Kate Nash | The New Mexican

3/6/2008 - 3/7/08

Rock guitarist, gun-rights advocate and avid hunter Ted Nugent plans to film 26 outdoors shows in New Mexico to showcase its opportunities for hunters.

Michigan's "Motor City Madman," who is in the state this week for the making of the film Beer For My Horses, said he's hooked on the state's beauty and wants others to know about it.

"New Mexico is probably in the top dozen states for out-of-state hunters to enjoy elk, mountain lions, turkey," he said. "It should be No. 1."

Nugent, 59, has a hunting show on cable television's Outdoor Channel called Spirit of the Wild. He said he hopes to get the planned New Mexico shows on a similarly popular channel.

"New Mexico doesn't really have any powerful or meaningful arm (to promote) the unbelievable opportunities awaiting sportsmen around the country," he said in a phone interview Thursday from one of the film's sets near Santa Fe.

The rambunctious rocker, who has served as a National Rifle Association board member, said Gov. Bill Richardson, also a hunter and gun owner, gave him a green light for the show.

Nugent most recently talked about the project with Richardson over dinner at the Governor's Mansion earlier this week.

"There might be a D after his name, but he's not fooling me," Nugent said of the governor. "I don't know why he hangs with those people."

Nugent, whose biggest hit was "Cat Scratch Fever," said he plans to go turkey hunting with the governor in April.

"Bill is my favorite Democrat - and I only have one, by the way," said Nugent, a conservative who recently has made controversial remarks about U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Nugent is in the state to work on a film whose title comes from the duet "Beer For My Horses," performed by country music stars Toby Keith and Willie Nelson. The film is being made around Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

Nugent said he plays a deputy sheriff who goes "to Mexico and shoots federales in the ass with flaming arrows."

He's already got hunting shows planned out, including one that would be about the turkeys that live in the state, "all the time with great guitar music in the background."

Nugent, who as a musician has performed by himself and with the groups Amboy Dukes and the Damn Yankees, is an author of books including Kill it and Grill it. He reportedly has toyed with running for political office including governor of Michigan.

He also has served as a national spokesman for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.

While he finishes up the movie, he's looking forward to coming back to hunt with Richardson. "If the old guitar player can teach him anything, it's you should never deny yourself that soul-cleansing experience (of hunting). It's just you and that bird, and you and that elk out there."

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog, Green Chile Chatter, at www.sfnewmexican.com.