The Best Tips for Photographing Bison in Yellowstone National Park
Bison have no sense of humor. They are notorious for charging – and sometimes – throwing tourists taking pictures, so how do you get a great bison picture without breaking park rules, annoying the animals and putting yourself in danger? Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
Wildlife photographer and D: W Team member, Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven.
By Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
To most wildlife photographers, "wildlife photography in summer" is an oxymoron. The spring excitement of wildlife babies is replaced by long uninteresting days with the sun directly overhead, creating harsh light and heat - that unbearable heat. Even the wildlife seems to disappear, and I find myself drifting away into anticipation of the "cooler" heat of the fall mating season.
However, there is one great and very reliable summer opportunity for those of us who can't bear to put the camera away until the fall photography season starts. As one Yellowstone National Park visitor put it: it's time to photograph the big, fluffy cows - bison!
Portrait of bison checking out a herd-mate. Close-up shots are possible, but DO NOT get yourself close. Use the right lens and wait for the moment. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
What’s in a Name? Bison verses Buffalo
✔︎ Trip Tips
What: Summer season photography: Wild Bison
Where: Yellowstone National Park, Lamar and Hayden Valleys, Wyoming, USA
When: Rutt: Mid July - August
Calves: beginning April
How: Vehicle. Self or Guided tour
Often referred to as "buffalo," bison are different from Asian buffalo and Africa's Cape buffalo. Although all three are in the family Bovidae, what we see in Yellowstone are "plains bison."
To be specific, plains bison are Bison bison bison (genus Bison, species bison, subspecies bison), but I have yet to hear the first exclamation of: "Look over there, it's a bison bison bison!"
(Further north, wood bison, (Bison, bison athabascae), are a distinct northern subspecies and can be found in boreal forest regions of Alaska and western Canada)
Mama bison and her little “red-dog.” Bison Females begin breeding at 2-years of age, the males do not mature until 6-10 years. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
6 Bison Fast Facts
The Official Mammal of the United States since 2016!
Bison are Big! Meet North America's Largest Mammal. Males weigh up to 2,000 pounds (907kg), while females are as big as 1,000 pounds (454kg), and the calves can weigh up to 70 pounds (32kg) at birth!
That characteristic shoulder hump provides them with the solid muscle needed to swing their massive heads from side to side to clear snow during winter and get to the grass underneath.
What’s a Red Dog? Males are bulls, females are cows, and calves are given the nickname "red dogs" due to their orange-red coloring during their first months.
That Huge Animal is a Vegetarian. “Salad-eating” bison spend most of their time, up to 11 hours daily, grazing on grasses, weeds, and plants.
Do Not Annoy a Bison! Although bison have poor eyesight, they have excellent hearing and sense of smell. And bison are fast and agile! They run up to 35mph (55kph) and can jump up to 5ft high (1.5m)
All that said – let's get to photographing bison!
Where to Find Bison In Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone's Valleys (sometimes referred to as Yellowstone's Serengeti) are the places to be for bison.
The Park's bison population is divided based on where they breed: the northern herd breeds in Lamar Valley, the central herd breeds in Hayden Valley.
Interested in photographing bison in Yellowstone? Contact us
Bison in the Lamar Valley
Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
The Lamar Valley is approximately 20 miles long, with the (Grand Loop) park road going straight through it. It's a two-lane road with frequent pull-outs. The park service asks that you never stop on the road to watch/photograph wildlife, so finding a pull-out is required but not difficult as Lamar has fewer visitors than other areas in Yellowstone, like the geyser basins or the Mammoth Hot Springs. There are no blinds or any human structures, but there is the occasional toilet.
Bison congregate in the Lamar Valley year-round, so it's an almost guaranteed spot to see them during any time of the year. But, my favorite times are the summer (rut) and the winter (when they're struggling to find food in the deep snow).
Bison hang out in small herds throughout the valley and wander around day-to-day. You will need to drive to find them, but so many herds are readily visible in the open landscape that locating bison is typically easy. And, if you are lucky (and it is not too hot), the Lamar Valley is also known for pronghorn, grizzly bears, deer, coyotes, bald eagles, osprey, and wolves.
Mama bear is a study in “cool” leading her cubs across a line of watching bison - but, note how small that full-grown grizzly looks in comparison! Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
Bison in the Hayden Valley
Just north of Yellowstone Lake and the Mud Volcano thermal area, the Yellowstone River meanders through the broad, open expanse of Hayden Valley – and the bison love it. Park in one of the pull-outs or overlooks and enjoy. Along with bison, you may be lucky and see coyotes, grizzly bears, waterfowl, or even wolves.
The Best Time(s) of Year to Photograph Bison
Winter in Yellowstone can be especially brutal, with regular day time temperatures down to minus 20 F. Bison don’t seem to mind. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
My two favorite times of the year to photograph bison are during the harsh, cold winter and the summer rut.
In winter, the Lamar Valley's deep snow cover allows you to photograph the bison's struggle to survive as it digs down in the snow to attempt to eat the dry grass underneath. Snow hides all the busyness of the vegetation and "cleans up" the image by providing a single, white background. (Note: The road through Hayden Valley is closed November through ~ mid-April.)
However, much easier conditions occur in the middle of the summer when the bison rut happens from mid-July into August. Daytime temperatures in Lamar Valley hover around 70 to 80 F and bison are seemingly everywhere in the valley, including on the (one) road!
My Best Tip For Photographing Yellowstone’s Bison
- Keep your distance -
Let your lens get close. You stay back. 2000 lb./907kg. plains bison are not known for their sense of humor, stay out of its way. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven .
Let's start with the obvious: bison are wild animals, and although they appear docile most of the time, they can and will harm you when provoked. Furthermore, at a top speed of 35 miles per hour, they can easily outrun the fastest human being on earth.
Do not approach a bison closer than the National Park required distance of 25 yards. Bison have poor eyesight but have excellent smell and hearing. YouTube has several great examples of what may happen when you ignore this rule: multiple tourists annually attempt close-up cell phone shots, posing next to a bison or even petting one and, as a result, are thrown in the air and injured by a charging bison.
Even this experienced reporter knew when to get out of the way of a bison.
Fact: From the National Park Service: bison have injured more people in Yellowstone than any other animal!
The Tail Tells the Tale
When photographing bison, pay attention to the bison's tail: When the tail hangs down, the bison is usually calm and feels non-threatened. When its tail is up in the air, however, it can mean only one of two things: As the expression goes: "sh*t or oh sh*t!" Either the bison is going to defecate or charge you.
The Right Lens Helps Keeps you Safe
All joking aside, bring various lenses that allow you to keep your physical distance while still getting the frame-filling shot you want.
Photographing Bison Behavior
The usual placid-seeming bison show what they can do in the battle for mating rights during the annual rut - . Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
The Rut: My favorite bison behavior occurs during the annual mating season or rut. The ultimate action is bulls locking horns and fighting, but be especially aware of your surroundings as the fight can inadvertently veer in your direction in an instant!
"Wallowing" is another photogenic and year-round behavior. Bison roll in the dirt to help shed fur and deter biting insects, but wallowing behavior ramps up during the rut when big males roll in the ground and urinate to leave behind their scent.
The “bellow” Bulls also "bellow" or vocalize during the rut, typically grunting and sticking out their tongue.
All About the Equipment
- Focal length
Bison are huge. When you see a big bull bison stand next to a small car, you quickly realize that car and bison are pretty much the same size. I typically carry three lenses to photograph the bison rut.
My most used lens is a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. It allows me to fill the frame with a bison standing 25 yards away and include scenery around the animal. For headshots, I use a 500mm f/4 lens. Finally, to have the vast landscape of the valley, I grab my 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.
- Shutter speed
Most of the time, you'll find bison are either "just standing there" or lying down. As a result, you can go pretty slow with your shutter speed.
Good news, since that allows you to lower the ISO, which can result in clearer images with less noise, better color rendition, more contrast, and sharpness.
Even in the thick of the action, when competing bulls fight or chase one another, I rarely increase my shutter speed over 1/1000s. These are not tiny, erratic birds for which a shutter speed of 1/2000s or higher is recommended.
Even in the thick of action - well, attempted action - I rarely increase my shutter speed over 1/1000s. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
- Aperture
Unless I decide to create a landscape with front-to-back sharpness, I shoot with my lenses wide open. This means opening up the lens to the widest aperture the lens supports.
To clarify: when you look at the aperture number on your lens' barrel, the widest aperture is the number that is listed. For example, the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 lens has 2.8 as its widest (largest) aperture possible. (Consider reading my book "Beginner's Guide to Bird & Wildlife Photography" if you are not clear on how a camera works, primarily related to the ever-important relationship between shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.)
Yes, some lenses are considered to be sharper when "stopped down" one or two stops, but as I typically use pro-level lenses, I expect those lenses to deliver outstanding sharpness, even wide open.
Why (except for a landscape shot) do I use my lenses always wide open?
In addition to your distance to the image subject and the lens focal length, the aperture affects how much of the image is in focus. This is called "depth of field": the zone of sharpness in the image. Using the lens wide open and focusing on the animal's eyes, I aim to make the animal and its eyes "pop" by keeping the foreground and background blurred and out of focus.
Planning a Bison adventure in Yellowstone? Contact us
Where to Stay When Photographing Bison at Yellowstone
Montana’s Cooke City and Silver Gate combined may have a larger populations of bison than human residents, but you’ll find a warm welcome, some small hotels and cabins and a good meal there. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
- Hotels, motels
Cooke City and Silver Gate at N.E. entrance to Yellowstone are nearest to Lamar Valley.
Options further away from Lamar Valley include Gardiner, MT. (5-minutes from Yellowstone northwestern entrance, and an hour to the Lamar Valley) and West Yellowstone, MT. (6-minutes from Yellowstone western entrance but a 2-hour drive to the Lamar Valley).
- Campgrounds
The campsites at Cooke City are about 6 miles (an 11-minute drive) from Yellowstone is one of my favorites. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
Yellowstone National Park has several campgrounds. (These are a few official apps that may come in handy)
My favorites are the Slough Creek and Pebble Creek campgrounds in the middle of the bison action in Lamar Valley. Slough Creek is reservation only, whereas Pebble Creek has some sites that can be reserved and others that are first-come, first-serve.
The national forest outside of Silver Gate and Cooke City allows dispersed camping, and the National Forest Service operates two campgrounds here (June through Labor day): Soda Butte (hard-sided camping only) and Colter campground. Privately operated camping facilities are also available.
A Summer of Bison in Yellowstone, My Conclusion
A typical day in the life of a responsible wildlife tourist involves spending lots of time outdoors in cold, wet, or both.
Finding a summer photography opportunity that allows you to not only spend time outdoors in your t-shirt but photograph wildlife that typically spends its days out in the open, visible from miles away, is a rare treat. Bison offer the perfect opportunity. As you gaze upon thousands of bison in the vast Lamar Valley, it is easy to imagine yourself in bygone days, when these scenes played out on numerous prairies throughout the United States.
No matter how many times you’ve been to Yellowstone, she will always surprise and delight. Image: ©Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven
