Look Closely: Wildlife Watching in South Dakota

The elusive bighorns can be found in Badlands National Park, on the rocky walls along Canyon Lake Road/U.S. 44 west of Rapid City, and in Custer State Park along the ledges near the State Game Lodge and near the Black Hills Playhouse.

Various types of birds can more easily be spotted in specific areas. Wild turkeys can be found everywhere, for example, while the state bird, the Chinese Ring-necked pheasant, mostly stays east of the Missouri River. You may hear them before you see them, so bring binoculars.

• Prairies and Badlands National Park – bald eagles, golden eagles, falcons, grouse, hawks, larks, owls and wrens.
• Foothills – bluebirds, bunting, crows, finches, jays, magpies, swallows, swifts, warblers and Western tanager.
• Mountains – junco, nuthatch, thrushes and warblers.

Custer State Park, Badlands National Park and Wind Cave National Park are home to some of the largest, free-roaming herds of buffalo in the USA. In Custer State Park, “buffalo jams” are common because the bison frequently cross the roadways without looking.

Custer State Park is home to an old-fashioned Wild West hold-up: One burro will stand in the road blocking traffic while its companions go car-to-car seeking handouts of food.

Both mule deer and white-tail deer can be spotted in herds on the prairies east and north of Rapid City, and south of Hot Springs, and in smaller groups in the foothills. They are also frequently spotted in Badlands National Park and in Custer State Park.

More reclusive than deer, elk can be found in Wind Cave National Park, especially along Road 6, and in Custer State Park.

The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary outside Hot Springs is home to about 600 wild mustangs running free over 4,400 hectares of private land.

Goats frequently can be spotted on the rocky walls near Mount Rushmore National Memorial and Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills.

These furry, little clowns might just put on a show for visitors, bobbing up and down in their burrows and chattering away with their high-pitched barks. There are a number of viewing areas in Custer State Park and in Badlands National Park.

Similar to antelope, they can be spotted in herds on the prairies east and north of Rapid City, and south of Hot Springs. Like many South Dakota creatures, they also frequently are spotted in Badlands National Park and Custer State Park.

Getting to South Dakota is easy and convenient via connecting flights from many international gateway airports, including: Minneapolis-St. Paul in Minnesota, Denver in Colorado, Chicago O’Hare in Illinois, Salt Lake City in Utah, Dallas/Fort Worth in Texas and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, Georgia.