On our way to Ron and Marge's

On our way to Ron and Marge's we stopped at a farm that had trout fishing.  It was a really cute set up with an adorable little house used for storage and a little pond fed by a stream.  They raise the trout themselves and you don't need a fishing license to fish there.  My only complaint was that it was over in about 6 seconds!  You get a cane pole with a rather short line and a hook which they bait for you with a piece of corn.  You toss the line in and about 2 seconds later you catch a trout and just yank it in!

It was a nice shady spot right next to their field of cows and the dogs got to come watch!

It was run by a cute little 17 year old girl who unhooked the fish, gutted and cleaned the fish and everything, she was fearless!

Bison Behavior

While in South Dakota and North Dakota we noticed that Bison like to make wallows.  They rub themselves on the ground exposing the dry earth which helps them in several ways.  It helps them to shed their winter coat, it coats them with dirt that keeps bugs away and it is also soothing for them as the ground is cool.  Bison also rub against trees a great deal to help them remove their shedding winter coat.  We went up  and explored the wallows and some trees that looked very damaged and here is what we found!

 We found wallows of various sizes with lots of hoof prints and even some Bison fluff laying in them

Be also found a lot of different sized hoof prints as well.

There were plenty of trees that were damaged from the Bison rubbing on them, some were even dead!

And here's the evidence, Bison fuzz!!
We noticed that the Badlands of North Dakota are quite different than the Badlands of South Dakota!  The South Dakota Badlands are quite desolate looking, and the hills (if that's what you want to call them) look like they should be on an alien planet!

We visited part of Theodore Roosevelt Park in North Dakota where they have Wild Horses!

They were so beautiful and majestic looking and some had adorable little colts with them!  There are two other areas of the park that are not connected that I would love to go visit some day. 

Wildlife

Here are some more pictures of my vacation to South Dakota.  If you've never had a chance to visit this State, I highly recommend it!  In Custer State Park they have a Wildlife Loop you can drive where you will get a chance to see all sorts of animals.  There are plenty of Prairie Dog towns, Bison, Antelope, Elk, and they even have Wild Burro that are very friendly!  They come right up to your car and stick their head in the window for some treats!

Here are some pictures of the Bison. Female Bison hang out in big herds with their young and the males are generally solitary until it gets closer to breeding season.  Usually at the end of June or beginning of July males start to gather up a harem for breeding season which is during July/August.  Here are some of the female Bison with their adorable young calves.

 The above picture appears to be one of last years calves with one of this years calves.  Below is a picture of some rather fearless Antelope.                            

 There is a small herd of wild Burro in the park as well.  This cute dark colored one is a baby and the mother is in the photo below.

       They were all about the same size but had very different coats than a horse.  This one had longer scraggly fur and there was even one with a wavy coat about the same length.  They were all so cute and very hungry!! 

In a rather secluded part of the park we saw a small herd of Elk, they have very impressive antlers!

    Be sure to read my blog tomorrow, I will have more vacation pictures for you!!