We all know that every hunt is a very special experience. We so eagerly anticipate each fall season that it is hard to put into words the excitement we actually feel coursing through our veins this wild time of year.
People often ask me what my favorite all-time hunt is, and I always respond, “My next one!”
Each outing provides its own unique set of dynamics and as we move on in life, we tend to cherish each and every detail of the overall adventure.
As I excitedly plunge into my huntseason 2020, my long-awaited Michigan bear tag represents one of the most desirable hunt opportunities of my life.
I’ve killed many bears over the years across North America, and each and every one of them is powerfully special and memorable. Bears are a fascinating animal and the wild grounds in which they inhabit accentuates every hunt, for sure.
But, when you draw a bear tag for your own privately owned, bear-infested family hunting grounds in an area that had no bears at all when I first explored that region 50 some years ago, the hopes and dreams of this hunt take on a whole accelerating dynamo.
Add to all those stimulating details the shared adventure with my son Toby behind the SpiritWild video camera, and the world sure appears to be a perfect place.
And so it was that we established a killer bait station deep in the wild, big-timber North country, expertly maintained by my gung-ho, dedicated outdoorsman nephew Brennen, and the number and size of bears on trailcams hitting our honey hole was enough to drive an old bearhunter crazy!
Unfortunately, as it is with all bureaucrat tainted policies across America, our quality hunting experience was all but destroyed due to the anti-hunting insanity of opening up the early gun deerseason the day before we could hunt!
Obviously, the eruption of all that human activity completely disrupted the bear patterns we had painstakingly established and all of the large bears vanished overnight, not just from our bait, but from every bait by every hunter we met.
Adding insult to injury, after only one single day of bait hunting, the state opened the hound hunting, which further disrupted the bear activity.
Such buffoonish policies by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Natural Resources Committee can only be described as premeditated anti-hunting ruination of quality hunting, and the hunting families of Michigan could not be more let down or angry at such irresponsible bureaucratic tomfoolery.
With all of these conditions making things as goofy as possible, we nonetheless kept at it, and after much mosquito swatting and long, long hours on stand, a beautiful black beast cautiously skulked out from the swampy marsh into our little woodland clearing.
At that moment, the world was perfect!
As this stunning beast slowly tiptoed to the bait, my predator spirit was one with the spirit of the bear.
With a muscle memory life of its own, my arrow came to anchor and my 50# Mathews VXR sent a scalpel-sharp Cold Steel 185-grain, two-blade broadhead clean through the pumpstation, and my beautiful Michigan black bear was dead in 35 yards in less than four seconds.
Father and son rejoiced and celebrated on the ridge we had shared for 44 years, and that moment in the forest took on a life of its own.
The rich, luxurious coated 250-pound sow with the gorgeous brown and grey muzzle was as beautiful a black bear as anyone could ever want. Although there were numerous mature boars more than three times her size on trailcams that would have been a very realistic opportunity had the game department organized the bear hunt properly, Toby and I were in a little heaven of our own, all too aware that government agencies never get anything right.
The failures and corruption of the DNR and NRC literally vanished in that time and place, and our joy was immeasurable.
I have already made numerous calls to elected employees in Michigan, as I have always done nationwide, alerting them to their abject failure to follow sound science when making wildlife regulations, as is the law.
I got my bowkilled Michigan bear, and I am one very happy Michigan bowhunter. But I will continue my American we-the-people duties, and hold my elected employees accountable to proven truth, logic and commonsense wildlife management policies.
All hunters across America should do the same and demand sound, science-based game laws in every state.
Please visit huntthevote.org to pledge to register and vote your core conservation values, to begin to turn back the tide from the scourge of political correctness back to real nature wildlife policies.
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 “The Music Made Me Do It” is available to download and stream wherever music is sold.
And now, the Ted Nugent Spirit Campfire with John Brenkus, is #1 on Billboard’s Top Facebook Live Video Chart! The ever-articulate Nugent and co-host Brenkus, the Emmy-winning broadcaster from ESPN, make for a high-energy and entertaining combination. The show launched in June 2020 and offers a front row glimpse into musical inspirations, hilarious anecdotes, thoughtful recollections and an enviable lineup of legendary talent.The Ted Nugent Spirit Campfire with John Brenkus airs live on Mondays and Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. EST on Facebook and YouTube.
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 all things Nuge, visit www.tednugent.com
Really Ridiculous Deer Hunting Regulations
Wild and Free in Michigan | Deer & Deer Hunting TV
