Every Hunter's Responsibility
The Nugent family Suburban pulled up to the
customs booth at the Michigan-Canadian border, eager to get to Sarnia, Ontario, for our
opening spring concert for 2001. We knew we had to check in with immigration to review my
work documents, but before we knew what hit us, we had a squadron of customs agents
surrounding our vehicle. But not to worry, for each uniformed man and woman were all
smiles as they greeted us with loud, laughing, friendly jubilation, talking excitedly
about our shared sacred love of hunting and guns! They all wanted to know where I had been
hunting recently, what gun I usually carry, and they commented vociferously on how
ridiculous and counterproductive their own Canadian rules are that disallow law
enforcement professionals and qualified concealed weapons permit holders from carrying
their handguns into Canada. They simply shook their heads sadly in unison at the insult
and embarrassment of their putrid C68 fiasco. Some of the agents shared their excitement
about their upcoming bear hunts in other provinces since their own home province of
Ontario had foolishly banned spring bear hunting. There was rip-roaring common sense and
goodwill running wild all around us and it felt like an old home gathering at the Nugent
hunting lodge campfire. I was moved. Our border stop was quite smooth to say the least.
Though I am very aware of the horror stories about rude abuse towards Americans at the
hands of Canadian border personnel just because of an NRA sticker on the window of a
vehicle, more often than not, I experience total support and friendliness when I go
through the border to our Northern neighbors. Be careful to not jump to the assumption
that my so-called music career celebrity greases the system for me. Sure, I'm recognized,
and not as a rock star per se, but clearly based on the dialog that always takes place, as
a hunter and gun owner first and foremost. Why is that? It's rather simple. For more than
35 years, my career has allowed me to communicate at unprecedented levels with an amazing
cross section of society via my radio, television and print media interviews - more than
750 in the year 2000. It seems that no matter where I go, I am approached by all sorts of
people exuberantly voicing their support and appreciation for my pro-gun and pro-hunt
activism and for standing up for what we believe in. That's a wonderful feeling unto
itself, but much more importantly, a wonderful indicator we must all respond to. And
remember, I don't mince words. I am blunt and to the point while still being courteous yet
passionate.
The important point here is not that I can access and use major media to get the truth
across to millions of people, nor is it at all about me individually because people
recognize me as a hunter/gunner. The real power of all this is that someone, anyone, who
is associated positively with hunting and guns, is embraced enthusiastically by the
public. We are in fact not the bad guys as so desperately depicted by the dishonest media
of the land. It is this distinctly positive association that should be the battle cry for
hunters and shooters everywhere, for in the spiritual bloodletting of this cultural war
for our God-given rights, victory will be determined by one simple reality: PR. Public
relations, pure and simple. Will the anti-gunners and anti-hunters be more convincing, or
will we? Quite simply, are they better at selling their lies than we are at delivering the
truth? I dare say, if we are losing, we deserve to be losing because we are not trying as
hard as they are. Now that's sad and embarrassing and absolutely intolerable. I for one
will not stand by like some crybaby and let this go unchallenged.
Like the simple truism of hunting, "right place at the right time", our sacred
and honorable outdoor and Second Amendment heritage too will be won or lost based on the
believability and passion of our message. It will all come down to visibility, place and
time. And you know what I have learned? Everyplace is the right place and all the time is
the right time. Period. Anyone who doesn't get that is unsophisticated as to how the real
world operates.
First and foremost, the hunting/shooting community needs a serious upgrade in basic social
education and PR101. Each and every hunter should know the history of wildlife
mismanagement and the eventual turnaround brought about by hunters and trappers in the
early 1900s. Every true hunter should be able and prepared at all times to share with the
people in their lives how Teddy Roosevelt, Aldo Leopold, John Hornady and other hunters
spearheaded the fight to end the unrestricted marketing slaughter that was unregulated
commercial hunting. How professional trappers alerted the world to the eradication of
North American beaver populations. How John Hornady, a true hunter, saved the last buffalo
from the indiscriminate guns of the U.S. Cavalry. How America's most famous hunter,
President Theodore Roosevelt, demanded regulations and restrictions on all hunting,
fishing and trapping, and was the first American to set aside vast wild lands as parks to
ensure healthy wildlife habitat and conditions.
Every hunter in America today should be able to rattle off statistics about how there are
more wild turkey, whitetail deer, Canadian geese and mountain lions in North America today
than in the history of record keeping. They should share with everyone, how, because of
hunters' generosity, goodwill and money, we celebrate more deer, turkey, wildfowl, elk,
buffalo, cougars, moose, eagles and bears than in over 150 years. Any hunter who gives a
darn should make it a point to initiate this discussion with people in every gathering
they are a part of. Letters to editors and discussions on talk radio should be our hue and
cry across the land, day in and day out. We should use the terms honor, heritage,
conservation, balance, renewable resource stewardship, environmental awareness,
bio-diversity, health, sustain yield, carrying capacity, natural cycle, natural order,
tooth-fang and claw, essential surplus harvest, quality air, soil and water producing
habitat, and so many other real world colloquialisms and facts that best convey our
successful management of wildlife to the public in a thoughtful, caring passionate
fashion. We must all learn to speak with passion and conviction, never letting some
dim-wit use cartoon characters to describe living, breathing, flesh and blood creatures
that deserve so much more respect. And when we hear someone disrespect animals this way,
we should show righteous disdain for such ignorance and callousness. In other words, take
control of the subject and neutralize the argument on an intellectual level by doing so.
And the same goes for the gun issue. No more do we allow the lies like "Saturday
Night Specials", "assault weapons", "AK47s", "cop killer
bullets", "hi-capacity magazines" and the like to go unchallenged and be
intellectually tolerated. There is no such thing as a "Saturday night special".
Cheap and easily concealed? What's cheap? A gun that an inner city low income family can
afford to protect themselves? Easily concealable? Like my four-inch S&W M29 .44
magnum? How about an old double-barreled shotgun sawed off and carried under a coat? It
wasn't easily concealable a moment ago! And what is a "cop killer bullet"?
The very first step, and I believe obligation, of every law-abiding gun owner in the Free
World is to join the NRA, pure and simple. In every issue of the NRA publications there
are found a myriad of pivotally valuable information and data that every gunner should be
able to voice at a moments notice. If we fail to know and voice the truth, the lies of our
enemies will continue to find their way into policy making at the hands of liars like
Sarah Brady and Dianne Feinstein and Charlie Schumer and David Bonior and Carl Levin and a
shameless group of dishonest, power hungry politicos who are all on record dedicated to
disarming free people everywhere. If they out PR us, they win. Are you willing to let that
happen? I sure as heck hope not.
 One of the most effective maneuvers I have
implemented in my activism is bringing the truth to children in schools. Not too long ago,
nearly all the grade-schoolers in a New York community actually believed the white-tailed
deer was an endangered species! This was during a period when deer numbers in those same
regions were at historic highs! Think about that one for a minute. That is not a result of
anti's action, it is a direct result of our non-action, and we should be ashamed of
ourselves. When I do a room-father gitdown at my children's schools or a DARE program at
schools around the country, I bring in mounted deerheads, bows and arrows and backstraps
to grill on a hibachi in order to bring home the point once and for all to the kids that
deer are everywhere and that they are a renewable source of FOOD! The kids get it right
now and they will not forget it, I promise you. Our Ted Nugent United Sportsmen of America
members and directors have been doing that for 12 years now, and we very much hope other
sport groups would wake up to this most important recruitment program and get cracking.
It's called activism. It is simply standing up for what you believe in, but not waiting
for the enemy to get in a lick. We must be the pro-active initiators, getting the truth
into everyone's lives to establish a basic understanding by society in general so as to
create a fact filled intellectual defense barrier against any enemy intrusion. The best
defense is always a well thought out offense. Ya think!
Wear a clean camouflage hunting shirt everyday you can. Wear a hunting club cap and smile
courteously at everyone. Think about how you can impact all those people you shop with, go
to movies with, eat with, worship with and interact at every level with. A well-groomed,
friendly demeanor goes a long way in countering the lies that we are all drunken Bubbas, I
assure you. Put that hunting decal on your vehicle window, and drive courteously, offering
someone a prime parking spot or a friendly wave and smile. Put that hunt sticker on your
office window and tell your business associates how great your last hunt was. Have photos
of the family with guns and game on the walls where you display your pride for all to see.
In the absence of all this positive visibility, the lies of our enemies more effectively
take root. DO NOT LET THAT HAPPEN JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE TOO LAZY TO BEAT THEM AT THEIR OWN
GAME!
Remember, I'm the MotorCity MadMan. I scare white folk with my guitar and attitude. Yet
still I am greeted everyday by friendly, open people from every walk of life. The National
Arbor Day Foundation gave me a Conservationist of The Year Award. The Michigan Legislature
was not afraid to name me Conservationist of the Year. I am a DARE officer, constantly
invited to speak to grade school children. I represent Mothers Against Drunk Driving,
Students Against Destructive Decisions, The NRA, the NFAA, and Big Brothers and Big
Sisters. Dying children request to hunt with me as their last wish. Members of the clergy
use my name as a role model during sermons. Good grief! If I can break down those petty
walls of presumptuousness against rock-n-roll, hunting and gunner stereotypes, anybody can
and everybody darn well oughtta. Quite honestly, any hunter or gunner who fails to fight
this imperative PR war is no friend of mine and certainly no friend of hunting or America.
I've always said that we must stand loud and proud to destroy the evil lies of the
anti-nature and anti-American fools out there. In an honest analysis of this cultural war,
the true curse is not our enemies and their lies, but rather the apathetic laziness or
maybe just plain stupidity of our own outdoor community in failing to confront the beast.
I've heard the pathetic excuse making forever how we hunters are "loners"! Give
me a break! That's just a feeble and cowardly excuse for not facing those who would deny
us our freedoms and rights. Enough already! It is hi-time we slay that beast once and for
all. And it's so simple it's stupid. PR my friends. Public relations 101. What did you do
today?
Ted Nugent serves his third term on the Board of Directors of the NRA and operates his
Ted Nugent Kamp for Kids, a non-profit volunteer 501c3 to save kids with the Spirit of the
Wild. His Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild TV show won the People's Choice Award on the
Outdoor Channel and holds numerous Public TV awards as well. His NY Times Best Selling
book, GOD, GUNS & ROCK-N-ROLL is available at tednugent.com or at TNUSA, 800-343-4868.
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From
the Aug/Sep[t 2004 Issue of Hunting Illustrated Magazine - posted July 28, 2004
