Ted Nugent & Hank Jr are teaching Kid Rock how to hunt

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Ted Nugent said he couldn't be happier for fellow "Michiganiac" and Detroit-area native Bob Ritchie.

Ritchie, likely better known to most folks as rock, country, hip-hop musician "Kid Rock," killed a fine 9-point buck with a rifle over the weekend while hunting near Troy in Pike County.

It's not by chance that he was in town.

For several years, Kid Rock, 44, made January trips to adjoining landowner and friend Hank Williams Jr.'s place to hunt deer when the local herd is in the breeding phase. He liked it so much, he bought his own slice of Alabama heaven a few years ago.

On his Facebook page under a picture of Kid Rock with the buck, Nugent posted:

"Gotta call from my fellow MotorCity RockDog KidRock very Xcited about his big AL buck! I'm afraid the man is hooked on the Great Spirit of the Wild now! Way2GO Bob! CongratSalute my Motown Michiganiac SoulMusic venison BloodBrother! Watch how much more sexy his music will be now!! GoKidGO!!"

"We're both from Detroit, the Michigan brotherland, the land of Fred Bear. When you're from that part of the country, you can't help but be filled up by the spirit of the outdoor lifestyle," Nugent said in a telephone interview with AL.com on Monday morning.

Details surrounding the kill were not available Monday.

Kid Rock is relatively new to hunting, so when he called Nugent three or four years ago to ask for help in learning how to shoot a bow and hunt with it, the veteran hunter and fellow rock musician eagerly agreed.

Nugent said the high-energy entertainer, who by then had already been riding the rollercoaster of life as an entertainer for more than two decades, was looking for a way to "slow down, recharge the batteries and cleanse the soul."

"He plunged right into that," Nugent said. "He's still pretty new at it, but between me and Hank Williams Jr., he's doing just fine."

Nugent said Kid Rock is not the first entertainer to seek him out as a hunting mentor because of his obvious passion for it.

He mentioned Aeosmith guitarist Joe Perry and Metallica frontman James Hetfield as just a couple of the many entertainers he's helped introduce in some form to the outdoors lifestyle.

While Nugent is happy with Kid Rock's success in the deer woods, he's having a banner year professionally and afield, too.

He performed the 6,514th concert of his career last summer and is enjoying his best deer season ever, he said.

"I'm 66 years old and enjoying the best hunting season of my life. I hung up my 61st whitetail yesterday, a fat doe from the ranch here in Texas," Nugent said.

Nugent takes pride in promoting the fact that his family eats the meat from animals they kill, while also noting that they donate a large portion of it to numerous charities that feed the hungry, war veterans and kids.

"All of the venison goes to good causes and I get to go shopping for it," he said.

Nugent doesn't just hunt. He's used the platform rock-and-roll fame created over a lifetime to become one of hunting's staunchest advocates and defenders on his No. 1 rated Outdoor Channel show "Spirit of the Wild," on radio and in magazine articles.

It's a torch he bears proudly and without regret or excuse even when his "sincere, honest and fact-filled" opinions rub people the wrong way.

Nugent said he's willing to share the light and ultimately pass it on to the right person, who can keep the message and passion for hunting and the outdoor lifestyle alive for generations to come.

"I encourage my friend Bob Ritchie to take up the cause, promote conservation and defend our Second Amendment rights. Make it a cause celebre'. I'm prodding him to -- at his own pace -- not only enjoy hunting, but to promote it," Nugent said.

Nugent said it's hard for most entertainers to become involved in causes as deeply as they would otherwise want to because they are "so overwhelmed by management telling them not to say anything."

He added that it doesn't make it any easier when many of an entertainer's peers have a different political slant that does not look on hunting with favor.

Nugent said he didn't have to worry about those pressures since he made the decision at 18 to stand up for what he believed and loved. That was just as his name and guitar playing were gaining nationwide attention.

"I've dedicated my life to carrying the message of the positive impacts of hunting. It's a message that's really contagious," he said.

The reason is simple.

"Hunting and the perfection of killing your own food is the last pure, natural and organic thing man can do to keep his land healthy. Taking out the surplus animals produces quality air, land, soil and water for everyone," he said.

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