Thank God for the United States Marine Corps. Without their lessons of “improvise, adapt and overcome,” not only wouldn’t I be here literally, but I sure wouldn’t be able to provide this installment of my writings to share with you all.
By Ted Nugent
In fact, why not take the time here on my 39th deeranddeerhunting.com NugeBlog to say thank you and salute those special U.S. hero warriors in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, National Guard and of course the USMC for their professional dedication and sacrifices that provide the very freedoms here in America epitomized in our deerhunting lifestyle.
If any segment of society can and should appreciate that freedom isn’t free, it is those of us who celebrate the rugged individualism and self-sufficient independence that is the hunting life.
Since my teenage years, I have been incredibly blessed and privileged to be welcomed into the special lives of the U.S. military and their families. Pretty much every soldier, sailor, airman and marine that I have ever met is a hunter, fisher and or shooting enthusiast.
Those disciplines go hand and hand with the higher level of awareness and dedication to being the best that you can be, no matter what the personal endeavor. And when we are the best hunters we can be, backstraps are ours!
Aim small miss small works for every aspect of quality of life, as does the USMC battlecry of “improvise, adapt and overcome.” If anything describes the hunter’s ambush strategy, it is that.
Which brings me to NugeBlog39.
I am hammering away on my criminally abused laptop, flat on my back, icebags melting on my recently replaced knees, in a beautiful roughshod cabin on the banks of the Yetna River, deep in the always stunning Alaska wilderness, right here, right now.
In the very capable hands of Cliff Smith and his crew of professional Alaskan guides of his Triple C Outfitters, son Toby is off to stalk grizzly and Brown bear country, sons Rocco and Fleetwood are sipping freshly brewed coffee on the porch strategizing their afternoon bearhunt, and the old man is doing everything in my power to improvise, adapt and overcome our remote limitations on electricity and modern technology to deliver my writing responsibilities to D&DH editors Dan Schmitt and Alan Clemons before my weekly deadline.
With one gorgeous black bear hanging on the gamepole thanks to Toby’s well placed arrow, we are all having the ultimate Alaska father/son time of our lives.
Cliff just improvised, adapted and overcame an Internet obstacle course to miraculously get my Personal HotSpot up and running so I can hopefully send this NugeBlog off through the indescribable outerspace of whatever it is that delivers my writings to their machines. I don’t get it, but I hope you do.
Fleetwood and Rocco just left the cabin with Cliff to try for King Salmon, and here I lie like the old hunter I am, slightly wounded and somewhat limited in mobility, but with a wide, toothy grin knowing I am using the life and resources God has blessed me with to the absolute best and smartest of my ability.
We arrived in Alaska just five days ago, and made our way over God’s country to our remote bearcamp. With nearly 23 hours of daylight each day, deciding where and when to hunt is a little more tricky than usual.
This is black bear, grizzly bear and Brown bear country, and the season and bag limits are very liberal due to the overpopulation of bears. The moose and caribou calves have been nearly wiped out every calving season for far too many years, so now we are scrambling to bring the bear numbers back in balance with the environment.
Enjoy Ted’s unplugged campfire version of his famous and favorite song, “Fred Bear:”
This wildlife management reality strikes a chord close to home with deerhunters across America as we come to grips with habitat fluctuations, politically correct predator mismanagement, disease breakouts, doe harvests and all those mystical elements that drive our stewardship responsibilities for optimally healthy, thriving wildlife balance.
Some deerhunters might not think the closing down of all hunting in Botswana effects their hunting in Wisconsin, but with the globe so completely connected (I hope, so I can send this NugeBlog out on time!) wildlife managers everywhere can monitor and see how politically correct denial will wreck things everytime science is ignored and policy is driven by feelgood nonsense instead of honest tooth, fang and claw reality.
So for the traveling hunter, it is imperative that we communicate our boots on the ground experiences with hunters and politicians everywhere what has proven to be best for the wildlife, not some weird animal rights goofball in some city somewhere who dares to bring up Bambi or BooBoo when determining how to best manage these precious living, breathing real world beasts to which we have a moral obligation to do the right thing.
I will put this down now, and with fingers crossed, switch over to Cliff’s iPhone HotSpot and see if I can shoot these words of wisdom to my deeranddeerhunting.com BloodBrothers. The goodword from the Alaskan wilderness to those who care, and with any luck, many of us will increase our fight to do the right thing to get wildlife management back on the science track wherever and whenever we can.
And then I’m loading up, grabbing my Mathews Creed, and I dream of huge hoary Ursus beasts making a fatal, terminal mistake, and getting too close to my blind. Rugsteaks! It’s what we seek, it’s what I want.
Want more Ted? Check his site for news, tour information and more at www.TedNugent.com
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DeerDeerHunting/~3/Lim5JJkOVto/improvise-adapt-overcome-best
