Custer State Park

A lot of people are unaware of Custer State Park, or they confuse it with the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.  The state park is about 300 miles by road from the battlefield where Custer and his men lost their final battle.  The battlefield is in Montana.  The park is in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

So, why is it called Custer State Park?

Seems that Custer led an expedition to explore the Black Hills in the summer of 1874.  They camped at the site Custer City now occupies.  I was told by a park person that Custer had the permission of the Sioux, and the Sioux had been promised protection of the land by treaty.

The expedition led to a gold rush and broken promises.  If the Sioux had given permission for the expedition, they soon regretted the decision.  This resulted in a war.  Custer and his men died on a dry Montana ridge overlooking the Little Bighorn River in June 1876.

Today, Custer State Park is a beautiful place and a great place for wildlife photography.  It has lots of bison, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and elk.  It’s the first ponderosa forest I’ve seen with green grass in July.  Better yet, it doesn’t have the crowds that Yellowstone has in July. 

That doesn't mean photographic success is guaranteed.  We didn’t see an elk.  Apparently, they were still in the higher mountains.  We saw plenty of pronghorns and bison, but one day we couldn’t find any bison at all.  We were told that the previous week nobody was finding them.

How do you hide 1,400 bison?  Easier than you might think, apparently.

If you get the opportunity, visit Custer State Park.  We think you’ll enjoy it.  We did.