Uncle Ted – American Campfire

Everybody loves the American campfire don’t you hear it calling your name

Everybody loves the American campfire go ahead and fan the flames

Gather round children the party is on your family and friends are here

Pull up a stump and set yourself down let me buy you all a beer

Everybody loves the American campfire don’t you hear it calling your name

Everybody loves the American campfire go ahead and fan the flames

It’s a long long way to kingdom come but I think we have finally arrived

Life liberty and rockNroll I never felt so alive

Everybody loves the American campfire

Well now, there’s a real piece of authentic, grinding, hard hitting American Country music that hasn’t lost its rock-n-roll soul!

Recording my new record Ted Nugent Detroit Muscle recently with my killer band Jason Hartless and Greg Smith, we literally ignited a roaring American, primal spirit campfire every time we fired up our instruments, celebrating the greatest quality of life in the history of humankind and the uppity, defiant, crazyFUN FREEDOM soundtrack that goes with it.

You can’t do this in France!

I do believe those lyrics above, and the piledriving music that propels them perfectly represent the ultimate setting and soundtrack for life, liberty and pursuit of happiness that can always be accomplished around said campfire.

As we come charging in to September 2021 to celebrate our beloved fall hunting season, escaping the ugliness of the increasingly nasty world around us may very well be the first time in our lives that the hunt is more about that critical escape than it is about actually bagging game.

Which brings me to the defining point of this little NugeBlog here; we must all do everything we can to make it to the next campfire!

At this time, we are all immersed in the hunt prep orgy with gear, schedules, leases, scouting, practicing, and juggling professional and family priorities, but when it comes to Job One for accomplishing all the above, we must all focus on safety, safety, safety every time we escape the pavement and enter our spirit sanctuary in the great outdoors.

I am convinced that actual accidents are a very rare occurrence in life, and especially during our hunting adventures.

My dear old dad, Warren Henry Nugent, God love the great man, pounded into our heads that, and I quote; “accidents don’t happen they are caused!”

I believe it.

The fact that the vast majority of so-called hunting accidents are indeed a direct result of human error, foolish decisions and abject carelessness should be a voluminous wakeup call to the millions and millions of hunting families across America and beyond.

When it comes to firearms tragedies, I believe every one of them can be attributed to breaking the universal gun responsibility mantra of; all guns are always loaded and never point them at anything you are not willing to destroy.

At Camp Nuge running at fullsteam all year long, we gather around our spirit campfire each and every day repeating the law of the land; muzzle, muzzle, muzzle control control control!

Sounds simple enough but each year hearts are broken and families are shattered for no good reason other than momentary lapses in attentiveness to this single, simple, universal rule.

We lost a few great friends last season again when fishing boats and duck boats capsized for clearly predictable reasons. Some were dangerously overloaded, and some ventured into threatening weather conditions, and more often than not, personal flotation devices were not on hand.

I personally will climb ladderstands or other elevated blinds more than 200 times again this year.

I learned long ago that the older I get the less athletic I get, and I made a vow many years ago to quadruple check every ladder, every strap, every step, every stairway, and every safety fall restraint harness in the Nugent barn.

According to the information I have, most deaths and injuries during hunting season are a result of falling out of trees.

There are other conditions that cause injury and death, like inadequately vented campers, tents and trailers, older guys like me attempting to drag a deer out of the swamp, the dreaded, inexcusable suicidal phenomena of continued alcohol and substance abuse, and failing to stay strong and healthy through a season that challenges us more than our daily activities throughout the rest of the year.

So, my American Spirit BloodBrothers, with our sights sets squarely on the goal of returning to our American family campfires during and after the season, let us all make it a primary objective to constantly talk it up and hammer it home with all our fellow hunters to focus on safety safety safety safety all season long.

With intelligent dedication and focus, we can not only make this upcoming hunt season the best of our lives, but by really using our heads and hearts, we will return next year, strong and healthy and ready to rock for yet another soul cleansing Spirit of the Wild American Campfire celebration as hands-on participants in God’s miraculous creation.