Last week, the Stevens County Sheriff's Office in Eastern Washington received an interesting phone call from a man looking to hunt for sasquatch.
According to a Facebook post by the sheriff's office, the caller told office staff that he would be traveling to the area in mid-April and wanted to hunt in the Big Meadow Lake area in Northeast Washington. Sheriff's office staff initially tried to refer the man to Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife, but he told them they had referred him to the sheriff's office.
The man's concern was how to stay legal while hunting the mythical beast in the Big Meadow Lake area because Washington state regulations regarding sasquatch hunts were unclear.
The caller asked the sheriff's office whether shooting a sasquatch was illegal in Stevens County and whether a regular hunting license was enough to keep his sasquatch hunt above board legally. He also said he would not hunt or shoot a female sasquatch.
The Stevens County Sheriff's Office patrol chief called the man to explain that Meadow Lake is in nearby Pend Oreille County Sheriff's jurisdiction and that there is no sasquatch in Stevens County.
"We know this because one of our deputies would have accidentally hit one with the patrol car by now," the sheriff's office’s social media post said.
According to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, Washington is the top state for sasquatch sightings. There have been 708 "credible" sightings, according to the organization.
A 1992 resolution established Whatcom County as a sasquatch protection and refuge area.
In 1969, Skamania County passed a law forbidding the harming of sasquatch. Doing so would result in a $1,000 fine and a year in jail. The county later changed the law to state that "any premeditated, willful and wanton slaying of any such creature shall be deemed a felony punishable by a fine not to exceed $10,000, and/or imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed five years."
It is unclear if Stevens County has any such ordinance or law.
