I went to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This started with me thinking it was a very lame NP. It's basically badlands/grasslands, but since Teddy Roosevelt lived there for a while owning 2 ranches, that pushed parts of it up to full National Park status. Bit of a stretch in my book to be a national park. Of course the weather was dreary, so things just didn't start well. But I went for the 36 mile drive around the park's south unit. This turned out way more impressive than I would have expected. Now the land is nothing exciting. It's your standard badlands/grasslands looking deal. Nice but nothing great on its own. But what makes it different is it's like going through a nature preserve, or at least it was for me. The park was empty, and the bad weather yesterday probably caused every critter to get out in the break in the weather which was right when I was there.
Took a bit to find a critter, a lone, Bison. Nothing shocking there. But it would soon get better. I would come across a herd of Pronghorn. That was pretty impressive, even in a bit far off from me. But a close I made it even more special. Remember "which one of these is not like the other ones" from Sesame Street? Well, look below. Hint, I'm not talking about the prairie dog.
See him? There is a Coyote in there. This was very cool. I got to watch a Coyote work a herd of Pronghorn. I don't think he was going to make a go at it, but he did make them run a couple times. And the prairie dogs were keeping an eye out. Was very fun to watch and something you usually only see on tv. Closest thing I have ever seen to this was our dog stalking a cat through a field once.
The down side was it was very overcast and starting to rain. And they were far away. I just couldn't get shutter speed needed to get a good shot. Such a cool opportunity and I just couldn't get a good photo. Had the weather been good. I could have got some great sharp shots. Still, you get the idea. Had to move on.
So with that herd taken care off, I needed more furys. Wasn't long before I found a herd of deer (probably mule deer). Then I got my Bison, nice big herd.
After that I spotted a bull Elk just before going over a ridge. Then more deer, more bison, till I found a herd of wild horses.
Finally, of course there was Prairie Dogs all over the place. Not to many wanted to be cute up close. I just couldn't get photos of things today, just to gloomy, raining.
So while it may be a questionable park to be a National Park, it's a great place for animals. I'm guessing what I saw is rare. As in the end I saw.
Herd of Bison
Herd of Pronghorn
Herd of Deer
Herd of Wild Horse
Herd of Prairie Dog
Elk
Coyote hunting Pronghorn
Plus plenty of lone animals from above. Very impressive. No Herds of Teddy Roosevelts though.
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