BAXTER STATE PARK, Maine -- Sooner or later, the Mooseman figured, the cow moose feeding on underwater vegetation near the far end of Sandy Stream Pond would realize it was time to nurse the newborn calf waiting patiently along the shore.
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One of the most important things Bill Silliker Jr. brings into the field is patience. (Joel Page, Associated Press)
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"She'll grunt, and the calf will then stand up and say, 'Hey Mom, remember me? I'm hungry,' " said an equally patient Bill Silliker Jr. He stood for more than an hour on rocks along the opposite shore behind a digital camera and a 500 mm telephoto lens mounted on a tripod.
Skies were overcast and the bugs bit mercilessly as the scene unfolded just as Silliker, aka the Mooseman, had predicted.
Minutes after it started raining, the moose suddenly raced through the water, leaving behind what looked like the wake from an outboard-powered skiff. Once on shore, the mother briefly nursed her calf before the pair exited into the woods.
For his time and effort, Silliker came away with some usable cow-with-calf images to add to his roughly 50,000 stock moose photos, possibly the largest such collection anywhere.
Those pictures, along with tens of thousands of shots of white-tailed deer, eagles, loons, bears and other animals, have enabled the 55-year-old Silliker to make the transition from a 20-year career as a safety consultant for insurance companies to full-time wildlife photographer.
It's not an easy way to make a living. Rob Sheppard, editor of Outdoor Photographer, said a lot of people work at it part-time, but Silliker is one of the few who spend enough time in the wild to get the steady supply of new and different shots that the market demands.
"Bill's work is very solid. He's one of the blue-collar guys who gets out there and gets the job done," said Sheppard, whose magazine has used Silliker's work over the years.
During the three months of the year that Silliker spends photographing wildlife, he may be stalking moose or grizzly bears in Alaska, a state he has visited 14 times. Or he might be looking for elk or coyotes in Yellowstone National Park, endangered gray whales off the coast of Mexico or white-tailed deer in Texas.
Some of his travel is for freelance magazine assignments for which he sometimes also provides written material; on other trips he often shoots "on spec," obtaining fresh material for his stock photo collection.
Silliker, who grew up in southern Maine, also teaches eight or nine wildlife photography workshops a year and presents at least a dozen slide shows to organizations around the country.
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A moose in Millinocket, Maine. Bill Silliker Jr., says that although the animal can get quite big, "(they can go up to 1,400 pounds and 7 feet at the shoulder) could do a heck of lot of damage, but they're pretty gentle most of the time." (Joel Page, Associated Press)
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Moose remain his favorite subject, and the one for which he is most widely known. The Mooseman handle, which he picked up from his Internet service provider while choosing an e-mail address, has stuck.
Silliker's moose-sighting visit to Baxter State Park in mid-June came hours before the start of a five-day workshop that drew students from as far as South Carolina.
He spotted about two dozen moose during his scouting trip that morning. The first was a 500-pound male yearling, and the photographer explained that the moose had just reached the age at which it was abandoned by the mother.
"He's walking around, trying to find his place in the world. It's like being a teenager and going out on your own," he said.
Cruising the Golden Road and stopping at River Pond, Silliker managed to get to within 15 or 20 feet of a pair of moose. He calmed them with conversation during his slow approach and monitored their body language for signs they wanted him to back off.
"Hey, buddy, whatcha doing?" he said in the gentle tone of a dog owner addressing his pet.
Silliker's affection for moose is apparent, and he likes to paraphrase Will Rogers by saying he never met a moose he didn't like.
"Moose seem to represent something from a time gone by. They kind of look prehistoric," he said. "An animal that big -- and they can go up to 1,400 pounds and 7 feet at the shoulder -- could do a heck of lot of damage, but they're pretty gentle most of the time."
The greatest danger is likely to arise when a moose watcher gets positioned between cow and calf. That happened inadvertently to Silliker, who recalls how he had to ditch his camera gear and start to scramble up a tree before mother moose realized that junior was OK and ambled off.
Moose watchers also should be cautious during the fall mating season when a bull with raging hormones can turn ornery, turning on anything in his path.
His interest in wildlife photography took root in the mid-1980s when he became alarmed about plans for a major development near his home in what is now part of the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge. To bolster the case for preserving the salt marsh, he took a photographic inventory of its wildlife, clicking away at everything from snowy egrets and great blue herons to muskrats and otters.
His hobby evolved into a profession after he began his insurance job. Armed with cameras, he would head to places rich in wildlife to write his reports. If he were to inspect a workplace in Calais, for example, he might write up his findings at the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, while keeping an eye out for an eagle or black bear he could capture on film.
His seven books include four about moose and one each about eagles, loons and conservation. Four more books are scheduled for publication this year and next, including "The Moose Encyclopedia."
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