South Dakota Badlands ~ III: Photograph by JL Gardner. This buffalo was actually right up next to the road when I first came around the bend in my Jeep and he didn't flinch or move a step as I drove right up along side of him as he stood on the right hand shoulder of the road. Since he seemed to be pretty comfortable with the situation, I figured I could slip out of the driver's side door with my camera, around the back of the vehicle and take a photo up close and personal-like, of this unsuspecting bovine beast! What the heck, a buffalo doesn't know whether or not a Jeep has four wheels and two feet, or not!?! Well, as soon as I made my move around the back side of the car, he bolted (with a snort of discontent or two) and re-positioned himself just down slope of my location. This turned out to be just as satisfactory of a shot with the amazing scenery in the background. Such was my adventure in South Dakota with buffalo!

Here's something else about the Badland's buffalo: "Bison are the largest and dominat plant grazers of the Badlands mixed grass ecosystem. The 450 or so animals living within the Badlands Wilderness area of sage Creek drainage exert their influence on the landscape, defining the type and distribution of plant communities here. Their presence is critical, but too many bison be just as unbalanced as their absence. In the fall of 1996, the park conducted a roundup to reduce the herd size, with 180 animals sent to new homes outside the park."