Friday, May 20, 2011

Heavy Traffic on the Way to Town


I think I have mentioned previously in this blog that one of our neighbors happens to be "Teddy". Teddy, as in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The South Unit, is one of our closest neighbors to the eastern boundary of our ranch. As you drive thru the park or  along Interstate 94, which forms the park's northern border, wildlife of some sort is bound to be seen. Mule deer, whitetail deer, elk, wild horses, eagles, prairie dogs, coyotes, bobcats,big horn sheep, mountainlions and birds of all kinds inhabit the park.
On a trip to town, in this case,Dickinson, ND, this was some of the traffic I encountered. These buffalo were in the eastern reaches of the park along the interstate. They are roam the whole park and occasionally find their way on to neighboring ranches to include ours.
One thing to know about buffalo, besides being big, they are not friendly. I was able to get my photos from outside of the interstate fence which is
extra high and the buffalo were a little way off from me. They obviously saw me but ignored me. If I had been in the park without a fence between us, I would have shot my photos from a safe distance, believe me! Mostly like shooting over the hood of my pickup! Like any wildlife, remember, they are wild and therefore unpredictable. Use common sense when photographing them.
Buffalo bull.

Buffalo cows and calves.
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Still shedding his winter coat, this bull was grazing close to the small bunch of bulls
below. They were about a mile or so from the cows and calves.
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3 comments:

5 Starr's Farm said...

Hi Judy, great shots.....been threw Yellow Stone a few time and seen the buffalo there....the heads on then are huge! Couldn't believe that people would get out of their cars and try to walk up to them for photos.......Crazy!

Janice Grinyer said...

I love your shots - because they really are pretty big animals and can hurt things...and you got some nice shots there!

Sarah said...

I love driving past the park and trying to see the animals. Sometimes they are hiding, but seems like in springtime you see them by the road more. Last week I finally got a peak at what I believe were some of the wild horses. Either that or some ranchers crew had escaped and jumped the park fence. There were only three of them that I spottted. Nice pictures of the buffalo. Its always neat to see them.