I’m crouched in the bed of a pickup truck, hanging on for dear life as we lurch across the rolling prairies of South Dakota, hot on the trail of a thundering herd of bison. Bull whips crack and whoops and hollers rise above drumming hoofbeats. Every now and then, a horse and rider break out of the dust, working to move a stray animal back toward the group. It’s all part of the Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup, which unfolds in southwest South Dakota late each September.
Visitors can watch from viewing areas set up on ridges, but I got an even closer look via a bone-jarring ride in one of a dozen or so trucks that followed the herd as it made its way toward holding pens.
First, some background. Even though the event is called a roundup, Custer State Park is home to about 1,400 bison, not buffalo. They are different animals. Bison have humps and huge,, and the annual roundup is one of the best places in the world to see them and learn about them.
