Backstrap Strategy 101: Backstrap Like You Mean It!

Yowza! Bears, bows and backstraps to get things started on a high note!
Yowza! Bears, bows and backstraps to get things started on a high note!

At the danger of sounding silly stating the obvious to my experienced hunting buddies out there, please allow me to review what so many of us know to be essential strategies for consistently killing big game in order to help those less experienced or less successful who share our backstrap dreams.

By Ted Nugent

Isn’t that what any good BloodBrother does?

Spending quality and valuable time guiding, hunting with and hanging with more than 100 hunters each year for many years, many of whom are way better at the art of hunting than little ol me, these intimate, uninhibited BloodBrother campfires produce a nonstop flurry of hunting education, 1st person anecdotes, proven information, whirlwind experiences and important lessons learned and shared that can make us all better hunters.

I for one pay very close attention and retain all the information I can.

Though so much of deerhunting 101 is very obvious to so many of us oldtimers, I am mostly excited by the time I spend and communicate with newcomers and rookies who are eager to learn from the ground up, and it is very important to cover all the basics to help them plunge wholeheartedly and successfully into this greatest of lifestyles.

And when you have from 10 million to 33 million ongoing Facebookers adding to the mix on a daily basis, you know you are reaching a huge swath of humanity.

And believe you me when I tell you that some of us old dyed in the wool Natty Bumppos surely need to be reminded of the fundamentals now and again to get back into the backstrap swing of things.

It took me many frustrating, strapless years of trial and error to figure things out, and I am compelled to help other hunters avoid the pitfalls and fumbles and outright depression that I had to deal with in the old days.

The #1 ingredient that covers most hunting demands is the word STEALTH. A successful predator must command a higher level of awareness, learn to focus on the ultra-sneaky task at hand, and become one with the wind, one with our weapons and one with the beasts, as invisible as possible to the critters we pursue.

I will keep this stealth approach from the perspective of a bowhunter, for what works bests for closerange bowhunters will benefit every hunter and hunting situation regardless of weapon choice.

When on our silent, solid, well concealed stand, after getting there in the least intrusive way possible, without the sun shining on us and with the wind in our face, some hunters still don’t know that you can’t sniffle, clear your throat, spit, burp, sneeze, scratch your butt or adjust your seat.

 A gungho dedicated hunter simply becomes a silent statue, not moving a muscle or making a sound the entire time on stand.

It ain’t easy but it is essential.

My SpiritWild VidCamDudes all have to be the sneakiest, quietest, stealthiest predators on earth to match the deadly statuesque silence of the WhackMaster.

I’m not kidding, when in a treestand or blind, game is always just out of sight, listening, looking, smelling and doing everything in their substantial escape instincts, power and design to avoid us, so we must dedicate ourselves to being invisible to their mystical senses to the absolute best of our ability.

No moving, zero noise, period.

Bear hunting is a super way to enjoy stealth mode, a test of hunting and shooting skills, and also get some super grillin' meat!
Bear hunting is a super way to enjoy stealth mode, a test of hunting and shooting skills, and also get some super grillin’ meat!

On our recent Rick Dickson bear hunt in Wawa, Ontario, Canada, ace bowhunter and super SpiritWild VidCamDude Joe Arbic and I sat virtually silent and motionless all evening and were rewarded with numerous bear all around us and eventually with a stunning 350-pound kill on video.

The next night in the same stand, killer bowhunting buddy, pilot and ace SpiritWild VidCamDude Joe Jordan and I succeeded at a repeat with another 350-pound boar kill as a direct result of Rick Dickson’s master bear guiding system and our absolute stealth on stand.

Our clothing and seats must be silent. Adequate silhouette breaking cover and good camo must conceal us. Our familiarity with bow and or gun, and vidcam for that matter, must be so well rehearsed as to be second nature, capable of getting into shooting position with minimum movement only at the proper time.

If you can see the animal’s eyeball, they can see you. If you can hear any noise you’ve made, so can every animal within 100 yards.

Our bows must draw silently, and do not push off the safety on your gun, rather gently snick it into fire position without the telltale click. Our goal as hunters is to get to fulldraw and safety off, crosshairs settled on target without the target animal knowing it. That is the sign of a dedicated, properly prepared and stealthy hunter with a backstrap future.

When I hunt, I want to kill. I get my mind into full predator/kill mode and maximize everything to benefit my goal. I move slower if at all. I turn up my predator radar to DEFCON1. I think kill. I move to kill. I stack the deck in my favor because God has already stacked the deck in the game’s favor, and with a dedicated strategy of thoughtful preparedness, maximum stealth, lots of patience and a little luck, backstrap dreams will be ours.

It’s in the air my friends! Now is the time to unleash our full on predator touch and dedication. Don’t let a detail get away from you. Backstrap like you mean it.

Ted Nugent is an award-winning musician and writer, with numerous best-seller books including “Ted, White and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto,” “God, Guns and Rock ‘n Roll,” and “Kill It and Grill It: A Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish” with his wife, Shemane, among other books. Be sure to check out his website for more news on his latest music, thoughts and upcoming shows in 2015, and also at World News Daily, Newsmax and Daily Caller for more insights.

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