Spokane7
65°
July 13, 2011 in Sports
Nugent’s beliefs don’t square with most hunters’
Don’t dismiss Ted Nugent for being a windbag. The rock-star hunter is enviable to some degree because he’s so good at it.
Like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, The Nuge is a marketing genius with whom sportsmen must reckon.
The 63-year-old musician can drum up a few million ears to his often controversial opinions on guns or hunting as effectively as the Humane Society of the United States can milk money from little old ladies.
Sportsmen can’t ignore HSUS – or Ted Nugent.
During his ear-punishing concert in Spokane last Thursday, Nugent said his “Spirit of the Wild” TV hunting program is the No. 1 show on the Outdoor Channel.
He told me in a preconcert interview that he reached a potential audience of a billion people in one week when he was interviewed by the BBC, CNN’s Larry King, radio shock jock Howard Stern and a dozen national talk shows plus numerous publications.
He also told his fans the instrumental interlude he played last week after “Cat Scratch Fever” was “the greatest guitar lick in the history of the world.”
It’s all debatable.
But millions of people listen to what The Nuge says about hunting and game management, and some of them believe it.
Some sportsmen consider him a role model while others despise his foul-mouthed fanaticism.
That’s why I’m devoting a little more space to his passage through the Inland Northwest.
The Nuge – and too many others – are masters at dividing sportsmen in an age when it’s never been more important that they should come together to challenge development and preserve habitat.
“What is your common ground with all hunters, and on what main issues are you content to be divisive?” I asked him.
“First of all, if you’re divisive with me, you’re wrong,” he answered. “I’ve never missed a hunting season in 62 years. …
“If somebody tells me I can’t have a scope on my muzzleloader, he’s an idiot. …
“The divisiveness comes from an ignorance, a pettiness and a mean spiritedness.”
Nugent probably knows that anyone can mount a scope on a muzzleloader and hunt in a Washington modern rifle season, but that gun would not be allowed in the “primitive weapons” season.
He’s not divisive; regulations are, Nugent contends.
“So the government needs to stay out of everything” he said. “Let we the people decide.”
His no-compromise mantra whips his right-wing base into a rousing round of “Oh yeah!” and “Right on.”
But he conveniently neglects to mention that most of the rules he condemns were enacted at the request of sportsmen or at least with considerable support after discussion and debate.
“We the people,” is one of the most common phrases Nugent used in the interview I conducted before his Spokane concert. He’s also used the phrase when he’s shared stage spotlights with Sarah Palin and the president of the NRA.
“I think the most important political office in this country is we the people,” he told me.
“If (politicians) don’t respond to our evidence and demands, we the people vote them out….”
“The government needs to stay out of everything. Let we the people decide.”
But when he says we the people shouldn’t tolerate “more than about nine grizzly bears in Yellowstone Park” or we the people “should kill every coyote on sight” it’s clear that we the people isn’t an inclusive term.
Hunters across the country routinely dump their woes on him regarding overregulation and wildlife officer harassment, he said.
Maybe that’s a product of the hunters he attracts with his love for baiting and whacking and stacking large numbers of critters and slinging lead with semiauto and even automatic weapons.
In my hunting camp, we hoist a toast at the end of the rare day when we get checked by a wildlife enforcement officer. We play by the rules and we wish more officers were in the field making sure other hunters are doing the same.
During the Fred Bear song in his concert, The Nuge is featured in a video skewering about a dozen whitetail bucks with arrows, pumping his arms in victory and screaming with joy after each one.
“I’m an entertainer,” he said, explaining why he should be excused for his hyperbole or for suggesting Obama should suck on the end of a replica assault rifle he’s waved on stage.
That’s a pretty good pillow to fall back on for someone who’s a pro at shooting off his mouth.
It’s a cushion the politicians he criticizes don’t have; nor do the wildlife biologists who must make the hard decisions of matching science with the wide range of public opinion.
“I rock and roll all summer long,” he screams to his concert crowds. “The rest of the year I just kill (rhymes with fit).”
That approach to hunting is repulsive in my camp, where we still approach every downed animal with a sense of quiet respect.
We are thankful for what God has provided for the thrill of the stalk and the feast to follow.
We the (other) people who make up a significant segment of sportsmen don’t need to whack ’em and stack ’em to get that sense of fulfillment.
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jessiepn on July 13 at 8:31 p.m.
Nugent is quoted as saying: “So the government needs to stay out of everything…Let we the people decide.”
Hmmm, and here I thought that the government was what we the people voted for, so we the people did decide.
reservedparking on July 13 at 8:37 p.m.
Nugent is nothing more than troll bait. Outrageous comments just to get face time in the news, and up the hit count on comment sites. Don’t fall for it, folks!
greenlibertarian on July 13 at 8:38 p.m.
Right on, Rich.
Nugent’s a clown, just another descendant of PT Barnum thinking.
And the morons, including Vietnam Vets whom he shat all over, still cheer the idiot on.
mtnwino on July 13 at 9:43 p.m.
Nugent? We’d probably shake his hand as he entered our hunting camp for being a rock n roll hero from our high school years - then we’d be horrified by his opinions as he ranted over the light of our campfire. We’d shake our heads the next day, no question about it.
When I walk up to a farmhouse and ask permission to look for wild mushrooms I’m always greeted with a “help yourself”, but ask for permission to hunt and I’ll wonder if they are thinking of the Nuge if they say “we don’t want hunting…”. Sorry Terrible Ted, you are hurting our cause and I, as a lifelong sportsman, don’t appreciate it.
Scott
Mountain-Top Wino
meadman on July 13 at 9:52 p.m.
While it irritates me to give this idiot any more publicity, I appreciate your great article Mr. Landers. It shows what a jerk Nugent is and why he is NOT the person to be the image of the intelligent, responsible, outdoorsman (and woman). He is nothing but a loud-mouth looking for publicity.
nslopeofw on July 13 at 10:14 p.m.
The Nuge rocks. All you badmouthers have no problem with O and his outlandish crap.
The Nuge lives as he believes. Which is way more than you can say about the liberal stars crying about the environment, then hopping in the hummer to the airport, and jetting to a party in Belize.
Edwame on July 14 at 12:08 a.m.
Although I don’t agree with Ted Nugent’s opinions, I do believe in his right to have those opinions, and express those opinions. That is what this country is supposed to be about. In this ultra conservative part of the world we live in, many are unable or unwilling to express their opinion if it differs from the norm. Many can’t articulate their opinion in the first place.
When I read this article I wonder if Mr. Landers has some regrets of being soft in his original interview with Nugent. I wonder if these points would of been better addressed to Nugent directly in the original interview instead of writing an editorial after the fact. That would of been great.
greenlibertarian on July 14 at 12:23 a.m.
Could you be more mamby-pamby, Edwame?
Grow a spine, and then comment.
No one’s limiting The Nuge’s idiotic opinions. He’s entitled to be a moron snake oil salesman. And say so.
/shaking head
hgimhof on July 14 at 9:21 a.m.
As a Vietnam vet I want to make it clear that not all of us cheer on the moronic Mr. Nugent. He wouldn’t have lasted a day in my unit (Airborne Rangers) because he is way too self indulgent and reckless.
Thanks Rich for your insightful commentary.
greenlibertarian on July 14 at 9:28 a.m.
Thanks for your service to our country, Hugh.
MrNatural on July 14 at 10:40 a.m.
Well said Mr. Landers…
Morons like Nugent are barely two dimensional with their self-serving scorched earth philosophical outlooks…and I’d rather listen to a screaming chimpanzee with a chainsaw on an un-muffled dirt bike…
nslopeofw on July 14 at 9:08 p.m.
Yeah, thanks, Hugh. But, i still love the Nuge for how he now. Not a lot of libs bad mouthing Hanoi jane, but they will go after the Nuge. Hanoi jane was/is/will always be a traitor. so is Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, Danny Glover, and plenty more liberal “stars”.