By: Ted Nugent
“Keep it simple stupid” keeps running through my head 24/7/365/69.6!
All the best things in life are close to the bone reverberating as one with the primal scream of our inner spirit.
Yikes! That’s a mouthful ain’t it! And it darn well oughtta be if we are to remain in touch with the primary focus and pragmatic functions of our beloved down to earth quality of life.
And of course I know I’m preaching to the ultimate down to earth choir here, for who better to understand and live the purest primal scream lifestyle than those of us smart and fortunate enough to hunt, fish and trap as defining hands-on conservation participants in God’s miraculous nature creation.
Can I please hear a loud, proud and hearty tooth, fang and claw hallelujah ya’all!
We must all admit that in order to thrive as rugged independent individuals in the wild and crazy world of 2018 and beyond, we must also be ultimately aware of the modern world demands emanating from the concrete jungle hellzones that provide much of our human needs delivery services.
Hunting is the definitive rural beyond the pavement wildside lifestyle, but the urban city world is a powerhouse reality we must all live with and function in harmony with as well.
Hell, most hunting families do indeed live within the cityscape to some degree or other, and no one knows better than they do the transitional dynamic we must deal with in order to get back to our natural predator instincts and connections.
Nobody can honestly claim to be a true primitive hunter today, unless of course they head naked into the most undeveloped wilderness and start from scratch. Ain’t gonna happen.
Even so called traditional bowhunters are not anywhere near primitive, and certainly a modern recurve or longbow is anything but primitive.
Traditional is a powerful word that has much more to do with mindset and spirit than with any equipment we may prefer to hunt with.
Everybody I know and hunt with are pure traditionalists who still scout as much as possible, use the wind, sun and moon, study wildlife intently, and summon a timeless predator spirit to connect with the critters that give us life and so much joy.
Many of them use older technology like recurves and longbows, vintage iron-site 30-30 leverguns, modern longrange sniper rifles, state of the art compound bows and crossbows, and pretty much the entire gamut of legal sporting arms and technology available today.
But each and every one of them have a genuine love for the deepest, most reverential desire to be an asset to wildlife and nature by conducting themselves in the most dedicated, conscientious way possible.
Now that’s a tradition that drives us and connects us in the best way there is.
I bring this up not just to clarify the importance of our spiritual tradition and brotherhood, but also to remind how keeping in touch with various methodologies can enhance our preferred hunting styles.
Raised on longbows before there were recurves, then embarking on the glory of bowhunting with the earliest of those beautiful handcrafted weapons, I was very fortunate to develop and nurture what I believe to be the ultimate hand-eye coordination system of projectile management.
When you shoot slingshots and bare-bow archery every day growing up, year after year, one can truly become the mystical flight of the arrow.
Transitioning to compound bows in 1977 after crumbling into the pits of target panic hell with my beloved recurves, I had a long journey back to my natural instinctive shooting capabilities.
I never stopped shooting my recurves and over the years learned how maintaining that instinctive archery connection dramatically improves all my other shooting, both archery and firearms.
After my daily recurve shooting with my cherished Fred Bear Super Kodiak, I experience some of the best handgunning, rifle and compound sessions.
Something about that open sight picture of a canted recurve brings a clarity to instinctive arrow flight, and such trained “point-ability” goes straight to improving my focus on every sight picture discipline no matter what the weapon.
If you own an old-fashioned longbow or recurve, fletch up a few high-profile turkey-feathered shafts, stand 10-12 yards from your target and concentrate on a tiny, tiny spot to hit.
Discover how your eyes can become one with your fingers, muscles and breathing, and learn how to release that arrow in a consistent fashion until the entire shot sequence becomes a fluid, out of body ballet.
When I go from shooting my old bows with fingers to shooting my Mathews compounds with a trigger or back-tension release, my groups become as tight as they have ever been.
Give it a try. Get an old bow and find that mystical flight of the inner arrow within.
Summertime is coming on and now is the time to keep the primal scream screaming!
Aim small miss small and be the best projectile manager you can be. The backstraps made me do it.