
Okay everybody, take a good long, lung filling, head spinning, heart hammering, pulse throttling, soul cleansing snort of that delicious fall air! Taste that? Feel that? Sense that? Breathe it! Crave it! Cherish it! Celebrate it! Live it!
It is upon us! Rejoice the glorious long awaited SpiritWild season-O-the-hunt has arrived, so let the Spirit games begin!
All my buddies in California, South Carolina and Florida are already backstrapping like they mean it! Many BloodBrothers have already left home for the early seasons in Alaska, the Yukon, Canada, Kentucky, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska and beyond. Many more have their knives sharp and hunting dufflebags and bowcases loaded up for the September deerseasons in Illinois, South Dakota, Kansas, Wisconsin and elsewhere.
I cannot thank all you farmers, ranchers, landowners and hunting families all across America for all the amazing and generous invites you bless me with each year to join you on your sacred grounds for these early season openers, but alas, after 50 plus phenomenal bone-dusting concerts all across America all summer long, this old guitar playing backstrapper cannot imagine looking a suitcase, airport or hiway in the eye again no matter how tempting the hunting invite may be.

Having performed my 6631st firebreathing rockout this glowing year of our Lord 2017, it is a good man who knows his limitations, (Dirty Harry-1971) and my travel quota has once again been obliterated.
Though I am tempted to consider many of those generous and tempting invites into various deer-heaven grounds, I can assure you that no such amazing invite can begin to compare or compete with the overwhelming allure of staying put in one location all fall and winter close to family with my wonderful Queen of the Forest wife Shemane, precious family and our beloved hunting addicted dogs Happy and Sadie.
The kickoff to my annual hunting season dream has morphed to perfection over many years on our phenomenal Michigan sacred swampgrounds for those magical heartland months of October and November where the whitetail deer are abundant and incredibly challenging.
The pheasant, turkey, squirrel, rabbit, grouse, woodcock and waterfowl hunting is not the best in the world, but with my beloved gungho Happy and Sadie, we can burn enough bootleather and work up a seriously hard earned daily sweat to keep smiles on our faces, the gamebags bulging and the grill alive with sacred fowl and cherished smallgame flesh.
Southern Michigan has always had a serious overpopulation of deer, so the unlimited doe tags we have available each fall certainly keeps us busy and excited with such a target rich environment.

I literally hunt everyday, every morning and every afternoon September, October, November, December, January and February. Having the supreme good fortune and luxury of living in the heart of killer gameground, to be able to sleep in my own bed, thrive in my own little hunting cabin, explore my sacred grounds, tinker with my trucks and ATVs and spend each and every day with Shemane and son Toby with regular visits by family and friends is the ultimate dream for me.
Even though the official traditional Michigan archery deerseason unfortunately doesn’t kickoff till October 1st, thousands of deerhunters come to the Winter, Water Wonderland to enjoy the honest to God real hunting challenge and fun at the numerous high-fence ranches across the state.
Though tragically and embarrassingly how a lunatic fringe in our own hunting community still suffers from the self-inflicted scourge of terminal presumptuousness based on abject ignorance, many die-hard hunting families nonetheless thoroughly enjoy such early deerhunting opportunities that represent as pure of fun, sport, meat and trophy perfection as it gets.
I’ve hunted everywhere and was raised hunting the public lands of state and national forests of Michigan that universally represent the most difficult deerhunting on the planet. I have also been blessed to experience the minimally pressured whitetail deer of Illinois, Kansas, South Dakota, Nebraska and South Texas, and let me tell you based on 1000s and 1000s of hours doing so, the average high-fence deer operation is much more difficult than many of those regions.
Why a few hunters continue to cling to their small-minded dishonest presumptions is one of societies ongoing strange and tragic maladies. Ask the detractors to share with you their most recent high-fence hunting experience and closely examine the twisted look of confusion, guilt and denial on their face. They got nothing. They are a manifestation of cultural depravation.
We wish them well anyway.
Meanwhile Shemane and I will be after them and backstrapping like we mean it from here on out and I can virtually guarantee you that we will be having the hunting season of our lives nonstop through February of 2018.
Once the gutpile glow settles on our sacred Michigan grounds, we then excitedly make our move to our magical Texas home hunting grounds and continue the predator party forthwith.
All hunting is wonderful beyond description but I am convinced that Texas deerhunting is the greatest deerhunting in the world, and we go for it with great predatory gusto!
Be stealthy my Spirit BloodBrothers. Hunt like you mean it. Kill ‘em and grill ‘em like you mean it. Aim small miss small and say a prayer for the WildThings everyday! May the backstraps flow like manna from heaven and may the Great Spirit be forever at your side.
With more than 40 million albums sold, rock legend Ted Nugent is equally well known as the nation’s 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 —The Nugent Manifesto;” “God, Guns & Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “Kill It & Grill It.” This year, his award-winning Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild TV show celebrates its 500th episode! For allthings Nuge, visit www.tednugent.com
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Maximize Your Deer Season With this 2017 Whitetails Calendar!
From Deer & Deer Hunting magazine, the 2017 Whitetails Calendar is your top deer hunting resource! Whether in print or digital format, use 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.