We’ve been talking a lot about invasive species in Texas as of late, paying special attention to the issue of feral hogs, which are growing in number and cause widespread damage (but taste delicious). Texas has responded by making it very, very easy to kill feral hogs. You can hunt them with a handgun. You can hunt them whenever, regardless of the season. And you can even hunt them from the skies (an undertaking known as “pork chopping”), if that’s your thing.
But what about that most legendary of invasive species, Bigfoot?
Yes, someone actually asked Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which regulates hunting in the state, whether or not it would be legal to capture and kill Bigfoot.
The answer was unequivocal.
“If Bigfoot did exist, and wasn’t human, then it would [be legal]. Bigfoot would be a non-protected wild animal,” L. David Sinclair with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department tells StateImpact Texas.
So, yes, it would be legal to kill Bigfoot in Texas. “It’s right out of the law book,” Sinclair says.
This all came up recently when an Oregon man wrote to Sinclair, asking whether or not it’d be legal to kill Sasquatch in Texas. (The hairy cryptid is popular once again, thanks to the television show Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet.)
Sinclair, to his credit, sent back a letter, thoroughly citing various sections of the Parks and Wildlife code to back up his answer that yes, it’s legal to kill Bigfoot in Texas. “A non-protected nongame animal may be hunted on private property with landowner consent by any means, at any time and there is no bag limit or possession limit,” Sinclair wrote. He added:
“An exotic animal is an animal that is non-indigenous to Texas. Unless the exotic is an endangered species then exotics may be hunted on private property with landowner consent. A hunting license is required. This does not include the dangerous wild animals that have been held in captivity and released for the purpose of hunting, which is commonly referred to as a “canned hunt”.
When we ask Sinclair if he thought his letter would go viral, he responds with a chuckle. “I didn’t realize it was going to draw so much attention,” he says, adding, “the agency doesn’t want to get into whether or not there’s Bigfoot.”
While Sasquatch is mostly rumored to be a denizen of the Northwest, there are devoted Bigfoot searchers in the Lone Star State, too.
But hopefully, if an enterprising Texan with a gun encountered Bigfoot, killing it wouldn’t be the only option. Perhaps they could simply adopt it, a la Harry and the Hendersons, and enjoy the slapstick hijinks that would inevitably ensue.
You can learn more about invasive species (that actually exist) at our topic page, What You Need to Know About Invasive Species in Texas.