
In addition, through the years that area has been visited by all kinds of wildlife that has consisted of the following:

A. Numerous black bears:
1. Last year there was a mother bear with triplet cubs and another mother bear with twin clubs – all seven visited a neighbor’s cabin at the same time.
2. The bear that climbed a tree with a sign that says: "Do not feed the bears."
3. The bear that left its “Calling Card” one night by our cabin’s front porch.

B. Many mule deer including:
1. A mother doe that gave birth to twin fawns while Kathi watched from the cabin’s deck, a very short distance away.
2. A mother doe with triplet fawns, plus a mother doe with twin fawns, who were frequent visitors for an entire spring, summer and fall.
3. The magnificent 6X5 buck with the crooked left front leg who was a visitor for three straight years until last year when he was a “No Show.”
He would calmly approach to within about 3-4 feet of a person to check you out, before slowly wandering off.
4. The 13 deer (bucks, does and fawns) that spent one entire afternoon lying in the shade of a large pine tree, just down the hillside from the cabin’s deck.
5. The tiny spotted fawn that accompanied a large buck for one entire spring.
6. The four bucks who closely followed four wild turkeys wandering down the gravel road in front of the cabin. It looked like a wildlife parade.

C. Other wildlife has included:
1. A family of raccoons slowly walking down the paved road. They lived under the deck of a nearby cabin that was vacant for a long, long time.
2. The wild turkey hen that walked right up to my cousin Lorraine Scholes.
3. The miserable squirrel that stole the only four apples on our apple tree. Due to yearly, late spring frosts, those were the first-ever apples on that tree.
4. Another miserable squirrel (or maybe the same one) that gnawed through a tiny plastic hose that waters one of our quaking aspen trees. There was water squirting everywhere until that hose was replaced.
5. The crazy woodpecker that would loudly peck on the cabin’s metal roof at exactly 7:05 a.m. each morning. He had to get a headache from doing that!
6. A pair of Canada Geese closely followed by about a dozen small goslings, as they all slowly paddled past us, while we were fishing at Davis Lake.
7. The two quail parents followed by two dozen chicks in the springtime.
That number was sadly reduced (by predation) down to about only six young quail by late summer.
8. The several dozen bats that had decided to make a home in the cabin’s porch roof before they were scared away…hopefully….permanently.
9. The tiny humming birds flitting about the flowers in the flower garden.

D. In addition:
There have also been coyotes, mountain lions, bobcats, chipmunks, hawks, buzzards, blue grouse, blue jays, ducks, coots, pelicans, lizards, bees, yellow jackets, wasps, flies, mosquitoes, caterpillars, etc. in that general area.

E. In addition to the wildlife:
I would be remiss if I did not mention the constantly barking dogs that belong to nearby folks who are apparently stone deaf.
Wishful thinking on my part: It would be so peacefully quiet if those noisy dogs were to disappear, forever, off the face of the earth.

F. Finally:
You never know what you will see in that area, whether it is spring, summer, fall or winter; but you can count on one thing: Whatever you see, will be a great example of Mother Nature’s handiwork...except for the barking dogs.

Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you about our closest encounter with wildlife at our cabin.
If he grins and says, "Heck, that is easy. It was this year when one afternoon, a curious doe deer walked up to Elaine, who was seated in a folding chair in the shade in front of the cabin, sniffed her hand, walked round to sniff the back of her neck, and then slowly ambled down the hillside," he could have been quietly seated in another of the folding chairs.

— Don Quilici is the Outdoor editor of Carson Now and www.SouthTahoeNow.com. He can be reached at donquilici@hotmail.com