This time of year is one of the best to see wildlife in the Black Hills. The weather is cooler, the traffic is less and the animals are often much more active. My favorite animals to see in the area are the mountain goats – they often remind me of bearded old men, but I digress.

Recently I was driving on highway 244, the back way up to Mount Rushmore, and came upon one of the resident goats just hanging out enjoying the day.

As I drove on I started wondering about how the mountain goats came to be in the area – whether they are natives to the Black Hills or just transplants from other areas. The truth seems to lie somewhere in between.

I called down to Custer State Park today and was told an interesting story about the mountain goats. Back in the mid 1920’s a small zoo was created in the park -  near where the Shorty Ellerton picnic area sits today.

Some caves were blasted into the granite and cages were built. The area became home to several Rocky Mountain goats, 5 adult bears (one with a cub), a moose from Yellowstone, coyotes, wolves, porcupines and all types of waterfowl. The zoo was maintained as a tourist attraction in the park until 1970. At that time the zoo was closed and the park began to focus more on the natural wildlife plan for the area.

Details are a bit fuzzy, but somewhere along the way, during the early days of the zoo, 6 of the mountain goats pulled a Houdini and escaped from their cages, along with one of the resident bears. The bear was quickly contained, but the goats headed for the hills – literally. They were never recovered and became the foundation for the goats that exist today in Custer State Park.

Over the years, other mountain goats have been brought in to South Dakota from herds in Colorado. Today, the animals can most often be seen around Mount Rushmore, Harney Peak or elsewhere in the Needles/Cathedral Spires area.

As Paul Harvey used to say, “Now you know the rest of the story.”