The great one, our hero Fred Bear, declared the truism many years ago that a single season hunting with the bow and arrow can teach us more about being a hunter than a lifetime of gun hunting.
With the inescapable short range limiting factors of archery, we can learn — we must learn rather quickly — that careless missteps in the deerwoods will render us backstrap-less, and that diligent stealth, improvising, adapting and overcoming is the only hope for success.
By Ted Nugent
Hmmm … rewards for conscientious behavior, punishment for careless behavior. Sounds like Accountability 101 to me. Too bad we don’t teach this Hunting 101 accountability in the American education system.
Though I think we can all agree that our level of awareness and learning capabilities have less to do with what we hold in our hands than what we hold in our hearts, Fred’s observation on the generalities of hunting methodologies holds true more often than not.
The great Benoit family up in the Great Northeast wilds of Maine’s eternal deer forests come to mind as an example of hard core firearm hunters’ dedication and learned deadly savvy.
I know many a gun hunter who has become one with the wind and the Great Spirit due to their keen discipline to cultivate man’s most powerful of instincts; the will to survive and lead a self-sufficient, rugged individual life and lifestyle and the discipline to achieve it.
As August jettisons onward and we prepare to wrap up another wonderful summertime, I, like you, must admit to the fact that our predator drive and capabilities are 90+ percent mental and only 10 percent or so physical.
I, like many American hunters, are crazy lucky in that we have managed and prioritized our lives to live an outdoor lifestyle year round. My farming and ranching buddies and I never really lose touch with the ways of the wild because we have pursued our American Dream in a wonderful hands-on conservation pursuit full-time.
Even though my rock-n-roll mayhem lifestyle is anything but outdoorsy when I’m touring, I do manage to spend more than 300 days a year hunting, fishing, trapping, exploring and just plain being outdoors.
In spite of the big fat politically correct lies of social justice and income equality, no two of us are alike and we all in fact have different levels of everything.
But one critical issue we all share and must confront honestly as modern day hunters is the sometimes intimidating mental gymnastics necessary to transition from working hard playing hard family provider most of the year into becoming the best seasonal predator we can possibly be well before opening day.
Because I cruise my woods and swamps and marshes and wildgrounds on a nearly daily basis throughout the year, my fall hunting season assimilation is well in hand.
With my beloved dogs Happy and Sadie in my Polaris everyday doing our chores and making our rounds on our wild, wonderful wildlife rich homegrounds, with shotguns, rifles and handguns always in reach, I do indeed maintain a full on hunting mindset throughout the year.
Constantly on the prowl for various varmints, predators, squirrels, rabbits, groundhogs, gophers, hogs, exotics, crows, starlings, grackles, pigeons and assorted legal critters, I can honestly say I am always hunting.
Add to that my daily archery practice on a multiple Morrell 3D target course and I am confident that my aim small miss small predator radar is never really turned off.
The vast majority of licensed hunters in America and around the world live and work in cities, and therefore must make a determined decision and effort to get back into the hunting groove well before the season begins.
And right now is none too soon to get cracking.
Though somewhat daunting at first glance, it really is pretty simple when approached properly. I am convinced that this transition is extremely important in order to truly plunge one’s psyche deep into an efficient, effective, responsible, deadly predator mode.
Step One is to just get out there!
Even if it is just nearby range-time, every hunter has a duty to be one with our weapons of choice. And what better way to spend quality weekend time with family and friends than a little aim small miss small projectile management getting the deadly eyeballs and trigger finger all tuned up!
There is always some sort of wildground to be found somehow, somewhere, whether family of buddies’ farms or regional parks. A walk on the wild side as often as possible will do wonders for the predator radar. A slow, stealthy, ultra-aware stroll into wildlife areas is not only a good way to revitalize our level of critter awareness, but no doubt the healing powers of nature is just what the doctor ordered in this fast-paced gonzo modern world.
Surely you can find a place to take the .22 or bow and arrows for some random plinking and roving archery stump shooting. Such real-world preparation and practice will do wonders.
As I type this in the 2nd week of August on my way to another firebreathing rock-n-roll concert, I have all the evidence I need to know for a fact that such simple prioritization and schedule manipulation is doable and highly beneficial.
As I approach my 67th hunting season and 68th birthday, I attribute my health and happiness to just such choices in life. If it can work miracles for old guitar players, just think what it can do for you!
Get out there. Bust loose. Do it to it! Get it on! Bang a gong! Bring it! Go wild! Carpe’ diem like you mean it! You know you want to. You know you need to. You know you’re going to.
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, and also at World News Daily, Newsmax and Daily Caller for more insights.
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Maximize Your Deer Season Planning
From Deer & Deer Hunting Magazine, the 2016 Whitetails Wall Calendar features the work of deer researchers Wayne Laroche and Charlie Alsheimer, who reveal the 2016 whitetail rut prediction, based on years of lunar cycle research. Utilize this deer moon phase calendar to find out which days the deer will be seeking and chasing so you can time the rut for the best time to hunt.