Custer State Park is famous for its wildlife, but not for its moose.

Until this week.

Park staff and visitors have spotted a young bull moose in several locations in the park, beginning Tuesday.

"The first we saw it was down off the Wildlife Loop Road by the French Creek wilderness area day before yesterday," park superintendent Richard Miller said Thursday. "Later that same day a couple with their kids came into the park office with pictures of the moose up off Lover's Leap, up behind the Game Lodge. They came in and said, 'You're not going to believe this, but there's a moose in the park.'"

Next thing, the moose wandered down along Highway 16A near the Coolidge store, where many visitors saw it, Miller said.

"It's just been wandering around and isn't too worried about anything," he said.

Moose occasionally migrate into the Black Hills, probably from resident moose populations in Wyoming or Montana. But they are more typically seen near the Wyoming line in the western Black Hills.

"That's the first one I've heard of here in the park. We don't know where it came from. But it's something different," Miller said. "They do travel a fair amount. There's a pretty good chance it's already gone and out of the park."

Contact Kevin Woster at kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com or 394-8413.