If Ernest Barna were still alive, he might tell you a bison photograph isn't worth the price you'll pay to get it. This 76-year-old Michigan man was photographing bison in South Dakota's Custer State Park when a bull approached.

Other people nearby ran for their cars, but not Barna. The bull walked past Barna, nudged him, then turned and gored him in the side and threw him. He died soon after.

People like me, Dumont, Schrader and Barna are often lulled into a false sense of security because bison appear so slow-moving and peaceful.

Yes, these massive ungulates can weigh up to a ton. But they can sprint up to 30 miles per hour, making them a lethal combination of strength, weight and speed.

In fact, records from Yellowstone National Park show bison are the park's most dangerous wildlife. Bison there have charged people more than 80 times since 1978. In 10 instances, people approached within 51 feet -- in one case, two feet! -- to pose with or photograph bison.

In every case, the bison made contact with the people they charged. Two of those people died.

I didn't know about these bison attacks when the bull charged me in Nebraska. I didn't know bison sometimes kill people.

Fortunately, I'm still alive to tell about my close encounter with that massive buffalo. Jacques Dumont, Marvin Schrader and Ernest Barna are not.

Later on, I read another story that's strangely reminiscent of my own bison encounter.

In July 1843, John James Audubon, Owen McKenzie and John Bell were hunting bison near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. McKenzie shot a big bull with a rifle at close range, twice.

The animal seemed finished. Audubon and Bell approached.

" . . . As we came near, he worked himself slowly round to face us, and then made a lunge at us," Audubon wrote in his journal. "We then stopped on one side and commenced discharging our pistols with little or no effect, except to increase his fury with every shot.

"His appearance was now one to inspire terror, had we not felt satisfied with our ability to avoid him. However, even so, I came very near being overtaken by him . . .

"I placed myself directly in front of him, instead of veering to one side, not supposing that he was able to overtake me; but turning my head over my shoulder, I saw to my horror, Mr. Bull within three feet of me, prepared to give me a taste of his horns.

"The next instant I turned sharply off, and the Buffalo being unable to turn quickly enough to follow me, Bell took the gun from Owen and shot him directly behind the shoulder blade. He tottered for a moment . . . fell forward on his horns, then rolled over on his side and was dead."

Audubon and I were lucky.

Let me give you some important advice. Stay away from bison. Stay far away.