While visiting Bear Country, USA, a young red fox caught my eye. He was curled up on the grass in a position almost directly below where I was standing by the exhibit railing in the Babyland section of the park. I had my Nikon D800 with the massive 500mm lens attached. When I looked through the lens, I noticed that the fox filled the frame.

I was excited about the possibility of capturing this picture. But, there were challenges. First, the fox was sleeping. Next, the lighting was very flat and dull as the sun was blocked by some thick clouds. Finally, the crop was so tight that there was very little room for error.

My hope was for the fox to wake up while I was still there. And when he did wake up, I needed the fox to keep his same position. I wanted the animal to simply open his eyes.

The combination of a gripped D800 and 500mm lens is very heavy and quickly becomes difficult to handhold. So, I attached the camera/lens to my tripod. This helped make the waiting game more manageable.

I set this shot up about an hour before the park was scheduled to close. After 30 minutes, the fox was still sleeping! It was getting later in the afternoon and the lighting was excellent. All I needed was for the fox to open his eyes.

This was the last day of shooting on my South Dakota road trip. During the course of a road trip like this, I know that I will capture quite a few good images. I also know that I will only have the opportunity to capture a handful (if I'm lucky) of outstanding images. I thought this picture of the red fox had a chance to be one of those outstanding images--one of the top three or four images of the 11 day journey. So, I would wait until the park closed in order to get this shot.

After the 30 minutes, the fox opened his eyes and looked up at me. I fired a couple of shots and hoped that at least one would be in focus. Fortunately, it was tack sharp!

Red FoxRed fox (Vulpes vulpes) at Bear Country USA at 13820 US-16 in Rapid City, South Dakota on November 2, 2015