By: Ted Nugent
How ‘bout our sacred family hunting campfires, huh! It is impossible to put into mere words the power and glory of our pure tooth, fang and claw connection as hunting families with God’s miraculous creation and our natural stewardship lifestyle.
As Fred Bear said and I repeat often, it truly does cleanse the soul!
When we escape the often stressful crazy world of everyday life, nothing soothes and recreates our mind, spirit, body and soul quite like the great outdoors and those we share and celebrate it with.
There is no question that the finest human beings to ever walk the good earth are found in hunting camps and around hunting campfires worldwide.
My mind is aflutter with wonderful happy memories of mom, dad, brothers, sister, sons, daughters, Uncle John and Uncle Dick, cousins, Fred Bear, Dick Mauch, Bob Munger, Ed Bilderback, Doug Walker, George Nicholls, Marv Leslie, extended family and friends and just the greatest most down to earth people a person could ever wish to spend meaningful time with.
With all that immeasurable good we are so blessed with, it is a damn shame we must deal with so much bad and ugly within our hunting community and industry, but in order to maximize all that is good, it is our responsibility to identify and constantly fight to reduce and hopefully eliminate the toxic runaway bad and ugly with all our might wherever and whenever we encounter it.
And you all know exactly what I’m talking about.
Sharing 100s of campfires with 100s of hunting families each year certifies the truth, logic and commonsense that I live by. And though much positive spirit and unlimited fun defines our spirit sessions, there is unfortunately a constant reminder of the pain and heartbreak we all feel ab out the cannibals and inbreeders in our own sport.
It isn’t the dreaded animal rights goons that steal our treestands every year. It is our fellow hunters.
It isn’t the criminal hunter hating animal rights freaks that trespass and ruin our family hunts each fall. It is our fellow hunters.
It isn’t the mindless anti-hunters that tossed crossbows across shopping center parking lots in a feeble attempt to demonize and ban them. Those were members of the Pope & Young Club and a so-call “Professional Bowhunters Society”.
Those weren’t the insane animal activists from the Humane Society of the United States scam artists that outlawed lighted nocks, certain broadheads and trail cameras in some states. Those dirty deeds were the result of our narrow minded, cannibalistic hunting organizations and game departments.
Hunting the number one hunted game species on planet earth, the federal migratory game bird, the mourning dove, wasn’t banned in Michigan just by Peta and the HSUS. These idiots were supported by our fellow hunters who parroted the lies, hate and nonsense of our enemies.
It isn’t the scourge of nature-haters that continues the Sunday hunting bans in nine states. Those anti-American, anti-science, anti-freedom, anti-“We the people” embarrassments are the direct result of our guys.
Absolutely unbelievable.
And painfully, I could go on and on, but I’m sure you get the point.
These very special campfires each fall and winter with great hunting families from all 50 states all share heartbreaking horror stories of the insanity of runaway criminality within our own sport.
So what can we do about it? We need to raise hell all the time, that’s what!
It is a well-known fact that these crimes and abuses don’t occur in a vacuum. Many hunters know who these punks are but shrug their shoulders and don’t want to get involved.
We can dramatically reduce this scourge by getting involved and scolding the hell out of these clowns and banishing them from our midst.
For every perpetrator running amok, there are numerous otherwise good people who are very aware of their dastardly misdeeds, and if they begin to condemn and come down hard on them, I am convinced the tide would turn quickly.
Just as I cleaned house and rid my rock-n-roll world of hippies, dopers and dirtbags, we in the hunting world must do the same.
We know who they are. Tolerate them no more and be ever vigilant to their shenanigans and crimes. Report them and send them packing.
As the Great Spirit of the Wild cleanses our souls, so too must we cleanse our ranks to maximize the good while eliminating the bad and ugly.