As the very proud father of nine wonderful children and eleven grandkids so far, I am confident that I will never run out of very special subject matter for my deeranddeerhunting.com NugeBlogs. Not all my kids have pursued the ultimate happiness as hardcore deerhunters yet, but I have a feeling it will come to past as soon as possible. I will see to it.
My dreamgirl wife Shemane gave birth to our amazing son Rocco on July 22, 1990, and I knew right away that I had me another killer hunting buddy in the making. At the time, his older brother Toby hadn’t as yet become a gungho deerslayer, but his interest was increasing each year and I knew it was just a matter of time before he couldn’t resist the thrills much longer.
Being raised in the home of such an over the top deerhunter as his dear old dad, Rocco, like his other siblings before him, was witness to the intense excitability of their old man each and every day of the three-month-long Michigan deer season and beyond even as we headed to Texas each winter.
My passion and love for the greatest sport on earth is inescapable to say the least, and as a young boy, my nightly hunting stories at the dinnertable fired up his interest.
Forever at the Nugent house, we have always celebrated the ultraFUN aim small miss small marksmanship and archery discipline right in the livingroom plinking away at small animal targets with our BB guns and pellet rifles and handguns and bows and arrows. That’s right boys and girls; In the livingroom! Precious huh!
Beginner’s Archery Set. Get your kids started here.
There is no more powerful lesson in individual cause and effect accountability than the safe and proper handling of firearms and the marksmanship awareness of controlled breathing, intricate sight acquisition, precision trigger control and that all important follow through. A little critter figurine tumbling off the target block at 10 paces brings joyous happiness to everyone. Who couldn’t love that!
Rocco was a natural from the age of 3 and showed a very special touch with both guns and archery. I do believe it is genetic profiling at its finest. I make it a priority to push my kids to spend as much time as possible in the great outdoors with guns and bows, learning the reality lessons of the tooth, fang and claw wild, while at the same time plinking away in casual, fun adventure.
With a cutdown little .223 Remington Model 788 boltgun at the tender age of 8, Rocco followed his dad over hill and dale and earned a shot at a great gnarly wild boar one winter day, and all his training came to fruition with a perfect 75 yard shot dead center in the pumpstation for an instant kill.
Within the next few years Rocco had pulled off very impressive one shot kills on numerous whitetails, a sniper-perfect 300+ yard shot on a mighty Axis stag and a trophy blackbuck at the YO Ranch in Texas. With his Excalibur crossbow, he arrowed a magnificent monster Alaska black bear that weighed over 600 pounds! A young man matures quickly knowing he has worked hard to bring home sacred venison to feed his family.
I have always said that if Rocco takes the safety off his weapon, you had better sharpen your knife, because he will kill whatever he is shooting at. My son is the real McCoy.
As Rocco pursues his musical and thespian dreams in the wilds of Los Angeles, he hasn’t been able to hunt with his old man for the last few years, but the Nugent boys have big plans for an Alaskan bear adventure this spring. Along with his dad and older brothers Toby and Fleetwood, he is excited to return to the soul cleansing Spirit of the Wild and explore the realms of the Last Frontier in pursuit of black bears and grizzly bears.
As Rocco approaches his 23rd birthday, I could not be more proud of my killer son. Smart, loving, caring, funny, extremely talented and the kind of son every father would be proud of. As goes one’s projectile management, goes the soul.
I love Rocco Winchester Nugent with all my heart and soul. He is my incredible son, best hunting buddy and a great American sniper.
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