BISON BOUNCE: A quick look at where the buffalo roam.

• Author: Ellis, Kevin

Jerry Nelon says he raises bison to support his golf game. Problem is, says his wife Robin, her husband, 74, never swings the club. "That's just a thing he says," she notes. "He doesn't play golf, he's a workaholic."

Nelon has nearly 100 bison on his 153-acre Polk County farm in Green Creek, between the western North Carolina towns of Forest City and Columbus. He has been raising bison for about 20 years and now has about 15 calves. The need for a liver transplant last year, which he blames on contact with Agent Orange while serving with the U.S. Army in Vietnam, kept Nelon from selling any of his herd for three years. Now feeling healthy, he has sold 13 in the past two months.

"They're just too hard to catch," he says. A bull can weigh more than 2,000 pounds--an adult cow weighs about 1,400 pounds--and stand more than 6 feet tall. They prefer to be left alone, says Nelon.

"Go out there and try to catch one. They'll have your a., up a tree," Nelon says without abbreviating his words. "They really are calm animals until you try to catch one."

An adult bison fetches about $3,000 at market, he says. Most customers buy bison as a healthier meat alternative, says Nelon, who is one of a handful of bison ranchers in North Carolina.

Bison meat has about a third of the grams of fat, almost three times as much iron and fewer calories than skinless chicken, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The same organization says 100 grams of raw bison contains 109 calories and 1.8 grams of fat. The same amount of raw beef contains 291 calories and 24 grams of fat.

Still, bison consumption is limited at less than a pound per capita of annual consumption in the United States, according to the National Bison Association. Most grocery store chains and some restaurants offer bison meat for sale. People generally like its taste, but it costs more than other proteins, Nelon says. "People just like to...