Ted’s TexasWild  -  November 2012

By Ted Nugent


Re-Creation as Recreation

I hadn’t even seen any critters from my treestand yet, and already the cleansing had begun. Sure, my mind, the indefatigable adventure engine that it is, was flashing back to exciting musical ideas and moments, I plunged occasionally into the painful abyss that is American politics gone mad, and of course I as always wondered what was going on at my many other stand locations, just knowing that they were all surrounded by giant bucks and targets galore.

But, thank God, for the most part, I was well on my way to the physics of spirituality that is our sacred time afield, clearing the mind of life’s constant responsibilities, activities and stresses, pursuing the happiness that is our pure instinctual predatorship. The great Fred Bear nailed it when he stated how our hunting time "will cleanse the soul." Indeed.

I lovingly call my daily hunts and hunting grounds "the Obama free zone," for each of those magical hours preparing to ambush and kill game is so totally consuming on every level that the ugliness of so much of life fades away with each stimulating moment on stand. God knows we need that now more than ever.

When we talk about "recreation," we are indeed identifying the essential need to get away. Europeans have long celebrated extended four month summer holidays in contrast to America’s tradition of two week escapes. Being down to my favorite eight or ten careers, my need for recreation can be discussed in life or death terms, and quite honestly, it matters not who you are of what you do for a living, all human beings need battery recharging at regular intervals to keep an even mind and a healthy perspective on life’s priorities.

Physically and psychologically, our overall good health and well-being will be determined by many things in life, starting with responsible diet, ample exercise and the disciplined avoidance of poisons like bad foods in irresponsible portions, alcohol, drugs, chemicals and tobacco. But equal to those obvious choices, health experts all agree that stress vaporizing recreation plays just as an important role in quality of life as anything we do.

Mrs. Nugent and most people prefer the beach. Families have always enjoyed theme parks and resorts. Golf anyone? And I’m sure those choices perform adequate "re-creating" of their energies and spirit. To each his own I always say.

But I’m here to tell you my fellow sporters, God knows there is no greater escape from life’s pressures than this primal, natural hunting lifestyle, and for those of us that love and crave it, I do believe we are on the ultimate path to the happiest and stress free lives.

I have conducted media interviews nonstop throughout the year for more than 45 years now, and because of my reputation for putting on the most intense musical rockouts known to mankind, even at the tender age of 64, I am constantly asked where all my energy and inexhaustible passion for the music comes from. For 45 years I have told them emphatically that my hyper animal spirit is a direct result of my being clean and sober all my life and equal doses of my  hunting lifestyle. That the high strung, dare I say maniacal MotorCity Madman can sit silently and statuesque in a treestand for hours and hours on end, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, is powerful testimony to the healing powers of nature. And of course all educated souls know conclusively that nothing says nature like the pureness of tooth, fang and claw reasoning predatorship.

I swear to God, sitting in my deer stand or duck blind, I am so thoroughly tuned into my surroundings with a clear and present attentiveness to see critters before they see me, that it can best be described as an out of body experience. You know what I’m talking about.

All we have to do is think we see an antler yonder in the bush, a possible movement in the scrub, and VIOLA!! to quote Jimi Hendrix, "there ain’t no life nowhere!"

The beasts own us. We know it and we like it. The driving instinct to provide protein for our families is so powerful, even in this modern room service day and age, that the primary force of survival blocks out all other thoughts, all images, all desires. When I tell everyone about my natural high via nature and the hunting lifestyle, this is what I’m talking about.

So head for the hunt everytime with a lust for life, a craving for the kill, and the yearning for venison. Re-create your spirit, mind, body and soul, and come out stronger, ready to rock after every hunting season.

Email Ted Nugent at TNugent@fishgame.com

    Current Issue Table of Contents

Advertisment