Bigfoot Hunter Fined by National Parks Service

Bigfoot in all his (her) glory. CREDIT: Karl Tate, LiveScience Infographic Artist View full size image

When Bigfoot hunter Matt Pruitt led an expedition through the Arkansas woods in search of legendary woodland apes, all he bagged was a lousy government fine.  

According to The Republic, The National Parks Service cited the leader of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization for not having a permit when he took 31 Sasquatch seekers to sites along Arkansas' Buffalo National River last month. Any expedition that charges a fee requires a permit from the federal government, and Pruitt had charged participants $300 to $500 apiece to participate in the hunt.

Rangers cited Pruitt for engaging in a business without a permit or written agreement, and fined him $525. Pruitt said it was an innocent mistake and that he paid his fine last week. Even with the fine, the numbers suggest he raked in between $9,000 and $15,000 in profit. [Americans More Likely than Canadians to Believe in Bigfoot]

The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization hosts 20 four-day hunting expeditions each year. The BFRO's mission is "to resolve the mystery surrounding the Bigfoot phenomenon, that is, to derive conclusive documentation of the species' existence," according to its website.

The group has yet to kill or find the remains of an actual Bigfoot, but bits and pieces of "physical evidence" are obtained during most hunting expeditions, from footprints to scat to "shining eyes" seen in night camera footage.

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