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TROPHY DOES TURN ME ON

By: Ted Nugent It was early October, 1970, and young Ted was once again up a tree, hope throttling eternal. I had already been bowhunting like a madman for nearly 20 years, following my dear old bowhunting dad, yew longbow and cedar arrows in hand, through the state and national forests of Northern Michigan each fall since I could walk. But alas, not only backstrapless, but not a single bowshot to be had at a whitetail deer in all those years. Yet here I was, back at it, gungho, bright eyed and bushytailed as eager as ever to figure out how to ambush and waylay one of these mythical beasts with a sharp stick. And finally, on this stunning fall afternoon, like an apparition from the dark forest, she came. I remember holding my breath so forcefully that I actually got a little dizzy and felt like I was about to fall off the oak limb to which I clung. Taunting me maliciously as they always d

Down To Earth More Than Ever

By: Ted Nugent Dirty hands make for a stronger heart. I just made that up. Well, I didn’t really make it up per se, but a lifetime intentionally maximizing my adventures in wild places certainly has provided me a wealth of real estate under my fingernails and the resultant dirt factor in my life has clearly increased my quality of life and happiness. Hence, my stronger heart. It is an inescapable forgone conclusion. I am not claiming to be no Davy Crocket or Sitting Bull by any stretch of the imagination, but for a Detroit guitarplayer born in the firestorm of the Industrial Revolution smack dab in the middle of the Motorcity “Arsenal of Democracy” in 1948, that I have accomplished a phenomenal balance twixt the modern gonzo metropolitan electronic concrete hell rock-n-roll hand to hand combat zone juxtaposed with the timeless primal goo of the world’s swamps, forests, lakes, rivers, marshes, deserts, jungles, mountains, farmlands and tundra as an actual participant in nature, I figure my Down To Earth quota is substantial if not downright lifesaving. I perform my we the people hellraizing duties each and every day, complete my ranch chores and unleash a series of dangerous freedom celebrating guitarlicks, then I immediately head for the bow and arrow mancave arsenal and carefully and cautiously move stealthily into the Zen of aboriginal territory where the subconscious guides me from the physical world into the spiritual zone. It is then and there the that the world is all good.

When The Going Gets Tough

By: Ted Nugent Well, well, well, what have we here, my fellow Americans in the roaring summer of 2020? Wouldn’t it just be peachy keen to continue our beautiful American Freedom Spirit Campfire here with your old Uncle Ted and discuss, debate, enjoy, ponder and celebrate the soul cleansing lifestyle of deerhunting in honor of not just the title of this deeranddeerhunting.com spectacle, but the incredibly unique quality of life that this glorious, dare I say perfect lifestyle so gallantly provides us! And that we shall! I know a very critical and heartbreaking societal upheaval is exploding all around us in these crazy and dire times, and surely as Americans we dare not turn our backs on the clear and present dangers of the violence and destruction across our beloved country, but, and I emphasize but, we must be better than the vandals, arsonists, terrorists and rioters, and now more than ever conduct ourselves as the ultimate caring, loving, peaceful, down to earth law and order families we represent, not just in the hunting communities of America, but all those many millions of families who share our traditional American family values of God, family, country, freedom, conservation and brotherly love. And to that end, I will share the balancing act I have learned and achieved over a lifetime of activism promoting and celebrating those principals, and though attacked and hated all these years for doing so, I remain resilient, determined, confident, positive and on course to stand firmly in the asset column of the United States of America. She is worth it. Last week I traveled from our home in Texas to the great Badger State of Wisconsin to take part in the very first authorized public gathering in Ringle to share the positive, patriotic battlecry of Huntthevote.org.

Hunter Patience In Between Seasons

By: Ted Nugent I sat for three hours Friday morning but didn’t see any deer. I sat for three more hours that afternoon, but still no deer. Saturday and Sunday were repeats, as were Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday I was delighted to have a doe and her twins meander by, but decided to wait in hopes of a buck to arrive. But no go. And so it goes sometimes in the wild, wild world of deerhunting no matter how prepared, dedicated, clever, strategized or lucky we may be. I am certain that all the deerhunters on planet earth are more than well aware of the inescapable challenges of hunting and the critical role of patience when pursuing our inexhaustible quest for sacred backstraps and spirit time. But beyond the deerhunting challenges at this strange time in the summer of 2020, this human attribute may very well better equip us hunters to deal with these most trying and challenging times of our lives more than most.

The American Hunting Family Spirit

By: Ted Nugent There are some indisputable foundations to the pulse of mankind, some really bad and many really good, but one of the most powerful and certainly most positive throughout history is the deep, thoughtful spirituality unique to our species. There are many predators in God’s miraculous creation, but there is only one reasoning predator. Humans are blessed with a phenomenal intellect as well as our ingrained instincts to know how to make good, decent, positive, responsible choices in life. Sure, we kill wildlife just like lions and bears and wolves and coyotes, but we actually have the capacity to think about what we are about to do and how to best accomplish it with a conscious discipline to do so in a caring, responsible fashion. When they get lucky, wild predators actually snag their prey and eat them alive, simply functioning on the irrepressible survival pulsations that guide their every effort throughout life. We, on the other hand, have the capacity of empathy, compassion and guilt, so therefore improvise and adapt our actions to reduce and hopefully eliminate discomforting afterthought.

Activism Versus Bending Over

By: Ted Nugent The numbers are in and it ain’t pretty! It’s a painful reality that I have been more than aware of and fought against for many, many years, but now we have the stats, and quite honestly, it is embarrassing. I have always been considered a radical, an extremist, a loud mouth hellraiser, and I have always proudly plead guilty as charged. Stop and think about it for a moment; some of the most important things in life are as radical as radical can be. Consider this first and only sacred American experiment in self-government. You want radical, truly there has never been anything in the history of mankind more radical than our courageous Founding Fathers tossing off the shackles of King George tyranny and blowing away his jackbooted punks when they tried to rule over us. Throughout history there had always been a dominating ruling elite of kings, emperors, tyrants and slavedrivers, controlling the pathetic non-lives of their subjects. 

Keeping The Spirit Wild

By: Ted Nugent A simple life, I will not have. It doesn’t satisfy me. I don’t believe in the status quo, it kinda leaves me weak. A mountain high is what I climb, I swim the river deep, and if you want the time of your live, try to keep up with me! I’m gonna live, I’m gonna fly, gonna soar till the day I die. On the wings of a bird of prey, hey, hey hey, you’re absolutely what I CRAVE! Well look at me that’s a smile on my face. You know it don’t come cheap. Sure I live the American Dream, go ahead and crucify me! Those are the lovely, autobiographically defiant lyrics to my title lovesong CRAVE from an album a few years back. Like most of my songs, writings and public and private declarations, it sums up my unambiguous daily declaration of independence as a free American, and I simply will not have it any other way, thank you. As we continue to be consumed and ravaged by these unprecedented pandemic conditions, I, like what I believe to be the majority of hunting families across America, carry on with a well prepared, capable and wonderfully self-sufficient lifestyle in spite of the otherwise shackling restraints government, fakenews media and society are attempting to force upon us.

Dear Gentry

By: Ted Nugent We call it The Spirit of the Wild, for more than obvious reasons, but the depth of spirit in the hunting community of America is more powerful than most people can imagine. For more than 40 years, I have been contacted by the families of terminally ill sons and daughters to honor their last request in life to share a hunting or fishing campfire with their old Uncle Ted. I will not even try to explain how on God’s good green earth I could possibly qualify for such an honor, but nonetheless, we have never turned down such an amazing invite and consider every such campfire as the ultimate gift in life. Recently, Shemane and I heard of a young seven year old neighbor, Gentry Doxter who had tragically died of cancer. A fellow Texas hunter named Jimmy Bennett had taken Gentry on hunting and fishing trips during his last year of life through his amazing JMB Fishing Foundation charity, bringing forth the uniquely powerful healing powers of nature and God’s miraculous out of doors spirit. Gentry’s last request was to have a funeral procession of hunting trucks, fishing boats, motorcycles, law enforcement and military.

Quarantine Sporting Focus

By: Ted Nugent Well my SpiritWild BloodBrothers across the American hinterland, how goes these very special 2020 pandemic hunkerdown times for you all? We certainly hope everyone is doing OK, healthy, happy, safe, secure, cocky, defiant and hopeful. Allgood here at NugeRanch as we throttle on with daily proceedings basically unchanged.

God Made a Hunter

By Ted Nugent & Keith Mark In the beginning, God gave the world everything it needed to survive and be happy, including the birds in air and the animals on the earth.  But in order to show all of mankind how to utilize and protect those creatures, God made a Hunter.   To keep His people fed and clothed, God made a Hunter. When certain skills were needed to protect us from enemies and wild beasts, God made a Hunter. When the earliest Pilgrims first came to this continent and needed protection and food to survive, God made a Hunter. When the time came for America to gain its independence, God made a Hunter.  It was the woodsmanship and the marksmanship of the American Hunter that allowed “We the People” to defeat the world’s most powerful army, and become a free nation.

The 2020 Test Of Mankind

By: Ted Nugent As I settle in to slam out my weekly NugeBlog this fascinating second week of April in the year of our Lord 2020, it is the first time in my extensive writing/creative life that the words didn’t just come flowing forth with an unstoppable life of their own. Well, they are now, but not without serious pre-thought and consideration that my words should address the current outrage of the global pandemic and resultant quarantine more than the traditional celebration of the overwhelmingly positive outdoor conservation recreational lifestyle. As I have emphasized in recent writings and numerous media interviews of late, the soul cleansing outdoor lifestyle may be even more important now than in the otherwise easy going non-pandemic years.

Nature Heals-Pandemic 2020

By: Ted Nugent Global Chinese Virus Pandemic self-quarantine day 20, and all is well. Well, maybe not all is actually all that well, but for those of us smart enough to have learned inescapable lessons from the past, as well as can be expected. We certainly understand the suffering of our fellow man, especially those hard-hit families with loved ones in the throes of the virus. Our daily prayer regimen has upkicked exponentially and we certainly feel their pain.

PANDEMIC! Welcome to the Party!

By: Ted Nugent The natural, annual, instinctive spring celebrations throttle on here at CampNuge! We are gathering mushrooms, leeks, wild scallions, hunting for shed antlers, killing hogs and varmints, planting trees and foodplots, prepping ground for spring planting, honing archery and marksmanship skills daily, training dogs, rockin’ out like a madman on killer guitar licks, hammering media daily with my never ending tsunami of truth, logic and commonsense, dreaming of my 60th summer tour, looking forward to the greatest hunting season of my life come fall and dusting off my turkey gear for another grand ThunderChicken huntfest. I know, I know, I am well aware of the horrific global pandemic and all its scary ramifications, but alas, TribeNuge hasn’t really altered our daily life much at all.

The Last Boyscout

By: Ted Nugent Ah, spring has sprung and I was all set here to share the life renewal celebration of this wonderful time of year by focusing on shed hunting, mushroom hunting, fishing fun, double gobble turkey excitement, the thrills of bear hunting and the spiritual and olfactory joys of breaking ground for another life giving planting season. So let us start with a Happy Happy Springtime America! But alas! Just since my NUGEBLOG#347 just one scant week ago, the world has taken an ugly, disruptive and dangerous turn as we face the global pandemic of covid19, and for all practical considerations, we are in a brave, new, unprecedented and uncharted world.

The Last Backstrapper

By: Ted Nugent Well, the sun isn’t exactly setting on my hunting season overall, but when so much focus and celebration circles around the mighty whitetail deer of North America, for all practical purposes, my 2019/2020 deerseason is finally over, and it ended with a lovely, audible, POW-THUMP! With the absolute best deerhunting regulations on planet earth, (not perfect, but the best there is) our Texas deerseason erupts the closest Saturday to October 1st and doesn’t end till sunset on the last day of February. And with the amazing Managed Land Deer Permit program, we landowners now determine our own bag limit based on that beautiful sound science reality to keep our herds and habit thriving and healthy. Altogether now-Glory Glory HALLELUJAH! Well it was on that glorious last day of February 2020 that the old gimpy guitarplayer strode afield with a burning desire in my heart to fill the last doe tag on my sacred Texas home hunting grounds.

FRED BEAR DAY IN GRAYLING MICHIGAN

By: Ted Nugent As I submit this here deeranddeerhunting.com NugeBlog#346 on this, the 5th of March, 2020, grand celebration, and substantial emotion is erupting in Grayling Michigan, and I bet here, there and everywhere across the fruited plains, as we celebrate the birthday of our friend, hero, master bowhunter, legendary conservationist and Spirit BloodBrother, Mr. Fred Bear. Fred was born on March 5th, way back in 1902, which is 118 years ago. We lost the great man on April 27, 1988, and the Annual Fred Bear Day in Grayling Michigan, original home of his Bear Archery World Headquarters and Museum, will once again be the scene where they send off a 21 arrow salute to the father of modern day bowhunting. I was lucky beyond belief to be born in Michigan in 1948 when Fred’s whirlwind promotion/celebration of the mystical flight of the arrow and bowhunting in general was off and running at fullspeed.

Late Season Deerhunting At Its Best

By: Ted Nugent Well, its just Texas and Arkansas now, where die hard deerhunters continue our passion for the hunt well into the winter months. Both Texas and Arkansas have deer seasons that go all the way to the end of February, and as a proud Texan, I for one couldn’t be happier. I don’t deerhunt in Arkansas these days, but my homeground SpiritWild Ranch deer paradise in Texas sure keeps me busy every day in February. Since I kickoff my annual deerhunt on our old sacred family Michigan deergrounds each October 1st, I don’t get home to Texas till just around Thanksgiving, and therefore don’t accomplish my necessary doe harvest requirements in the early season as is the best time to do so. With the amazing Managed Land Deer Permit (MLDP) program in Texas where landowners determine our own baglimits based on actual boots on the ground, hands-on, owner/steward experience and knowledge, there is no question whatsoever that Texas has the best deerhunting on planet earth, bar none, case closed!

Hey Hunting Industry, Turn On The Life Support Already

By: Ted Nugent                                                                                                                                     Hunter participation plummeting! Hunter numbers down! Conservation Revenues at alltime lows! Hunting license sales at alltime lows! Sharpshooters hired to reduce deer numbers! Record number of nuisance bear complaints! The doom and gloom, end of times headlines for hunting in America are everywhere! And all for absolutely ridiculous, nonsensical reasons as far as I’m concerned. For starters, we are being regulated to death with rules and laws that not only have absolutely nothing to do with wildlife science, but are to my way of thinking in this politically correct and corrupt culture war world, intentionally created by soulless, ignorant, criminal bureaucrats intentionally doing all they can to destroy the American family hunting heritage and way of life.

Emotional Accuracy

By: Ted Nugent Mind over matter is a beautiful thing, when we can find it. Emotional and spiritual management is a daunting task that never comes easily. I think we can all agree that the more time we spend in the soul cleansing Great Outdoors benefiting from the healing powers of nature the better equipped we are to maintain sanity, overall quality of life control and meaningful emotional management. Upon the death of my beloved younger brother John recently, I found myself desperately floundering about, and pretty much an emotional wreck. Losing a loved one will always be one of life’s worst hurts and most confusing, challenging times. Such deep, dark heartbreak literally poisons the system. My hunting season from September 1st of 2019 had been going simply splendidly, and I was celebrating some of the best arrows and most exciting hunts and kills of my life.

Good-bye My Dear Hunting Brother John

By: Ted Nugent I want you to know my younger brother John. He died this week at the age of 66, and the Nugent family is in a whirlwind of heartbreak. I’m not sure I can even get through this tribute to him. If ever there was a glowing, positive force of nature, it was Johnny. The guy could light up a room and magnify a joyful spirit like no one I have ever known. I don’t care what the mood may have been prior to John’s arrival, but immediately everybody had a smile on their face, laughter was in the air and everything turned positive. His work ethic alone was a constant reminder of just how efficient and productive a human being can be, and as a brother, husband, father, uncle and full-on great American, he was a shining light for 66 years. We are being flooded with support and good wishes from around the world from everyone who ever had even the slightest encounter with John. Everybody loved Johnny Nugent, and we struggle to make sense of his early departure and a day without him. The guy would get up every day of the year at 4am and make his way to his foreman duties at the Pepper Construction sites in downtown Chicago. He was notorious for not only getting the job done, but getting it done ahead of schedule and under budget.

I Love That Beautiful Vicious cycle

By: Ted Nugent What is it they say; “Wash, rinse, repeat.” “The circle shall not go unbroken.” “Same ol same ol.” “Stuck in a rut.” “Engineered redundancy.” “Like Déjà vu all over again.” “Repetition is the art of perfection.” (I think I just made that one up, but I do it all the time, repetitiously over and over and over again and again.

NugeYear Deerhunting Resolutions

By: Ted Nugent 2020! Are you kidding me! You expect me to believe we have now entered the year of our Lord 2020, 73 firebreathing, crazy years after my original eruption onto planet earth! Can this be, you ask? Well,...

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