Custer and Wind Caved National Park

I had a chance to get up close and personal with several Pronghorn (Antelope) this trip, normally they will not allow you to get to close. This particular Buck is entering the rut and trying to collect his little harem. They do not hesitate in stealing from another buck, if they think they can't get away with it. If the other buck catches him, then there is footrace with the stronger buck chasing the weaker one away. The first shot in this series is the last shot that I took. I wanted you to be able to see what he was watching so I snuck up behind him and shot over his shoulder. The other buck and harem of five does are in the valley below him. He is on a ridge overlooking them.

The Pronghorn Buck Guarding His Ladies

The Rival Trying To Decide What To Do

I watched this standoff for over forty five minutes, the Rival would stomp his feet, breathing hard, but just could not make himself walk down the slope to see if he could take the herd of Does. The Buck with the does, never took his eyes off the rival, waiting for him to make a move. Small Mule Deer Buck Eating Moss

I have found that shooting pictures in the prairie grass is very difficult, especially at daylight in the morning. This time the year, the grass is a varied color, browns, purple, pinks, gray, green and shows differently dependent on the sun hitting the grass. These elk shots were all taken, just prior to good shooting light.

I left Lincoln, Nebraska on Monday morning with a new route back to the Black Hills Of South Dakota. My original plan was to go back and explore Custer State Park for another day. As I got closer, I saw a sign that directed you to Custer State Park via Wind Cave National Park. We had seen the signs for Wind Cave before but never visited, for some reason a windy cave had no great interest to us. That was our mistake. It is a great park, beautiful country and abounds with wildlife.

Darkness was coming on, but the country just looked so "gamey", I decided to "siwash out" and see it in the daylight. Chef Dainty Moore prepared a great beef stew for dinner served with bread, butter, and streaming coffee. Setting my alarm for 6:00 am, Dutch and I settled down for a nap in the Ford Motel. A short distance from us, a Bull Elk was doing his night time bugling. I tried wristling in return, with no response. I then removed the ink cartridge from a ball point pen and blue lightly over the empty barrel of the pen. Out of a dozen attempts, I got him to respond twice, maybe.

Just prior to daylight, I woke up and I had my morning cup of coffee, prior to good shooting light I started driving up the road. I traveled less than 1.5 miles and a big meadow of about 100 acres opened up, surrounded by Ponderosa Pine and scattered Aspen and Cottonwood trees.

I could not believe what I was seeing, it was light enough that I could make out their antlers, but a entire herd of Bull Elk. I had seen four or five bulls together prior to the rut, but this was a herd. I tried to count and get my camera ready at the same time, I counted a definite 17 Bulls with a few along the tree line that I did not count. I am estimating there was at least 22 Bulls gathered up. They ranged in size from two points to several Royals. As the light started increasing, walking single file they headed back to the timber for the day. I was able to snap off a bunch a pictures. It would have been great to get the perfect picture opportunity, but just seeing that many Bulls grouped together was far more important in my thoughts. The fighting bulls, was just icing on the cake.

The fight lasted about 15 minutes, one larger bull watched them fight for a little while, then wandered off. I had planned on just doing a half day tour of Custer Park and then head for the Yellowstone. After witnessing what I saw, I had to take a chance on seeing it again. I spent the remainder of the day shooting deer, antelope, buffalo, and even a nap.

At sundown, I was back to the elk pasture waiting to see if they would return, by the time it got to dark to see, eight of them had moved down into sight out of the heavy timber. Dutch and I again, had dinner by flashlight but we would stay in this spot all night. I expected to waken in the morning, look out the front window of Ford Motel and see a similar site as I had that morning. As we settled in the coyotes started talking. I do not know what was going on but at about 3:00 am there must have been 1,000 of them howling and yelping, loud enough to awaken me.

My alarm went off at 6:00 am, I poured myself my first cup of coffee. Still to dark to see anything, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. Do you know how long it takes to get daylight! Along, long, time but finally I could almost see across the meadow. In all directions, not an animal to be seen. I had seen at least eight of them move in before dark, why did they leave? I drove down the road to see if they had moved further down, no elk. However, the morning ended well, about five miles from my location I found a heard of 9 Bulls and 6 Mule Deer Does traveling with them. A little later, I saw a second group of seven Bulls.

I left the Black Hills very happy and turned in the direction of the Yellowstone. I drove the northern Wyoming prairie, then started the climb up and over the Big Horn Mountains. What a spectacular drive, from the scenic turnouts, I would guess you could see a hundred miles. Tonight, I spend the night in Cody, Wyoming. It has been a good day, Elk in the morning and by evening, I would guess that I have seen over 1,000 antelope and half that many of Mule Deer and White Tail Deer. One mile from my motel is the Big Horn Canyon and a few miles further, the entrance to North Yellowstone.