Winter ended in late March. April was a transitional month, with freezing rains and raw winds. In May, spring truly arrives. As day after day the sun continues to shine, to warm the cold waters of Oak Lake near the Illinois-Wisconsin border, the lives of the animal who live in and around the lake begin to change, for May is the Wild Season. The feeding, the fighting, the mating, the bearing of young and the dying of nature's wild creatures take on intensity and excitement. There is a renewed vigor in the processes of life.