Nugent Returning to WV

Rocker and bowhunter Ted Nugent plays the National Anthem at Charleston’s Riverfront in November 2010 during a political rally.

Rocker and bow hunter Ted Nugent will return to West Virginia this week.  "The Nuge" is set to play a show Friday night as part of the Wild, Wonderful Mountainfest at Morgantown‘s Mylan Park.  

"During the summer my music has a life of its own. The band is a force to reckon with, it’s the greatest tour of my life," Nugent said on West Virginia Outdoors from a tour stop in California.  "I’m out here rockin’ and rollin’ because it’s what I love to do."

Music is however one of two passions in Nugent’s life, the other is naturally bow hunting.   He’s managed to fashion a life in which the two bookend together.

"It’s really beautiful because I just got out of a bear hunting tree stand with my son in Alaska and the next day we started rehearsal,"  he explained. "When the tour ends in Tower, Minnesota on September 4th, the next morning Shemain my beautiful wife and queen of the forest–we get in a plane and we’ll be in a bear stand in Ontario, Canada the next night."

However, the two do mix.   Nugent carries his archery gear along on tour and shoots every day.   During hunting season, the guitar is secured squarely among the camp-ware for evening jam sessions.

Nugent has made his mark on both worlds. He also mentored under the masters of both worlds.  He met legends of each vein early in life, Les Paul and Fred Bear.

"I got to meet Fred at his little Bear Archery Shop up in Grayling (Michigan) when I was just a little boy.  I was too young to really understand the impact this man was having," Nugent explained. "He was the godfather of archery and I was already addicted to archery."

Nugent credits Bear as one of his early influences and admits, he came of age in an important time for both bow hunting and music.

"It was a very, very fortunate time I was born after Les Paul invented the electric guitar and Fred Bear was re-inventing bow hunting," said Nugent.

Ted Nugent

The legendary rock start often dubbed "the Motor City Madman" was raised in Detroit.  When hunting season arrived, his parents would load the entire family into a station wagon and head to northern Michigan to hunt.  It was a family affair and the place where Nugent says he was taught self-reliance, rugged individualism, independence, and self-discipline at a young age.

"Aim small miss small, that takes self-discipline," he said. "My dad was a real conservationist and they taught me if you want food you better be able to shoot straight at that squirrel or put a good arrow in a deer to bring back meat to the family campfire." 

Today, Nugent adds to his duties political activism.  He’s unapologetic about his conservative foundation.  He not only defends the right to keep and bear arms, but proudly proclaims it.   He enjoys being in the face of anti-hunters and animal rights activists.  He’s a high profile member of the NRA’s Board of Directors and a staunch critic of liberal laws and liberal lawmakers–whether they are the mayor of his town or President Obama.

His last visit to West Virginia was in fact political when he stumped for Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Raese in Charleston last fall. 

Nugent’s most frequent advice to bow hunters, besides how they should vote on Election Day, is to not get caught up in the bow strength.

"Be careful you don’t end up with a bow that is not graceful, that is too difficult to draw back," said Nugent.  "The curse in America and the reason we’re not recruiting new archers is they try to pull back 60 and 70 pound bows.  They can pull them back, but they can’t ‘archery’ them.  Archery is supposed to be graceful."

He recommends having your bow professionally tuned and fitted to your body style.

"If you get a 30-pound bow or a 40-pound bow, that’s plenty to kill anything that walks in North America," he said.  "Aim small, miss small."

Nugent will take the Mountain Fest stage at 7:30 Friday night at Mylan Park in Morgantown.