With age comes wisdom and the realization that hunting smarter means doing what you can and should … not what you used to do.
In this wonderful month of October, every day of hunting gets better and better all the time. The early start of the season is always gleefully anticipated, and though surely many fine trophy does and bucks and bulls and cows do in deed get killed and celebrated, it is all too often rather warm and the stimulating fall cool weather is still a ways off.
By Ted Nugent
Nonetheless, many of us hardcore hunters keep at it day in and day out, and though we get skunked most of the time, we are sure having the time of our lives doing what we love so much.
Like all the hunters I know, we share every titillating detail of every hunt with our families and buddies via this incredibly convenient texting technology, and if we are not careful, it is very easy to get distracted texting our hunting fun instead of actually paying attention to the very demanding hunt at hand.
Like everything in life, our precious hunting lifestyle has its share of good, bad and ugly.
To my way of thinking, there is no limit whatsoever to the never ending good we experience. Even a no-kill day of getting skunked is by all measure solidly in the good column.
And of course the bad and ugly are always there too. Animal rights freaks constantly harassing hunters, lying through their teeth about nature, hunting, hunters and wildlife in general. It really gets to be a pain in the side (and elsewhere) but we prevail and carryon with what we know damn well is not only the greatest sport, recreation, fun and adventure, but in the final honest analysis, our conservation duty to the good earth and her majestic creatures that fall directly under our stewardship responsibilities.
Practice is fun and helpful no matter how many years you’ve been hunting!
To not hunt would be irresponsible and cruel to wildlife. Everyone with a basic education in wildlife biology 101 knows that to fail to harvest a single year’s surplus would be devastating to the habitat and the animals that rely on it to survive.
For honest, thinking, caring people, we know conclusively that we must hunt and balance the herds in preparation for the death of winter where all natural habitat dies off and will not sustain the summer herds.
Thank God that the good always outweighs the bad and the ugly.
But there is one horrible ugly that we have not put forth enough effort to overcome as of yet, and I implore, beseech, beg and rally all hunters to make this Job One for the betterment of our hunting brethren.
Already this year, we have lost hunting BloodBrothers due to falls from elevated stands, and it breaks my heart everytime I hear of another one of these tragedies.
I for one will never, ever hunt out of a home-made wooden treestand. Just won’t do it.
I have also made the decision in my life to never hunt from a self-climbing stand. I don’t mean to shine a negative light on what are surely some state of the art, perfectly well constructed and safe climbing stands on the market by dedicated manufacturers out there, but I have determined at the age of 67 with both knees replaced that I am simply not up to the task to safely utilize this type of stand.
In fact, I won’t go through the physical challenge of screwing in treesteps and the monkey-like histrionics of putting up a hanging stand of any kind.
Celebrate hunting but do it safely so you can return home to your loved ones!
The only elevated stands I hunt out of any more are ultra-solid ladderstands and ultra-sturdy elevated blinds, always checked and double-checked for absolute safe condition. And I don’t reach for the sky anymore as I limit my stand height to 8 to 12 feet most of the time for ladders and preferably 6 feet or less for elevated blinds.
This may sound rather low to some sky-high hunters out there, but I hunt every day throughout the season and have come to grips with the life-saving Dirty Harry truism that; “A good man has to know his limitations.”
Guiding hundreds of hunters each year with our Sunrize Safaris outfit, we insist that all our hunters wear a quality fall-restraint system, use a tow rope to pull bow or gun up, and always err on the side of caution whether they even feel comfortable hunting elevated.
Even with all this intelligent preparation and due diligence, our ultimate safety all boils down to the one basic hunter safety rule; PAY ATTENTION!
Whether you’re hunting deer, elk, exotics, small game, waterfowl, turkeys or whatever, enjoy the hunt and then enjoy the sacred gifts of venison for you and your family!
Think real hard before climbing up. Are you absolutely certain this is a rock-solid, safe stand? Are you wearing your harness and is it secured properly? Are the steps solid and dry? Are you ultra-careful when climbing in and out?
I know we can do better my friends. I know we can actually save our BloodBrothers’ lives and halt the paralyzing crippling scourge in our hunting family. Not all hunters will be reading this deeranddeerhunting.com NUGEBLOG#110, so all of you that are, please become the hunter safety patrol dedicated to demand commonsense safety precautions and adherence by every hunter we hunt with and know.
Get vocal. Get aggressive. Get tough! Be demanding. Be ever so vigilant and diligent in insisting everyone obeys these basic life-saving rules.
The only good hunting season will always be the season we make it through without any injuries.
Let us all promise to do everything we possibly can to make this the best hunting season of our lives so that we can get all giddy and bleary-eyed in anticipation for next year’s season, healthy and happy and all in one piece, safe and sound.
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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Stay Safe and Hunt Longer This Season!
Are you familiar with the safety precautions that need to be put in place in order to ensure proper tree stand placement and usage? If the answer is “no,” or you feel like you need to brush up on your tree stand safety skills, then the Tree Stand Safety Resource Kit is for you. Containing three prime resources regarding tree stand safety, this collection will ensure you’re well on your way to avoiding as much danger as possible while installing, climbing or descending from, or using a tree stand. Begin with Treestand Safety and Placement, and learn the proper method for hanging a stand. You’ll also get placement advice for the best hunting.
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