July 30th
I know this was one of the days we walked to the Bakers Bakery down the street. I think this was the second day, and we had to wait outside for quite a while because they were so full. When we finally got in, we went ahead and ordered pastries to go for our lunch along with the breakfast we'd eat there.
This was our last day in South Dakota, and we had yet to see any bighorn sheep, which was the only thing A had really been looking forward to. We had gone to the Bighorn Sheep center thinking that was our best shot, and while they had lots of taxidermied ones, there were no live ones to be seen. We had also looked in Yellowstone and come up empty. We were getting anxious. A was NOT going to be happy if he didn't get to see his beloved sheep, and this was really our last shot. I remembered seeing herds of them in Custer State Park as a child, but I had not idea where to look. I remembered there was a specific place they liked to hang out, but I didn't know where it was. We looked at a map and figured out the Wildlife loop was a good bet. So that's where we headed. We had barely turned onto the loop when we encountered this.
They were all across the road. I was actually relatively happy with this outcome. For one, we had hardly seen any wildlife on this trip, and had expected something like this in Yellowstone, but never encountered it. While we did see a herd of bison, they were not on the road and not close enough to get good pictures. Also, my husband was driving then and wouldn't stop for us to get pictures. Here, we had no choice but to stop, because hello bison in the road! Can't really run them over. I was driving, and the jam also gave me the opportunity to take pictures, since we weren't going anywhere soon.
All pictures were taken from inside the car with the windows rolled up. I did let my husband roll down the window enough to stick his camera through to get some pictures, but as soon as there was a bison moving giving signals that he wasn't a happy camper, the window went back up. He did get a great video of a bison bashing his head against a tree, and you can hear in the background the bison who was not happy and was grunting and mooing, which is basically their way of saying "Back off, bucko!" While we couldn't really GO anywhere, we were at least pretty safe in the car. And there were enough idiots getting out of their cars to get closer pics that we wouldn't have been the targets. We weren't the ones he was mad at.
That last one was one my husband took. It was RIGHT by my window. Poor A was scared to death...we've always said not to get too close to wildlife, and he's seen the videos of bison throwing people who got to close. But we reassured him that as long as we stayed in the car with the windows rolled up, he was ok, and these bison are used to the traffic on the roads. While they WILL get angry if you approach them, since we're in the car standing still and he's approaching US, he likely doesn't see us as a threat. He's just curious. And then came a big park vehicle with a huge grill guard on it and he came bison busting. As soon as it drove up, the bison dispersed, apparently used to these vehicles and knowing what it meant.
We were able to drive on after that and we came to visitors center where there was a really funny ranger we talked to about where to find the bighorn sheep. We also mentioned getting stuck behind the bison, which took like an hour to get past. He said that for some reason it had been really bad the last couple of days, and traffic was backed up even outside of the park on the highway and the police had called them and asked them to do something about the bison so traffic could move again. That's when they send out the big truck we saw. So we were right...the bison are familiar with that vehicle and know they need to move off the road.
In the visitors center
I know this was one of the days we walked to the Bakers Bakery down the street. I think this was the second day, and we had to wait outside for quite a while because they were so full. When we finally got in, we went ahead and ordered pastries to go for our lunch along with the breakfast we'd eat there.
This was our last day in South Dakota, and we had yet to see any bighorn sheep, which was the only thing A had really been looking forward to. We had gone to the Bighorn Sheep center thinking that was our best shot, and while they had lots of taxidermied ones, there were no live ones to be seen. We had also looked in Yellowstone and come up empty. We were getting anxious. A was NOT going to be happy if he didn't get to see his beloved sheep, and this was really our last shot. I remembered seeing herds of them in Custer State Park as a child, but I had not idea where to look. I remembered there was a specific place they liked to hang out, but I didn't know where it was. We looked at a map and figured out the Wildlife loop was a good bet. So that's where we headed. We had barely turned onto the loop when we encountered this.
They were all across the road. I was actually relatively happy with this outcome. For one, we had hardly seen any wildlife on this trip, and had expected something like this in Yellowstone, but never encountered it. While we did see a herd of bison, they were not on the road and not close enough to get good pictures. Also, my husband was driving then and wouldn't stop for us to get pictures. Here, we had no choice but to stop, because hello bison in the road! Can't really run them over. I was driving, and the jam also gave me the opportunity to take pictures, since we weren't going anywhere soon.
All pictures were taken from inside the car with the windows rolled up. I did let my husband roll down the window enough to stick his camera through to get some pictures, but as soon as there was a bison moving giving signals that he wasn't a happy camper, the window went back up. He did get a great video of a bison bashing his head against a tree, and you can hear in the background the bison who was not happy and was grunting and mooing, which is basically their way of saying "Back off, bucko!" While we couldn't really GO anywhere, we were at least pretty safe in the car. And there were enough idiots getting out of their cars to get closer pics that we wouldn't have been the targets. We weren't the ones he was mad at.
That last one was one my husband took. It was RIGHT by my window. Poor A was scared to death...we've always said not to get too close to wildlife, and he's seen the videos of bison throwing people who got to close. But we reassured him that as long as we stayed in the car with the windows rolled up, he was ok, and these bison are used to the traffic on the roads. While they WILL get angry if you approach them, since we're in the car standing still and he's approaching US, he likely doesn't see us as a threat. He's just curious. And then came a big park vehicle with a huge grill guard on it and he came bison busting. As soon as it drove up, the bison dispersed, apparently used to these vehicles and knowing what it meant.
We were able to drive on after that and we came to visitors center where there was a really funny ranger we talked to about where to find the bighorn sheep. We also mentioned getting stuck behind the bison, which took like an hour to get past. He said that for some reason it had been really bad the last couple of days, and traffic was backed up even outside of the park on the highway and the police had called them and asked them to do something about the bison so traffic could move again. That's when they send out the big truck we saw. So we were right...the bison are familiar with that vehicle and know they need to move off the road.
In the visitors center
I never even heard of it until my 30s. Someone made a joke about dying of dysentery and I was lost!
I'm glad you were able to find bighorn sheep! I know driving among bison herds can be really unnerving. On our first trip to Yellowstone, we were informed that the bison look at vehicles as other members of the herd. Not that I want to drive super close to find out...plus that may be more true for the YNP herds. I suspect the ones in Custer moved because they associate that park vehicle with the annual round up and know to move. 
