Bison in Custer State Park, South Dakota. September 25, 2012.
(Note: All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them.)
This is my post for the Our World meme. This meme is a second generation of My World Tuesday created by Klaus Peter and is hosted by five wonderful ladies. To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.
After visiting Mount Rushmore, Betsy and I drove to South Dakota’s Custer State Park. One area of the park that was highly recommended was the Wildlife Loop, where we were assured that we would see plenty of wildlife.
Our friends were correct — we saw a wide variety of wildlife: big horn sheep, burros, pronghorns and bison. I’ve seen bison before, but never so many at one time.
Bison on the prairie in Custer State Park, South Dakota. September 25, 2012.
Seeing them on the prairie reminded me of descriptions of the huge buffalo herds encountered during the westward expansion of the United States. At one time there were millions of bison in North America, but by 1900 it is estimated that fewer than 1,00 bison remained on the entire continent.
Bison at Custer State Park, South Dakota. September 25, 2012.
There are now as many as 1,300 head of bison in Custer State Park. Bison can grow to 6 feet tall and weigh more than 2,000 pounds. They are the largest native terrestrial mammal of North America.
The park holds a roundup each year to adjust the size of the herd according to the predicted availability of grassland forage. The spring birthing season rejuvenates the herd to approximately 1,300 head each year.
Tags: Our World, South Dakota, Travels, Wildlife
Senior Moments 
October 8, 2012 at 3:58 am |
As big as they are, I’ll bet they could take those fences down if they had a mind to.
October 8, 2012 at 4:15 am |
Welcome Betsy and George!
Stunning scenery!
Oh, herds of bison. Nice to watch these wonderful pictures.
Fantastic memories.
October 8, 2012 at 6:35 am |
I just hate we missed the wildlife loop.
October 8, 2012 at 8:37 am |
this is good news on the bison coming back at that rate. they are wonderful to look at. i have never seen one in real life, just on TV
October 8, 2012 at 8:39 am |
Custer State Park is now definitely on my ‘To Visit’ list!!
October 8, 2012 at 8:39 am |
These are beautiful shots. I especially liked the wide-angle shot that captured the larger herd on the rolling hills of the prairie. I’m so glad you enjoyed your visit to Custer State Park. It’s on our list of favorite places…but then that list is quite long. 🙂
October 8, 2012 at 10:24 am |
Wonderful captures, George! I do love the buffalo and we always tried to visit one of the parks where they were every summer when we lived in Montana! Great post for the day!! Hope your week is off to a great start!
October 8, 2012 at 11:19 am |
So much fun to see the bison. I had no idea they could be so heavy!
October 8, 2012 at 11:23 am |
Such lovely prairie shots!
October 8, 2012 at 11:27 am |
Very nice. I love seeing shots like that…the only thing better would be to see them in person.
October 8, 2012 at 2:42 pm |
I love bison!!!!
October 8, 2012 at 4:14 pm |
I’m glad you got to see them. We got there to late last year as they were all in the corrals after the round-up.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
October 8, 2012 at 5:54 pm |
I have heard that bison are temperamental…but I still love seeing them. and I love the color in the second shot.
October 8, 2012 at 8:10 pm |
Looks a lovely place to visit! I am glad they are taking care of the bison herd!
October 8, 2012 at 11:43 pm |
We saw bison when we took the grandgirls to the zoo but I’d love to see them in these kinds of numbers.
October 9, 2012 at 4:31 am |
Wonderful spaces, unusual views. I am greeting
October 9, 2012 at 6:05 am |
When I get a chance, I’ll visit Custer State Park and the bisons.
October 9, 2012 at 11:53 am |
Lucky you! The photos are beautiful slices of nature.
October 10, 2012 at 7:07 am |
I’ll be singing that song all day long now, George! Great shots of the wide open spaces we also enjoy up here. So glad you both had such a wonderful trip!
October 10, 2012 at 10:20 am |
Oh give me a home………
Excellent pictures, George.
Glad you got to see such scenery and wildlife. MB
October 11, 2012 at 12:59 am |
They aree a beautiful big animal and what a treat to see so many in one spot.
October 13, 2012 at 5:07 am |
Wow. To me these photos have great interest. I have not seen them in live, if we do not calculate zoos. After reading huge amount of books describing “Old wild West”, Your post delighted my mind very much. Thank You.
October 22, 2012 at 3:47 am |
[…] I shared in an earlier post (click HERE if you missed it), we saw bison while driving the WildLife Loop in Custer State Park in South […]