By: Ted Nugent
Here on this wonderful December 17, 2020 glorious day of bowhunting whitetail deer on the gamerich grounds of Texas, I pause to say a loud and proud, loving Happy Birthday to my dear old dad, Warren Henry Nugent. Born on this day in 1920 in Detroit, Michigan, dad would have been the big 100 this year!
I know we don’t frame everything in our lives in deerhunting terms (almost) but having just celebrated my 72nd birthday with a deercamp full of incredible Americans as I do every year, I must share the amazing consistency with which so many people communicate with me as to how their birthday celebrations do indeed reference our beloved deerhunting lifestyle more often than not.
There are a whole bunch of us that calibrate our lives priorities based on how many opening days and ruts we get to experience!
Starting at the tender age of 50, as a direct response to the never-ending inquiries about my deerhunting passions, I decided to take the plunge and create an annual Ted Nugent Birthday Bash Hunt Party for the more dedicated, over the top, gungho, hardcore, gonzo, borderline maniacal deerhunting aficionados who may be so mutually inspired to join me in the NugeCamp plunge.
Birthdays that happen to coincide within the deerhunting months naturally maximize the relationship to our seasonal passions, but I am very confident that no matter what time of year we rejoice the good fortune to celebrate yet another year, another opening day, another rut, I happen to know for a fact that a huge swath of deerhunting humanity has a major deerhunting factor on our birthdays regardless.
For example, it is never a mystery as to what sort of gift we can give to our deerhunting family members and friends. Who could possibly not need more ammo, more arrows, a new target, a nice Stormy Kromer insulated hat or plaid hunting vest or jacket?
Our hunting instinct and the pure, natural drive for self-sufficiency and independence is manifested in the hunting lifestyle, and our family members and friends, the smart ones, know, respect and appreciate it more than most of us know.
It was my wonderful father that guided me down the TruNorth compass setting in life with his demand and discipline for firearm safety and marksmanship, and of course the effervescent Samurai excellence of the mystical flight of the arrow in our bowhunting passions.
From my very earliest memories I can still see, hear, smell and feel those magical annual fall jaunts in the Up North Michigan deerwoods, with Osage orange longbow in hand, and a leather backquiver of beautiful Port Orford cedar arrows ready to rock!
Thank God in heaven I stuck with it after much trial and error, to the point where these 72 years later my bowhunting and overall outdoor lifestyle is more important, exciting, crazy fun and more mystifying than ever.
The uppity level of energy and glowing positive spirit we experience, share and cultivate to the maxx at my annual birthday hunt is one of the most gratifying and enjoyable times of the year.
Sharing these experiences around the campfire all these years has proven time and time again that each and every hunter that joins me has enjoyed a lifetime of the same fun and excitement, and will go to the ends of the earth to make sure it never ends and never becomes predictable or stagnant.
I’m not the only one by a longshot that takes this conservation stuff seriously, while at the same time not too seriously at all!
I rejoice the fun, sport, meat, trophy and soul cleansing spirit of deerhunting just like all of you do, and my birthday represents that by taking conscientious care of myself, I just might be able to carve out another phenomenal year of deerhunting with family, friends, and ultimately, strangers who instantly become family and friends.
This awe inspiring natural bond we have as hands-on participants in God’s miraculous renewable creation is a bond that stands the test of time immemorial, and we should never let it dissipate or die, and do everything in our substantial power to spread the goodword and retain and recruit all who we can to join us.
It comes as no surprise to anyone paying attention out here that hunting license sales got a meaningful boost during the heartbreak of this 2020 Communist Chinese virus attack.
This self-sufficient hunting instinct burns strong in the majority of humanity, not matter how far removed they have allowed it to become. But when reliance on others for anything and everything is thrown out the window, that inner hunter will rise to the occasion to do what we know is true to take care of ourselves and our loved ones.
Who knows what the 2020 cultural trainwreck will look like in the coming months, but one thing for sure, as I celebrate my birthday and many of you celebrate yours, and we are about to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ, it appears that many of our fellow Americans are igniting a spirit birthday of their own, and digging down deep into their soul to flex that most important of human muscles; independence!
Happy Birthday to me. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to the American Spirit whenever and wherever we may find it.