NUGENT IN THE WILD

by TED NUGENT :: TF&G Editor-at-Large

Guide the Youth To the Spirit of the Wild

I AM FORTUNATE BEYOND WORDS to have been brought up by loving parents in the ultimate disciplinary environment of the outdoor and shooting sports lifestyle.

As I maximize my quality time with my grandkids and our Ted Nugent Kamp for Kids boys and girls, I see myself quite dramatically in their smiling faces and excitement when enjoying these positive activities.

With summertime upon us, now is the perfect time for all concerned parents and families to push harder organizing such outdoor activities for not just our own kids, but also for schoolmates and neighbor kids to get this powerful hands-on guidance for a critical True North compass setting in life.

Just this morning my two grandsons Caeden and Finnigan joined me at the Morrell 3D archery range for our daily aim small miss small mystical flight of the arrow celebration, and I am here to tell you, as always, it was spiritual poetry in motion.

There was no way that any zombie inducing video game; television garbage or hand-held apparatus nonsense could possibly compete with the all-consuming fun of archery!

Shooting proper feather fletched cedar target arrows from their ultra-lightweight recurve bows at close range, they were putting arrow after arrow into the pump stations of unsuspecting critter targets with serious archery consistency.

Guided and disciplined for absolute safety, they quickly learned over the years the proper sequence of procedures to perform masterful archery. With each repetitive arrow, they quickly discovered and honed their instinctual hand-eye coordination, the whole time imprinting a sense of individual accountability to be safe, focused and efficient.

Starting as early as three and four years old, under the caring eyes of parents and grandparents, this disciplined procedure immediately settled powerfully in their psyche and conscience to form an overall understanding of such accountability, knowing all too well that the adults would not allow anything unsafe or untoward when shooting arrows.

The same higher level of awareness takes hold at the firing range when we discipline them in the demanding challenge of aim small miss small rifle marksmanship.

Starting off with the learned mechanics of my old Remington TargetMaster single-shot bolt-action .22 rifle shooting near silent and recoilless CB caps, the children instantly fall in love with the immediate gratification results of a good shot on a tin can.

Much like the important mechanics of loading and shooting a recurve bow, the simple demands of a single-shot bolt-action .22 rifle drive home the importance of procedural detail and strike a powerful chord of individual and independent capabilities for a young person.

Of course they will still need adult supervision for many years to come, but teaching and guiding them to perform all the detailed tasks of the shooting procedures makes them feel good about themselves and they quickly learn how discipline and focused function produces a very positive overall happiness.

As we conduct our 29th year of the amazing Ted Nugent Kamp for Kids charity events in Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado and South Dakota, where all the shooting sports and outdoor activities are the core, the army of volunteers celebrate this incredible positive impact and upgrade on the youth of America that fortifies and strengthens thousands of boys and girls to not just aim small miss small at the range, but to put that same effort and focus on everything they do in life.

Some of the parents of our TNKFK kids were themselves just kids at our Kamp way back in 1989, and now bring their own children to experience this critical upgrade in quality of life that all began with a crazy clean and sober MotorCity guitar player rejoicing the happiness and joys of a hunting lifestyle.

Summertime is here ya’ all and it is now that we can get the kids’ attention, and there is nothing available in life that will impact them more powerfully or positively than the shooting sports and outdoor fun that they all crave.

Get them off the damn couch, away from the worthless video and phone-games, and get them outside where the Spirit of the Wild will cleanse their soul and stimulate their spirit! Now that’s a real down to earth recipe to make America great again!

All donations to Ted Nugent Kamp for Kids are tax deductible and literally save the lives of America’s youth!

Email Ted Nugent at tnugent@fi shgame.com