Ear: Bigfoot

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, on Jan. 5, Oklahoma state Rep. Justin Humphrey proposed an official Bigfoot hunting season bill, House Bill 1648, to the Oklahoma House of Representatives, FieldandStream.com reports (bit.ly/OKbigfoot). Before you ask, yes the bill has provisions for the hunting season’s dates, regulations and tags.

Which should prove interesting to enforce, because a spokesman for the state’s Department of Wildlife Conservation has decreed that Bigfoot does not exist in Oklahoma, creating quite a legal conundrum for prospective hunters.

There is an ulterior motive in this bill. The annual Bigfoot festival takes place in Honobia, Oklahoma, in October, Humphrey, a Republican, explained, so he wants to use the monthlong Bigfoot hunting season to promote that area and the festival.

“This is tourism!” he told Lacie Lowry of News 9 in Oklahoma City (bit.ly/JHbigfoot). He is pictured, inset, courtesy of News 9.

However, fear not for Bigfoot’s safety if the bill passes. No guns are allowed; instead, the proposed law offers a bounty of $25,000 to whoever produces a real-life Bigfoot. 

“This is about trapping Bigfoot,” Humphrey insisted, “not killing Bigfoot.”

There’s no mention of what they would do with the critter, if someone actually caught one … but they can worry about that pesky little detail later.