
Super Detroit Rocker (son of MotorCity Madman?!) Kid Rock called awhile back and asked if I would teach him the fine art of bowhunting. He said Jerry Lee Lewis taught him to play piano so why not the old MotorCity WhackMaster StrapAssassin1 baptize him into the stimulating world of the mystical flight of the backstrap arrow.
By Ted Nugent
Why not, indeed.
As a couple of gungho Michiganiac rockers born and raised in the land of Fred Bear, the world’s #1 bowhunting epicenter, he made it clear that he refused to wait any longer to try his hand at what was clearly bringing his old Motown rock-n-roll buddy Uncle Ted so much fun and happiness and sacred protein.
He also mentioned that constantly hearing the Fred Bear song on Michigan radio had more than a little bit to do with the contagious passion he felt and wanted to be a part of.
So young Bob and his stunning girlfriend Audrey arrived at the Nugent hunting grounds in Jackson County, Michigan that fine October day, and we broke out the bows and arrows and unleashed the thrilling Michigan ritual.
Unfortunately, the bows they both brought with them, procured from reputable archery shops mind you, could not have been more wrong for them.
Bob’s bow was set at crazy 82# draw weight and little petite Audrey’s at 45#. Both struggled hopelessly to draw them back with anything that could remotely be described as grace or stealth or archery for that matter.
Here we go again.

Good friend and country icon Toby Keith told me years ago how badly he wanted to bowhunt. He showed me how he struggled to draw back his 80-plus# bow.
The phenomenal media professional Dana Loesh joined us at our Texas home for some interviews and family time, gushing how she couldn’t wait to start bowhunting. Then she said the dreaded words we hear so often it makes us sick.
The great American hero Sarah Palin from Alaska visited us for some fun family time together and expressed how she can’t wait to start bowhunting, then uttered the exact same thing.
We sat at the campfire on my annual birthday hunting bash in Texas, and four different gals said the exact same thing again this past December.
One of our hunters invited his wife for a meal at our annual SpiritWild Ranch hunt and she also said the exact same thing.
Shemane and I had dinner with a lifetime professional bowhunting guide and outfitter in Florida recently and his pretty young wife said the exact same thing.
The gal at the airport counter the other day said how much she loved our Spirit of the Wild TV show, especially Shemane’s Queen of the Forest segments, then said the exact same thing.
And it goes on and on and on and on ad nauseum, ad infinitum and I think I’m gonna puke.
I think and desperately hope you are getting the picture here that Shemane and I are approached by more people wanting to talk bowhunting than probably anybody that ever lived, and the constant statement we hear continues to break our hearts.
“I would love to bowhunt but I can’t pull back the bow!”

Are you kidding me? What is going on here? We’re not talking a person here and a person there. We are talking people pretty much every day, everywhere we go saying the exact same thing. So this 1st person feedback cannot represent an anomaly, but dreadfully, an epidemic created by the very industry that claims it wants to promote the sport and continue this amazing bowhunting legacy.
The universal truism remains unchanged, that a bowhunter should shoot as much weight with which we can be most accurate and effective.
NOT as much weight as we can to meet the counterproductive, and I believe downright foolish, industry standards for hyper velocity.
I know I’ve written about this horror numerous times in the past, but since it still runs rampant and it appears nobody gives a damn, I am going to continue to beg for help in fixing it until we end this self-inflicted suicidal scourge, intentionally blockading the most desirable demographic from our beloved sport of bowhunting; new hunters, kids and women.
(Check out Kid Rock and Hank Jr. with their duet, “Redneck Paradise.”)
Kid Rock fell in love with his 50# bow. Audrey has become addicted to bowhunting once she became proficient with her 30# bow.
In every instance that we introduced these new archers to lightweight bows they could easily draw smoothly and gracefully, they became gungho, unstoppable bowhunters and archers.
I’m sure there are many bowhunting shops across America that do it right and equip their customers with the proper draw weight bow, all set up perfectly, and to all of you, thank you and SALUTE!
Joe Mussachio and his gang at Cinnamon Creek Archery in Ft. Worth, Texas, Allen and the guys at The Outhouse in Waco, Texas, Bryan Schupbach in Jackson, Michigan and George Britton at Britton’s Archery in Tarpon Springs, Florida, Bruce and Scott at Dakota Archery in Yankton, SD, are just a few that I know of that will set up a newcomer perfectly. But God knows we need every archery shop in America to dedicate themselves to do it right, and I beg of thee with all my heart and soul, quit with the velocity crap.
Tragically, it remains painfully obvious that way too many archery shops are selling much too heavy bows to way too many people that virtually guarantees these new shooters will give up and not bowhunt.
I am hoping that many of my fellow gungho bowhunters will join me in this fight to recruit the many new archers who passionately want to bowhunt by getting our friends at archery shops to be sure to have Genesis bows and lightweight recurve bows on hand for the introduction to archery for those less than super strong.
The phenomenal National Archery In Schools Program is just what the Dr. ordered, but if these kids can’t find a shooter-friendly bow out there in the real world where they live, this brainchild of Matt McPhearson will be for naught.
Help me out here my BloodBrothers. We can do this. We must do this.
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 here 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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