“dogs”, deer, pronghorns and bison- oh my!
On our last day in South Dakota we went to Custer State Park, which has a large bison herd. We drove on the Wildlife Loop Road and saw a couple prairie dog towns:
They were so cute and loud as they warned each other that we were there, so they scurried into their burrows.
And pronghorns- one male by himself, and a group with a young one in the middle crossing the road:
They were very careful to keep the little one between them!
We didn’t see any bison on the loop road, so we decided to take the dirt roads- and are we glad we did! We met a nice couple from Michigan who asked if we had seen any bison (no), and they said there was one down the road so they led is to where he was- a big bull walking up the hill and going over the crest! I got a couple of bad pics, but at least we saw one! We kept driving on dirt roads after visiting with them for a few minutes, and saw these beautiful deer:
All 3 of the deer were males, which was unusual to see them together– and very cool!
Then onward- and we came upon this great BIG male bison beside the road- we were about 12 feet away from him! He was amazing, and just kept eating the grass as we watched- from a safer distance and in the truck!
We visited the bison Center and spoke with a ranger who told us where the main herd was- not on the loop road at all! So we got back in the truck and drove down another dirt road- and there they were:
It was magnificent! After watching them for a few minutes we drove on- and found another large group- it was truly amazing to see all of these HUGE bison!
These are some of the 1200 bison in the park- each group we saw had at least a couple hundred- it was amazing! Note the babies who are light brown- there were a bunch of them.
One final word about wildlife in South Dakota- BUGS! Or more specifically, biting flies! They were everywhere, and they bit! My mosquito/bug bands didn’t stop them, and neither did the Thermo-cell (which does a great job on mosquitoes). So beware if you go to South Dakota!