What is a Wook and Why Are They ‘Hunted’ in Colorado?

If you've ever seen a jam band at Red Rocks or attended a hippie-centric music festival in Colorado like Arise Festival or Sonic Bloom Music Festival, you've likely encountered many so-called Wooks.

Urban Dictionary defines Wook as:

Short for wookie. Plural: wooks. The dirty, vagranty variety of hippy. Almost always unemployed, following around jambands or festivals, and ripping people off. Known more for their tactics than their beliefs (unlike the more respectable hippy).

Essentially, Wooks are modern-day hippies that take it to the extreme. In Colorado, Wooks are so prevalent that a Facebook group dedicated to documenting encounters with these mega-hippies has absolutely exploded in popularity.

Colorado's Wook Hunting Group is Extremely Popular

The group is called The Colorado Big Game Trophy Wook Hunters and was created in 2015 by Ian Beal, his wife Hannah, and friend Derek Barnes after Ian encountered a so-called Wook under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol to the point that he complained about not being able to feel his legs while writhing about in the mud.

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This encounter inspired the trio to create the group which has since gained an immense amount of followers. However, a search for the group on Facebook will only take you to the landing page and a request to join the actual group must be sent to the admins via email.

The "hunting" essentially refers to group members encountering Wooks in the wild, photographing them, typically in an unflattering manner, and sharing their findings online with other members.

Unlike your typical hippies, Wooks tend to have a more negative connotation, and the term is most often used to describe hippies that abuse drugs and/or alcohol, are dishonest, and often commit crimes such as theft to be able to fund their nomadic lifestyle.