May 9, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
I remember it like it was just this morning. I couldn’t have been much more than six, maybe seven years old. We lived on Florence Street in Redford on the northwest edge of Detroit, and right across Hazelton Street was the winding wildgrounds of the mighty Rouge River that called my name loud and clear and all the time.
It may have well been the uncharted jungles of Mozambique for all I could have known or cared, for its big timber, towering forests, snag-nasty tanglezones of thick scrub and impenetrable bush, tall, steep hills and deep, dark valleys, all its magnificent wildness and mystifying critters lured me as powerfully as anything can lure a human being.
At first, pre-dating Whamo’s and WristRockets, I had my trusty old handmade slingshot, cleverly fabricated from a geometrically perfect forked hickory branch, powered by old bicycle innertube strips fastened by tight shoelaces with a sturdy patch of worn canvas for a projectile pouch.
Many a painstaking hour was dedicated to picking out the perfect sized, as round as possible pebbles and stones for my arsenal of ballistically coefficient ammo, and Lord knows the passion with which I relentlessly practiced my aim small miss small discipline to be the best marksman I could be.
And let me tell you, I was murder!
Chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, quail, birds of every description and species, river rats, snakes, frogs, turtles, coons, possums, skunks, nothing was safe from the WhackMaster in the making.
May 3, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
The National Rifle Association. Hunter Nation. Gun Owners of America. Ducks Unlimited. Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. National Wild Turkey Foundation. Delta Waterfowl. Pheasants Forever. Trout Unlimited. Quail Unlimited. The Grouse Society. Gun Owners of California. Texas Rifle Association. Jews For the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. The Zelman Partisans. The Wild Sheep Foundation. The National Trappers Association. The Boone and Crocket Club. Pope and Young. Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife. The Audubon Society. National Wildlife Federation. The Arbor Day Foundation. Safari Club International. The Dallas Safaris Club. The Houston Safari Club. Shikar Safaris. Michigan Conservation Clubs. Michigan Bowhunters. Wisconsin Bowhunters. South Dakota Bowhunters. Nebraska Bowhunters. Alaska Bowhunters.
I’m sure I could go, but this is a partial list of absolutely amazing conservation and freedom organizations to which I have over the many years supported in one way or another.
All 50 states and all Canadian Provinces have various hunting, conservation and gun-rights organizations, and in equally various ways, do wonderful work on behalf of conservation, hunting, fishing and trapping rights and very important freedom-based gun-rights.
April 25, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
I’m just a guitarplayer and I never went to college. I was too busy learning stuff; really important stuff!
You know, all that radical stuff like self-evident truths, logic, commonsense, reality, earning your own way, living within your means, saving for a rainyday, self-sufficiency, accountability, frugality, utilitarian pragmatism, independence, work ethic productivity, responsible conservation, honesty, resource stewardship, giving instead of taking, leaving things better than I found them, hands-on down to earth natural world stuff that remains to this day the basics of quality of life, liberty, pursuit of happiness and allthings American Dream.
Oh, radical, radical me!
It is my 70 years of clean and sober ultra-aliveness that has taught me to believe that no other lifestyle available to mankind will teach these things better than the life of a hunter, especially the life of a bowhunter.
The higher level of awareness and demanding stealth discipline of bowhunting eliminates the failures of stumbling and bumbling along in hopes that luck will win the day.
April 18, 2019
By: Ted Nugent “Man started out living in a cave. Felt right at home nobody’s slave. Only wanted a happy home. Only wanted to be left alone. Now it’s my turn to show my stuff. Its sometimes fun its sometimes...
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April 12, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
I love animals. They’re delicious!
Well, of course, the most pure and original relationship mankind has had with critters certainly pivots upon the procurement and reverence for the life sustaining protein they have provided us time immemorial. I think we can all agree that in its most basic and simplistic consideration, venison is indeed life.
Once our species began to consume meat, our brains began to develop and we got real smart real quick.
With those smarts came the inescapable better understanding and genuine respect for the animals beyond just sustenance, and hence the beginning of hieroglyphics on cave walls, showing an increasing love affair with the beasts that provided ultimate fun, sport, meat, tools, weapons, shelter, clothing, medicine, trophies and much powerful spirit.
I have only had a quickie 70-year blip on life’s radar so far, but I am certain that as a hunter, my love affair with animals is as pure and righteous as God had intended. My overall life, liberty and pursuit of happiness has an awful lot to do with my year-round lifestyle connection with animals on every imaginable level.
Loving animals alone is insufficient and inadequate without genuine respect.
April 4, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
VENISON! The primal scream battlecry for deerhunters everywhere that just won’t quit. Of course the term venison is not limited to just the sacred flesh of deer, but historically the nomenclature describing all wild game meat that has always fed mankind and we so cherish.
With turkey season, bear season and fishing season coming alive across the springtime hunter hinterland, there are plenty of various hunting opportunities to keep us die hard, venison addicted, reasoning predators engaged and motivated, that’s for sure.
But fret thee not my fellow gungho deerhunters, for the always thrilling herbivore/cervid season never ends in the last best place of Texas.
Not only on millions of private ranches all across the Lone Star state but also found on open range public ground as well, it is not out of the ordinary to bump into any one of the many various species of deer that have called Texas home for many, many years.
March 28, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
A good friend and I were exchanging ideas today about our love for deerhunting, referencing our lifetimes of exciting experiences and memories in our beloved deerwoods. Of course such discussions take place in my life all the time, but on this occasion my walk down deerhunting memory lane just happened to be with Dan Schmidt, editor extraordinaire of Deer And Deer Hunting magazine, probably as close to a maniacal, over-the-top, gungho deerhunter as me that there is.
When I first hit the deerwoods in our mythical, sacred Up North big timber of Michigan way back in November of 1949, I was only 10 months old, so I can’t really share many accurate memories of those first few years.
But believe me when I tell you, the Spirit of the Wild imprinted powerfully deep inside me nonetheless, and within a mere couple of years later, I not only figured out what was going on but instantly became fascinated by the whole primal scream ritual of the seasonal dynamo of the fall hunting season.
And be it known to all good men everywhere, it has accelerated incrementally over 70 glorious deerseasons so far.
March 14, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
Priorities, priorities, priorities! They just keep mounting up, don’t they.
Even though the hunting season never ends in Texas, I nonetheless have a slightly different list of priorities now that another wonderful whitetail season has come to a close.
I work daily on equipment upgrades, foodplots, treestands, feeders, ranch chores, guitar adventure, dog work, media interviews and all the goodstuff that drives my life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
To keep it simple and in perspective, I always start every day with my American Dream Battlecry of God, family, country.
Everything else for quality of life pretty much falls into place, including backstraps and rock-n-roll.
I figure, what exactly would God want me to do today?
Well, surely, He would want me to take care of myself, my family, my community, my country, my earth and my fellow man. And therefore, I got all the prime priorities covered real good in every category just by doing the right thing and intelligently and responsibly managing my time, energy, spirit and resources to the max for positive attitude and forward motion.
March 7, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
It’s the guy that goes to his grave with the most powerful memories that wins. My memory bank runneth over with the greatest memories a guy could ever hope for, and as we enter March 2019, this is the time of year, every year, when my happy memory planets align, for March 5 is Fred Bear’s birthday.
Born in 1902, Fred would have turned 117 this week and a gathering of Fred Bear loving BloodBrothers got together for the 2nd annual Fred Bear Day in Grayling, Michigan, to commemorate this wonderful human being.
Of course, Grayling, the real Gateway to Up North, was where Fred and his amazing bowyer Nels Grumly relocated their unique and soon to be legendary little archery shop from Detroit way back around 1940 or thereabouts, and they were off to the races.
My good fortune came about because my dad, Warren Henry Nugent was already a bowhunter and follower of Fred’s when I was born in 1948, and like all American kids in those days, we all had Red Ryder Daisy BB-guns, a homemade slingshot and a homemade bow and arrow.
February 28, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
February 28, 2019! Are you kidding me! It’s over! Are you telling me it’s over? The end! Finis! Terminus backstrapology! Bye-bye baby! Adios MoFo! See ya! So long! It’s over Rover!
With tears streaming down my face, a lumpy gulp in my throat and a broken heart, my emotions got the best of me as I say; “adios deerseason 2018-2019, you were the best ever!”
The amazing Texas whitetail season throttles effervescently from October 1 thereabouts to the 1st day of March for landowners enrolled in the wonderful Managed Land Deer Permit system, where landowners determine our own bag limits and hunting methodologies. Which of course is why the best deerhunting on planet earth is in Texas, for everyone knows government bureaucrats are no match for the boots-on-the-ground passion, knowledge, capabilities and wisdom of free American earthly stewards.
February 14, 2019
By: Ted Nugent “Ooohhh…. It’s gamey!” “I tried venison once but didn’t like the gamey taste”. In my lifetime of never-ending worldly travels, the subject of hunting and wildlife always comes up. Everybody knows I’m a gungho lifetime hunter and...
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February 7, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
I walk the wild. I’ve walked the wild for my entire 70 years and I know what I see. I determined early on that my quality of life and overall American Dream will be ultimately enjoyed based on my dedication to a higher level of awareness and diligent attentiveness to my surroundings, people, places, things and conditions.
And I walk the wild a lot! I live in the wild, I cherish the wild, I revere the wild, I live the wild, I am the Spirit of the Wild and there is no getting away from it.
January 31, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
My 70-year plus American Dream adventure blitzkrieg has been rather interesting to say the least, so far. Nonstop rock-n-roll and bowhunting has made it possible for me to hang with people from all around the world and every imaginable walk of life.
At a very early age I began to figure it out that my quality of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness would indeed be determined by the quality of people I associate with. Hence, I began to ostracize liars, dopers, drunks, scammers and negative dirtbags of every stripe.
I have been blessed beyond measure to hang with and become friends, even BloodBrothers, with the best of the best.
I mean, come on! I bowhunted with Fred Bear, learned how to race offroad with Mickey Thompson and Parnelli Jones, communicated with Elmer Keith about handgun hunting, played bass with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddly, jammed with the elite of the elite and shared sacred campfires with the kindest, warmest, compassionate workin’ hard, playin’ hard American hunting families one could ever dream of.
January 17, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
I missed. I mean, I missed really, really bad!
I know, we all miss and it is always a painful thing. Some misses are manageable, some not so much.
I am having a very hard time getting over this one.
When you have been addicted to the mystical flight of the arrow as long as I have, missing the mark on occasion, even often, is just part of the projectile management lifestyle.
Ya win some ya lose some.
No biggie in the great scheme of things.
When we miss a shot that was executed reasonably well, we can live with it. In archery some things are simply not within our control no matter how dedicated we are and how proficient we become.
January 11, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
Another day, another kid! Just how lucky can an old bowhunter get than getting one of the greatest joys available in life hearing from kids from all over America every day celebrating hunting and the great outdoor lifestyle in this day and age!
Not a day goes by that I don’t receive a letter and photo from a young boy and or a young girl with exciting celebrations of a successful hunt.
Think about that one for a minute. In 2019 in the otherwise goofy world turned upside down and our purest American culture and heritage being attacked from every angle every day, I get photos and stories from young Americans absolutely thrilled to have whacked their first deer, turkey, bear, rabbit, dove, duck, squirrel, pheasant, raccoon or any of the various species of big and small game in North America.
January 3, 2019
By: Ted Nugent
Okay, let us all just admit it, that when it comes to deerhunting, no matter the quintessential, penultimate Herculean effort we put forth to strategize, plan, manipulate and intellectualize our ambush decisions in order to kill the beast, good old Mother Nature and nasty old Murphy always have the final say.
And of course that is why we love/crave it so much.
But on occasion, sometimes, when luck is on our side, such dedicated planning connects the predator dots, the backstrapper planets align, and God shines His miraculous love down upon us.
No matter when such luck occurs, we take it, cherish it and appreciate it beyond measure, celebrating the extensive time, energy and effort investment, nearly forgetting about all those nerve wracking skunking days, and the world is all good.
December 20, 2018
By: Ted Nugent
I’ve written extensively about my exciting lifetime of projectile management and the ever-loving mystical flight of the arrow, and all these 70 years later such passions run stronger than ever.
Say HALLELUJAH!
My daily archery/bowhunting practice sessions are serious business, certainly always outrageous fun, but quite honestly, life and death serious.
My job, moral obligation and duty as a bowhunter is to kill swiftly, so accurate shot placement is as serious as it comes.
December 13, 2018
By: Ted Nugent
Ahhhhh…… December 13, 1948, such a moving historical landmark! A moment in time! A day of infamy the way I see it. A wild-eyed kickoff to something big and beautiful. My favorite day ever!
Seventy years ago today a rather momentous launching of little Theodore Anthony Nugent on the not so mean streets of Detroit, and rock-n-roll guitar slamming and the mystical flight of the arrow would never be the same again.
What a great time to be born. Chuck Berry and Fred Bear paved the way for the most fun adventure a young whippersnapper future MotorCity Madman Whackmaster could have ever hoped for, and celebrating my 70th today is glowing proof that the American Dream is alive and well and available to anyone who plunges heart and soul into their passions.
December 6, 2018
By: Ted Nugent
Every hunt is special, exciting, interesting, educational, ultraFUN and mystical to say the least. But on October 20, 2018, deep in my traditional Michigan swampland, the mysticism factor accelerated to a higher degree than usual and every thrilling moment is imprinted on my very happy psyche like a timeless drawing on cave wall.
The air was so thick with wet, floating fog that you could taste the dying, golden Tamarac needles in the surrounding fen. Visibility was cut to just a few yards in my ladderstand along the winding, gurgling creek and the hammering of big, noisy Pileated woodpeckers provided the ultimate soundtrack for my Spirit of the Wild fall morning of bowhunting.
Master VidCamDude Ethan Wiskur and I knew all too well how a Michigan whitetail hunter must remain silent, motionless and vigilant, so we blended in our beautiful wooded, marshy habitat like the mink, muskrat, beaver, deer, turkey, rabbits, pheasants, woodcock and other assorted wildlife with which we shared this sacred ground.
We fit in and we belonged.
November 21, 2018
By: Ted Nugent
I’ve written and waxed poetic and passionate about the seriousness of celebrating Thanksgiving in America for many, many years. We have so much to be thankful for in this the greatest country on earth that it is critically important to shout it out loud and proud from every mountaintop we can ascend.
I am convinced that the appreciation for all that is possible in this sacred experiment in self-government, though alive and well overall, is in fact diminishing by some Americans due to the human failure to become spoiled and petty after we have it so good for so long.
November 14, 2018
By: Ted Nugent
POW! BLAM! Bang! KaBlooey! Boom! Whoomp! KaBlammo! Wham!
Let us celebrate the most beautiful ballistic freedom soundtrack cacophony known to man! The glorious Opening Day of firearms deerseason wherever and whenever this wonderful day may occur is the day of days for American deerhunters across the land of the free and home of the brave!
Lord have mercy how I love the stimulating sound of small arms fire at the break of day!
November 8, 2018
By: Ted Nugent
Chris was hunkered down with his crossbow in a beautiful ravine between a stunning cattail rimmed lake and a high cut ridge sloping up to a withered cornfield. The fall colors and soothing cacophony of wildlife sounds made this deery zone all the more stimulating and he could sense he was in the lap of God.
With a rare southeast wind nipping at his cheek, he wasn’t really surprised at all when a handsome butterball unicorn spike buck appeared out of the reedgrass puckerbrush ahead, and with deadly predator stealth he sent his broadhead tipped bolt straight into the life giving pumpstation of the young buck for a quick, happy backstrap dream.
Anthony made the long drive from New Jersey for his Uncle Ted deerhunting dream, and knew he was in one of my favorite ladderstands as he settled in for his evening vigil.
Green foodplots to his right and a magical marsh to his left, the natural corridor of his narrow woodlot had all the markings of the ultimate critter ambush setup, and he was ready to rock.
October 25, 2018
By: Ted Nugent
I was all snuggled ultra-comfy, deep in the warm, loving bosom of God. I could actually taste the effervescent swampfog that enveloped our little riverine bog, and I don’t know where the slight pre-dawn glow came from, but a subtle shimmer accented all the gold, yellow, red and orange fiery flora and fauna within which we were perched.
My entire life has been dedicated with all the might I can muster to be as alive as I can possibly be.
My indefatigable, nonstop hyper scramble to maximize my life, liberty and pursuit of happiness has consumed my every breath for near on 70 years now, and I push myself to discover new and exciting procedures each and every day to kick it up a notch in everything I do.
God, family, country, music, my sacred we the people politics, hunting, fishing, trapping, dogs, communication with people and a vast assortment of American Dream options throttle my entire being fulltime.
October 18, 2018
By: Ted Nugent
If any hunter alive or dead would ever expect to have a reasonable handle on the critter numbers on their own private hunting lands it would be me. I’ve been hard at it my entire life, never missed a season in 70 years and diligently explore, farm, hunt, fish, trap, survey and study my sacred hunting grounds nonstop throughout the year, all year long, every year.
When we were hit hard across the Midwest by the deadly EHD plague a few years back, we counted nearly 100 dead deer carcasses in our woods, fields, swamps, marshes and fen in a short few months period. It was heartbreaking to say the least.
Over the following five years we backed way back on doe harvests, and within just a few short years we celebrated God’s miraculous whitetail deer productivity creation as the numbers rebounded to nearly the good old days.
The hunting has been wonderful.
My deer expert son Toby reported herds of 50 to 60 animals wintering on our place this past year and we were excitedly looking forward to an action packed backstrap boogie come the October 2018 opener.
But alas, it was not to be!
October 11, 2018
By: Ted Nugent
I think we can all agree that the early bowhunting season isn’t exactly the ultimate time of year weather-wise to get all fired-up to get out into the deerwoods. Pretty much everywhere across the hinterland the temperatures and conditions have remained steadily more summer-like than fall-like.
All together now…. Ugh!
But hark my fellow Natty Bumpo backstrappers, no hot, muggy, mosquito-buzzing sunny days will keep us out of our favorite deer-haunts, now will it!
