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It was the photo seen around the world: A buck swimming for his life with a wolf only a few strokes behind.

The image was snapped by Alberta man David Smith. By day, a humble installer of cabinets. By night, a member of ILEP, a five man group of Alberta amateur photographers devoted to trekking the world in search of what they call “pretty things” and “furry things.”

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or A gallery of jaw-dropping images from the guys who snapped that photo of a wolf swimming after a deer Back to video

ILEP has graciously allowed us to publish their greatest hits below.

While on an ILEP trip deep into Alberta’s Lakeland Provincial Park, Smith reports that he was woken up by the sound of howling wolves — an extremely foreign sound in his home country of England. Then, over breakfast the photographers heard the splash of an animal entering the water. The Canadian ILEP members had seen swimming deer before, but the eager Brit raced to the scene where he beheld this: An aquatic life or death struggle between wolf and white-tailed deer.

Steve Vardill, a project manager for an Edmonton asphault company, was on a self-guided South African safari when an elephant suddenly wandered into a wilderness camp. In the momentary panic, Vardill managed to surreptitiously slip into a hut whose occupant had left the door open. The result was this: Several tonnes of disinterested African elephant framed by antique windows and a set of leopard curtains.