Here’s a quick quiz for all you rock-and-roll deer hunters: What do AC/DC, Van Halen, Foreigner, Journey, Rush, REO Speedwagon, The Scorpions, Def Leppard, Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Cheap Trick, Eddie Money, Charlie Daniels and The J. Geils Band all have in common?
At one time, they were one of the many bands that served as an opening act for our favorite rock-n-roll deer hunter and birthday boy: Ted Nugent.
Ted celebrates #71 tomorrow (Dec. 13), and while we would love to have a live video feed of him jamming Fred Bear, he’s too busy sitting quietly in his favorite tree stand! But he did take the time a couple of days ago to pen this week’s blog entry. Enjoy, and be sure to check out all of the links within this piece … it is loaded with some of his tastiest guitar riffs of all time!
So, without further ado, here is his birthday message to all of his deer hunting bloodbrothers and sisters:
by Ted Nugent
You think slowing down and getting into the primal predator mode of the hunt is difficult for you, imagine the overwhelming challenge I face when attempting to go from Mr. Bouncing-off-the-walls MotorCity Madman back to the dangerous, stealthy, cunning, slow-motion bowhunter backstrapmando!

I got your hyper dynamo juxtaposition right here, pilgrim!
Chuck Berry and Little Richard on one side, Fred Bear and Ishi on the other!
Whoa!
But alas, I improvise, adapt and overcome, and figured it out for the most part way back in my most manic, high-energy, teenage youth, for the bow and arrow was as driving an inspirational a force to me as my firebreathing Gibson guitars and primalscream rock-n-roll.
It was rather obvious in those early years of experimental bowhunting adventure that I was not naturally cutout for this slow-and-easy, stealth-and-patience bowhunting stuff!
And of course, without genuine predator stealth and patience, I would be one frustrated bowhunter destined to buy chicken instead of dining on hard-earned backstraps!
I stumbled and failed hunt after hunt, year after year, skunk after skunk, frustration after heart-rendering frustration, but thank God I had the wherewithal to stick it out and not give up.
Over time, I learned that slow is better, silence is essential, and a higher level of tuned-in ultra-predator awareness would be the do-or-die recipe for my Spirit of the Wild venison dreams.
Wonxe2x80x99t you all join me in celebrating my 71st birthday, December 13, 2019, and after more than 65 years of bowhunting, I must remind myself each day that bowhunting the mighty white-tailed deer demands precision focus xe2x80x94 what I call Samurai woodsmanship.
Those baptismal bowhunting years in the 1940s and 1950s and well into the 1960s were 100% trial and error, heavy on the errors, and although there were naturals like Fred Bear, Ed Bilderback, Bob Munger, Roy Case, Doug Walker, Dick Mauch, Jim Daugherty, Ron Chamberlain, Glenn St. Charles, Ben Pearson, Howard Hill, John Swineheart, Bill Negley and a select handful of masters, most of us didnxe2x80x99t have a clue what it would take to kill a deer with a bow and arrow.
I sure loved those early years and am so extremely glad that I was born in 1948 to be a part of the unexplored threshold of the return to this phenomenally challenging lifestyle sport.
I remember every nerve-wracking encounter where I never got off a shot. I recall every painful, yet teaching miss. And I remember vividly every arrow that I pulled off and brought home the sacred straps.
I donxe2x80x99t know the current success rates of American bowhunters these days, but I have learned enough over the years that I have been able to bowkill numerous deer every year for more than 50 years.
The fact that I get to hunt more than 150 days each deerseason certainly has a lot to do with my goodluck, but I attribute my venison rewards more to my well-honed stealth rituals than anything else.
I donxe2x80x99t believe there is a more spooky, alert, evasive animal on planet Earth more difficult to bowkill than a Michigan white-tailed deer.
These maniacs live on pins and needles 24/7/365, constantly on the lookout for dangerous people with sharp sticks, especially uppity guitar players in trees!
Fred Bear said it best when he declared that if a hunter can kill a whitetail with the bow and arrow, he can successfully hunt any game in the world.
I believe he was correct.
When in my treestand, I discipline myself to either not move at all, or make the most cautious, minimal movements possible at such an ultra-slow pace, ultimately in conjunction with the rhythm of the vegetation that I am in, that any unseen critter will likely not pick me out.
Certainly, year-round scouting is the key ingredient for creating good luck, but putting all of that scouting data to work ultimately happens once we climb aboard our best-guess, right-place-right-time ambush setup.
Age is just a number. Here are the top four things that it has represented for me in my deer and deer hunting pursuits:
1. Older represents a long life of learning the lessons of the wild.

2. Slower represents the essentiality of backing down our modern-world, hectic metabolism in order to return to the primal scream of reasoning, stealthy predatorship.

3. Wiser represents the upgrade to intelligent decision making based on the older and wiser accumulated knowledge.

4. Happier represents the fruits of our dedicated efforts to be one with the Great Spirit of the Wild and all of Godxe2x80x99s magnificent critters and wildgrounds as a natural hands-on participant in His miraculous creation.

Make no mistake, even with all of the plethora of amazing technology of killer efficient equipment, amazing compound bows, trail cameras, satellite maps, moon-phase predictions, scent-management products and the like, our success rate will always pivot on the timeless adage of right place, right time, and that my friends is the roll of the dice to end all rolls of the dice.
Give it your best shot, and may the Great Spirit be forever at your side to help guide you back to our spiritual origins as an asset with the pulse of nature.
May your backstrap dreams come true often.
Your bloodbrother,
Ted
Multi-platinum guitar legend TED NUGENT has a new full-length album THE MUSIC MADE ME DO IT, on Round Hill Records. The album is available now for order everywhere, and the title track xe2x80x9cThe Music Made Me Do Itxe2x80x9d is available to download and stream wherever music is sold.
Ted Nugent xe2x80x93 xe2x80x9cThe Music Made Me Do Itxe2x80x9d (Official Music Video)
With more than 40 million albums sold, rock legend Ted Nugent is equally well known as the nationxe2x80x99s most outspoken proponent of our 1st and 2nd Amendment rights, conducting thousands of pro-gun, pro-freedom, pro-American interviews in major media worldwide. Nugent is a New York Times best-selling author whose works include Ted, White & Blue xe2x80x94The Nugent Manifesto; God, Guns & Rock xe2x80x98nxe2x80x99 Roll and Kill It & Grill It.This year, his award-winning Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild TV show celebrates its 500th episode! For all things Nuge, visit www.tednugent.com