Five minutes after I drove into South Dakota’s Custer State Park, I found myself pulling over to the side of the road, rolling down the car window, and shooting photos of a deer that was standing very close by.
Ten minutes later, I had to slow down because some pronghorn antelope were crossing the road just ahead. After they passed, I again pulled off the road at a spot near a scenic stream. This time, I got out and stood by the side of the car to watch and take photos of pronghorn antelope grazing at surprisingly close range.
Later, as I was checking in for my stay at the park, I heard someone mention that he had just driven by a large herd of buffalo just around the corner on the Wildlife Loop Road. Ten minutes later, I was again off the side of the road, rolling down the window and taking more photos of wildlife, this time buffalo. There were more buffalo in the nearby field than I had ever seen anywhere else.
When I drove up to my cabin, I had to wait a few minutes before getting out of the car because a few buffalo were heading toward me. Soon they were walking between my car and the front door of my cabin.
It’s smart to graciously yield the right of way to them. It’s foolish—truly dumb—not to. Buffalo (common name for the American bison) are large, very powerful animals that are unpredictable and can be very dangerous. An adult male stands more than 6 feet at the shoulder and weighs about a ton, while an adult female stands about 5 feet tall and weighs about 700 pounds. They should never be approached too closely without proper safety precautions.
Besides seeing buffalo—one of the largest herds in the world roams freely in Custer State Park—and deer and pronghorn antelope, one also is quite likely to see prairie dogs, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk, and wild turkey. A bunch of wild-but-friendly burros roam the park, and visitors are free to feed them.
For great wildlife viewing, Custer State Park is pretty hard to beat. Before I had even checked into my cabin, I had seen more wildlife than I had in several visits to Yellowstone National Park.
Encompassing 71,000 acres of the Black Hills area of South Dakota—only a short drive from both Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial—Custer State Park offers not only abundant wildlife, but also just about everything else that you can imagine when you dream of the perfect holiday in a great park.
There are beautiful fishing lakes and miles of scenic trails for hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking. You can go on guided nature walks led by park rangers, join in on an excursion to pan for gold, and see demonstrations of candle making and woodworking. For evening entertainment, the Black Hills Playhouse offers comedy, drama, and musical performances.
And, of course, a favorite park activity is to ride across the grasslands and rolling hills in a Jeep safari to see buffalo, pronghorn antelope, and other wildlife incredibly close up.
The park has campgrounds and four resorts, including the State Game Lodge & Resort, which President Calvin Coolidge used as a summer White House and at which President Dwight D. Eisenhower also stayed.
It was named after Gen. George Armstrong Custer—of Battle of the Little Bighorn fame—who led a scientific army expedition into the Black Hills in 1874 and discovered gold.
