Town of Banff

Red Fox Pup

This John Marriott photo of a red fox pup was the Mammals Winner of the Canadian Geographic Wildlife Photography of the Year contest for 2008. There was also a Birds Winner and an Insects Winner.

Red Fox Pup Photo: © John E. Marriott, wildernessprints.com

John describes how he got the award-winning shot:

I was on a deserted country road near Killdeer, Saskatchewan this past June (2008).  I'd been driving around the Killdeer and Rockglen areas for a few days looking for badger and red fox dens and had been having quite a bit of success.  On that particular morning I'd been skunked at the den I'd sat by at dawn, so I was driving around checking a few of the other den sites I'd found.  As I was driving past a hillside I'd driven by several times already, I suddenly noticed two fox pups playing in the tall grass just a few metres off the road beside what looked like another den, a new one that I hadn't noticed before!

I took a few shots of the pups out of my car window, then got out to try to sneak in a little closer.  As soon as the pups saw me, WHOOSH!, they were gone down the hole.  So I quickly raced forward and set myself up behind a bale of hay at the bottom of the hill, about fifty metres away from the den.

After a few minutes, the pups came back out.  Not feeling any danger and not seeing me behind the hay, they started playing again, running all over the hillside chasing each other.  As they were racing about, I spotted a pair of rust-coloured ears poking up over the top of the hill. 

"No way!  There's another pup!"

It looked poised to pounce down on the pups below, so I quickly focused on the spot where I thought it might land, then fired off a series of shots as the pup launched itself through the air like Superman, intent on ambushing its siblings. 

"Please, please, please," I muttered to myself, hoping that at least one of the shots was sharp.  A quick check on the back of my digital camera, and I knew instantly that I had a 'stunner'. 

Read more about John's adventures in wildlife photo blog, and watch for his new book  Wildlife of the Canadian Rockies, in stores throughout Banff.