by Ted Nugent
Wow! That was quite the whirlwind funride these past flamethrowing, outrageous, crazyFUN 73 years, was it not! I’m surprised I survived the G-forces!
On that lovely winter day, December 13, 1948 in the MotorCity energy storm, I launched full force into my American Dream and haven’t wasted any time looking back since, not once. Between my bow and arrow and my guitar, and an array of endless dreams, I have remained much too busy to do anything but rockout and look forward.
I mean, stop and think of the world on that day in that era! Detroit was the global epicenter of revered work ethic and productivity envied by the whole world. We had just defeated the abject evil of the Japanese emperor and the demonic Nazi forces, and my beloved MotorCity was known as the arsenal of democracy!
Surely, if one could choose where and when to begin life, it would certainly be in the arsenal of democracy!
Add to that glorious dynamic that Les Paul had only recently electrified the guitar, and Chuck Berry and Bo Diddly immediately showed us what to do with it, and you have the eye of the American Dream storm!
And lo and behold, along with all those glowing forces of inspiring positivity, Michigan was the bowhunting capital of earth, led by the genius of one Mr. Fred Bear, and Tribe Nuge was already hooked on the mystical flight of the arrow and our backstrap dreams!
Thank God my dad was already a bowhunter, and between that and Fred Bear’s incredible promotion of the world’s greatest sport, young Ted was off and running on a fulltilt bowhunting boogie.
Over the years I have figured out how to celebrate my annual birthday in the most effective, fun kind of way. With people hammering me forever to find out why I love bowhunting so much and always inquiring as to how to get started, I created my Sunrize Safaris as a platform to recruit, inspire and teach all those interested in a real, down to earth family bowhunting camp setting, and every year for many years, my December birthday hunt has sold out to families who want to get it on.
If life was gauged on the quality of people and glowing, positive spirit on display at my annual birthday hunt campfires, one would instantly conclude that the world is a perfect place and that people are 100% wonderful!
The kindest, smartest, friendliest, funniest, most wonderful families you could ever imagine show up each year raring to go!
They come from every imaginable walk of life, some seriously experienced lifetime hunters, and some on their very first hunt ever.
We got bowhunters, rifle hunters, handgun hunters, crossbow hunters, blackpowder hunters, and to each and every man, woman and child, all gungho to have the time of their lives and live their wildest backstrap dreams with the old funloving Rock-N-Roll WhackMaster.
The birthday hunt, like our Uncle Ted New Year’s Eve hunt, is conducted on our private home ranch in central Texas, and the uniquely Texas wildlife experience fascinates everyone.
Managed for optimal wildlife habitat, the assortment of exotic and indigenous critters is a sight to behold, and even though hunting success will always be determined by right place right time, we do indeed experience an amazing kill rate that keeps the smiles and backstraps flowing quite nicely.
My hunters kill magnificent African Oryx antelope, Aoudad mountain sheep, Indian blackbuck antelope and axis deer, European fallow deer, and delicious Asian sika deer.
Our American Spirit campfires bring out the best in everyone, and the fun factor can be measured on the Richter scale!
Many of our hunters are returning for their 8th, 9th and 10th season, and we all connect as American family to the core.
It is inevitable that a guitar will miraculously spring forth into my MotorCity flamethrowing bloody fingers, and some killer huntmusic will erupt around a very special fire at some point or other.
All I can say is that I am humbled and honored to have such great families choose to celebrate this old bowhunting guitarplayer’s birthday with my family and me each December, and the much appreciated positive spirit and energy can be cut with a knife the entire four days of our unique, crazy adventure.
So, now I am off and running wildly into my 74th year of life, and I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that the spirit, music, adventure and hunting fun is destined to be the best ever.
Thank American Spirit BloodBrothers for enriching, enhancing and fortifying my American Campfire dreams. You people deserve me and I believe that I deserve you.
Hang on tight. 2022 is going to be one hell of a ride! See you next December at the greatest American Campfire to be found on planet earth.