Interesting.  I can use a similar line of thought to justify eating
buffalo.  Cows are dumb -- dumb enough to pee and poop in the water
they drink.  Buffalo, being wilder, are smarter than that.  Nuff said
=)

[tease] I'm pretty sure the buffalo hair doesn't make it into the meat
[/tease]

Yup!

When you're driving up to Wyoming, there's a big cutout of a buffalo
on top of a hill.  Don't know what that's about.

Around here buffalo is used for pretty much anything cow beef normally
would be -- burgers, steaks, that nasty raw stuff ...

bi·son    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (bsn, -zn)
n. pl. bison
A bovine mammal (Bison bison) of western North America, having large
forequarters, a shaggy mane, and a massive head with short curved horns; a
buffalo.
An animal (B. bonasus) of Europe, similar to but somewhat smaller than the
bison; a wisent.
[Latin bisn, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German wisunt.]

buf·fa·lo    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (bf-l)
n. pl. buffalo or buf·fa·loes or buf·fa·los
Any of several oxlike Old World mammals of the family Bovidae, such as the
water buffalo and African buffalo.
The North American bison, Bison bison.
The buffalo fish.
tr.v. buf·fa·loed, buf·fa·lo·ing, buf·fa·loes
To intimidate, as by a display of confidence or authority: “The board
couldn't buffalo the federal courts as it had the Comptroller” (American
Banker).
To deceive; hoodwink: “Too often... job seekers have buffaloed lenders as to
their competency and training” (H. Jane Lehman).
To confuse; bewilder.
[Italian bufalo, or Portuguese or Spanish búfalo from Late Latin bfalus,
from Latin bbalus, antelope, buffalo, from Greek boubalos, perhaps from
bous, cow. See gwou- in Indo-European Roots.]
Word History: The buffalo is so closely associated with the Wild West that
one might assume that its name comes from a Native American word, as is the
case with the words moose and skunk. In fact, however, buffalo can probably
be traced back by way of one or more of the Romance languages through Late
and Classical Latin and ultimately to the Greek word boubalos, meaning “an
antelope or a buffalo.” The buffalo referred to by the Greek and Latin words
was of course not the American one but an Old World mammal, such as the
water buffalo of southern Asia. Applied to the North American mammal,
buffalo is a misnomer, bison being the preferred term. As far as everyday
usage is concerned, however, buffalo, first recorded for the American mammal
in 1635, is older than bison, first recorded in 1774.

Hrm.  I don't know if this is the same.  I suspect the buffalo I've
eaten has been raised in captivity, even if they have a lot of room to
range, so maybe it's not as gamey?

The buffalo I've eaten so far has simply tasted like really good beef.

In the past half century or so there has been an effort in
scientific usage to separate the two names, using "bison" for
the northern, shaggy species, and "buffalo" for the southern
species.  The lexicographers have begun to go along with it.  My
Webster's now denigrates "buffalo" as a "popular, but
unscientific" word for the American bison -- to which I say,
"Pfffft".  Etymologically, the names are equal, both meaning
"wild ox" and applying to any wild bovine species.

Yabbut they taste EVER soooo GOOD!