By Mike Roche

June is the month where most bird and wildlife species are rearing young. This is when most species are tending offspring, and coyote pups and fox, skunk, and raccoon kits start to emerge from their dens to join their adults for a crash course on how to survive. They are taught for a short time before leaving their family group and having to survive on their own.

Young animals need to learn to hunt and forage for food. Coyotes, foxes, skunks and raccoon are omnivores, meaning they eat both plants and meat. After being weaned from mother’s milk, food is supplied when adults find food and bring it back to their den for the young to eat. Over time, pups and kits will observe the adults hunting and foraging and imitate that behavior. While raccoon and skunk moms are the sole caretaker for their kits, young coyotes and foxes will learn from both parents and potentially other family group members as well.

June is also when pups and kits become more mobile and visible to people. You may encounter fox kits outside playing or resting. Fox activity in residential areas very rarely causes conflict with people and pets, and simply seeing wildlife in your neighborhood is nothing you need to react to. It is always best to give wildlife space. Control your pets and never intentionally or unintentionally feed wildlife. If you are wondering what to do if you find young wildlife without an adult, you should never assume a young animal is orphaned or abandoned. In most cases, the best thing to do is leave it alone. That advice is particularly important to whitetail deer. Fawns are often left alone for long periods, as does travel to feed before returning to nurse. Leave them alone!

Last week was spent on Webber Lake in Vassalboro, Maine. Using Airbnb, my wife and her sister Pam found the lakeside property and it was perfect. My brother-in-law Norm McDade and I fished every day using my Tahoe Fish ‘N Ski boat and the girls prowled around the Augusta/Vassalboro area, where they had spent time on their grandfather’s farm while growing up. The farm was sold, and the land is now the site of two golf courses. We played one of them during a break from fishing. Enough said about that.

The fishing, on the other hand, was excellent. There was a dock for the boat and each morning we got an early start and explored the 1,200-acre man-made pond, which is known for big bass. Our prospecting, using tried and true lures, quickly produced fish with small (10-13-inch) largemouth bass eating Senkos and hitting Mepps spinners and crank baits. We also got into crappie (calico bass) and big yellow perch at every shallow water location we tried, as it was obvious that the spawn was on. Our quest for bigger fish continued every day and small bass, usually 50-plus per day, were all we caught before we each boated fish in the two-pound class the first evening when fishing top-water baits in a stiff breeze that produced fast action.

We fished hard and caught a lot of small bass, crappie and perch. Wind influenced where we could fish but we were handicapped by the lack of electronics. This writer is not a big “fish-finder” guy, but the 2007 Tahoe was equipped with a small Lowrance sonar mounted in the bow. This was the first outing of the season, and the unit was not functioning. No power. With no time to diagnose, we were ‘blind,’ except for the boat’s depth finder. Not having water temperatures or being able to mark fish put us back into the Stone Age of bass fishing. On the last day, we fished a pattern of depth and weed cover and this resulted in a few bigger bass, but none of the lunkers we were after.

So it is now time to break down and buy a modern sonar unit. At this stage of my life, spending thousands of dollars and learning to operate the state-of-the-art technology that scans sidewise and down and includes detailed maps of the bottom of every body of water in North America is not happening. The search will begin looking for “sonar for dummies.”

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Remember that July 16 is the deadline to apply for a Massachusetts Antlerless Deer Permit (ADP). You can apply for an ADP through the Massicot online system, and you must apply by the July 16 deadline. First, log into MassFishHunt and once logged in, go to ‘Apply for an Antlerless Deer Permit’ in the top menu and click Apply. If you’re on a mobile device, click on the three lines in the top left to access the main menu. Select the zone you want to apply for and click ‘Submit All Choices.’ Click Checkout to complete the process. There is no fee to apply. Good luck!

Mike Roche is a retired teacher who has been involved in conservation and wildlife issues his entire life. He has written the Sportsman’s Corner since 1984 and has served as advisor to the Mahar Fish’N Game Club, counselor and director of the Massachusetts Conservation Camp, former Connecticut Valley District representative on the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board, has been a Massachusetts Hunter Education Instructor and is a licensed New York hunting guide. He can be reached at mikeroche3@msn.com.