There’s Only One Place In The World Where You Can Legally Hunt Dinosaurs

Vernal began issuing dinosaur hunting licenses back in 1951, reports The Museum of Hoaxes, after Tenney T Johnson’s idea got picked up by the Vernal Chamber of Commerce who started handing them out to around 60,000 tourists a year.

Hunting is a controversial pastime and as director of Jurassic Park Steven Spielberg can attest, people can get very passionate about it even when the slain animal is *checks notes* a prop triceratops. If you like the sound of a dinosaur hunt, it’s important to note that there still are some rules:

• This license entitles the holder to hunt, pursue, shoot, kill and remove from that area known as Dinosaur Control Area of Uintah County [...] the following types of reptilian wild game.
• A. TYRANNOSAURUS REX – 1 only (adult male).
• B. DIPLODOCUS GIGANTICUS – 1 only (either sex) and not less than 5,000 pounds live weight.
• C. STEGOSAURS – 2 only (males) any size.
• D. PTERODACTYLI – 4 only (without young).

While the license grants the holder a green light to hunt in Vernal, to date, no dinosaurs have died. But you never know… 

Vernal is a special place palaeontologically speaking, home to the Dinosaur National Monument. At over 80,940 hectares (200,000 acres) it extends from Utah into Colorado, and has been nicknamed "Dinosaurland".

The first dinosaur bones discovered here were found by Earl Douglass in 1909. Since then, thousands of fossils have been found belonging to Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, and Camarasaurus. You can see some embedded in the Wall Of Bones, and even touch some fossils dating back 150 million years.

And if you happen to spot a dinosaur while you’re exploring Utah’s ancient natural history? Just make sure you have your license handy…