If you manage to capture Bigfoot, the State of Oklahoma owes you big time. Months after Oklahoma state representative Justin Humphrey introduced a bill to create a Bigfoot hunting season within the state, the legislator has announced the tourism bureau has now increased its bounty to $3 million for the capture of the fabled creature. There is one catch, outside of landing a Squatch — to collect the bounty, you must turn Bigfoot into Oklahoman authorities completely unharmed and the capture must be “live and humane.”
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“We don’t hunt Bigfoot. Nobody wants to harm Bigfoot. We’re going to do a live, humane capture of Bigfoot,” Humphrey said on the floor of the Oklahoma House of Representatives last week. “We’re extending this beyond just our region and throughout the state. We’re wanting the whole world to come to southeastern Oklahoma, to the state of Oklahoma and get involved in our bounty – Oklahoma bounty, Bigfoot bounty. So, we’re excited to invite the whole world to come and participate.”
Humphrey filed House Bill 1648 earlier this year, legislation that would instruct the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission to draft rules and annual dates for an official Bigfoot season. The bill, if passed and signed into law, would also establish the required hunting licenses and fees. The legislator then went onto say he’s been in contact with a new documentary crew filming in Oklahoma, saying such a bill could help the state’s tourism industry.
“Tourism is one of the biggest attractions we have in my House district,” Humphrey said earlier this year. “Establishing an actual hunting season and issuing licenses for people who want to hunt Bigfoot will just draw more people to our already beautiful part of the state. It will be a great way for people to enjoy our area and to have some fun….A lot of people don’t believe in Bigfoot, but a lot of people do. Just like some people like to go deer hunting, while some don’t.”
“Having a license and a tag would give people a way to prove they participated in the hunt,” he added. “Again, the overall goal is to get people to our area to enjoy the natural beauty and to have a great time, and if they find Bigfoot while they’re at it, well hey, that’s just an even bigger prize.”
Though ol’ Sasquatch is typically known to cryptid hunters as a major presence in wooded areas, the creature is celebrated by the annual Honobia Bigfoot Festival. To date, the festival has dished out over $40,000 in scholarship money to local students, all while celebrating the most popular cryptid on the planet.
Cover photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Hulu
