By: Paul Barnes
One interesting State legislature bill that was filed in 2021 is the Oklahoma’s HB1648. This bill calls for the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission to set up rules for a big foot hunting season. This bill is not fiction; it is indeed, quite real. The commission would create the needed licenses/fees, as well as defining dates for the Oklahoma Big Foot hunting season. It might seem ridiculous, but there is more than meets the eye here.
The Bill
For the actual text of the Big Foot bill, it is quite short. It states:
SECTION 1.
NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 5-603 of Title 29, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows: The Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission shall promulgate rules establishing a big foot hunting season. The Commission shall set annual season dates and create any necessary specific hunting licenses and fees.
SECTION 2.
This act shall become effective November 1, 2021.
As one can see it is quite short and vague. The bill was sponsored by J.J. Humphrey and Logan Philips, both of whom are Republicans.
Background
Oklahoma has always had a lot of Bigfoot sightings, just recently the Tulsa River Park Authorities of Oklahoma wrote on April fools day about the huge amount of sightings. It might seem like a joke, but the authorities assured people that April fools day had nothing to do with it. It is curious that there was so many sightings that even the local government commented on it! Speaking of the Tulsa River Park Authorities, they are actually against this bill, as shown by this post here, which asks that people vote no, on the bill (worth a click to see the pic).
Similarly, the author of the bill actually wants people to capture Bigfoot alive and is apparently working with the Wildlife and Tourism departments to find the proper language to state that Bigfoot must be captured alive. With a proposed reward of $25,000, there is big money up for grabs here. This revelation is quite interesting, and might even be seen as contradicting the bill, as a hunting something and capturing something alive are usually different pursuits.
On that note, the idea of a hunting season for Bigfoot is weird. Hunting seasons are created for the purpose of allowing the hunted animals to regrow their population and not become overly hunted, but with Bigfoot never having been successfully captured/killed before, it seems unnecessary for there to be a hunting season, but perhaps the author is merely covering their bases.
Method to the Madness
A press release sent out by the Oklahoma House reveals the main intention of the bill. The author of the bill states that tourism is one of the biggest attractions in his home district, House district 019. Humphrey believes that establishing a hunting season and requiring licenses will be a good tourism draw for his state. In particular, Humphrey hopes that the hunting season will coincide with the town of Honobia, OK’s, annual Bigfoot festival.
The author is not concerned about the actual existence or non-existence of Bigfoot explaining:
“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.”
The press releases concludes by once again asserting that a hunting license would give people a fun way to show that they participated and encourage people to get out and enjoy the beauty of the nature of the state, and maybe they will find Bigfoot while they are at it.
Essentially, the goal of the Big Foot bill is to attract people to come to Oklahoma and to purchase a license to hunt it. Getting out to track Bigfoot allows people to enjoy the natural beauty of the State, while the state gets the funds created by the licenses. While this bill at first glance seemed quite odd, it is actually just a simple gambit to create more tourism for Oklahoma.
Other Bigfoot Bills
For those wondering, this is not the first time a bill relating to Bigfoot has been introduced. Below are a few other Bigfoot bills from other states.
- VA HR114 (2020): This resolution commends the author of a child book called “Where is the Woodbooger” by Jahmal Potter. The book is about finding a Bigfoot like creature. The resolution was agreed to on 3/2/2020.
- WA SB5615 (2019): This bill is a proposal to designate Bigfoot as the official cryptid of Washington State. It never made it out of committee. A similar bill was introduced in 2017-2018, so maybe the sponsor, Anne Rivers, will try this session?
- NM SB243 (2017): This bill is by far the most interesting of the bunch. It starts off as a fairly uninteresting bill about school funding, but then it gets weird quick. The final section of the bill is states that public funds should not be used to hunt for sasquatches and other mythical creatures including “pokmon”, which likely is referring to Pokémon, the creatures from the Pokémon series of games/shows. The bill was approved by the education and finance committees but never got a vote on the Senate Floor .
So our Oklahoma bill is not entirely unique.
Conclusion
This section is a matter of opinion and does not reflect the overall stance of Billtrack50.
While I personally do not believe in Bigfoot, I think the idea behind this bill is quite a brilliant strategy. By having such a thing in place, it is a harmless way to increase tourism for the State of Oklahoma. The reward money could also be an incentive, but the amount could have been anything as it is impossible to ever claim.
While this bill is, at first glance, quite ridiculous, at the end of the day it is a reasonable incentive to draw in more tourism to the state.