Working With Whatever Works: Donkeys and Bison and Antelope

I love Custer State Park in South Dakota - and 5 days ago, I had never even heard of it. I have so many fun photos of this place, I was going to divide it into a couple of posts - but I want to make it CLEAR that these were all taken in the same park, along the Wilderness Loop. We returned to the park 3 times during our stay - it was that amazing.

First, the antelope. We were so excited to see the first dozen or so antelope that we pulled the van over and took photos. I love watching them run.

Next were the bison/buffalo. I figured that "seeing" the buffalo meant that they would be far off in a field - and that I'd need the big camera lense to get a good shot. Boy, was I in for a surprise - at one point, we had a herd of about 500 buffalo crossing the road and surrounding the van. And did you know they make this weird growling noise that has a monster quality to it? Most of all, they have such personality and are fun to watch.

Tom took this from the driver's side van window. We were "stuck" here at least 30 minutes.

I can't leave out the big horn sheep. I've been trying to spot them in Palm Desert since we moved there last summer - without ANY luck. It just figures that I have to go all the way to South Dakota to see them.

Whenever you see 2 or more cars pulled over to the side of the road in any state or national park and people looking in the same direction, slow down and look - usually they've spotted something good. In this case, it was the sheep.

Doesn't it look like he's smiling?

Finally, my favorite animals in Custer Park - the donkeys! The donkeys were originally brought to the park for some reason (I don't remember). Once there was no longer a need for them, they were just set loose. Since they were originally domesticated, we are allowed to feed them. The ranger recommended carrots or celery. We went through 10 lbs of carrots and 2 lbs of celery over two feeding sessions.

The first time we fed them, I suddenly looked around to find Tom and the kids back in the van with the doors shut - while I was still outside. Apparently, Tom made the mistake of carrying the WHOLE bag of carrots with him and the donkeys rushed him.