You wait all day for a hunting story and BAM! Two come along at once. This time, we’re talking about a truly unique (as opposed to somewhat unique) piece of sports writing: The Shawn Clark column: Hanging with Ted always top notch. Unless you’ve got headline amensia, you’ll know that the Ted in question is one Mr. Nugent a.k.a., The Motor City Madman. Not that you’d know it otherwise; our Mr. Clark is no name dropper. We only hear of Mr. Nugent’s role in the hog hunt in paragraph five. Which is: host, raconteur and agent provocateur. “But aside from the hunt, we got to hang out with the owner of the property, Ted Nugent. It’s hard not to know him if you hunt, as he is one of the biggest advocates for hunters’ rights and gun owners across the country. He brought the executive director of the NRA, Chris Cox, with him on Friday, and he talked with us about Second Amendment issues, and why we need to keep fighting for our freedoms. Those guys really knew their stuff.” I don’t know about you, but that’s about as much detail as I want. You know; about that. About other stuff, I’m all pig’s ears. Such as, whatever happened to wrestler/true American hero Dustin “Dusty” Rhodes?
But the next day we all met at the ranch again, not to hunt, but for a BBQ. Ted came out again, and we all sat around the fire and gave thanks to one of the many true American heroes who fought for our freedoms, Dustin Rhodes. This was Dustin’s first trip to Sunrize and he scored his first hog, too.
Dustin, who is confined to a wheelchair and is suffering from Lou Gehrig’s Disease, was a guest, thanks to one of the good people from tednugent.com, Pete Odland. Ted wanted to make it a point to get him there, as he does so often for veterans, and unless you saw the smile Dustin had on his face all weekend from a successful hunt, it’s hard to picture anyone happier.
As far as Ted went, everyone enjoyed having him there.
Which is just as well, really, as he owns the ranch.
We had a blast, and with my kids joining us for the first time on this trip and meeting one of our soldiers who hunted pigs for the first time, it’s pretty hard to top a trip like that. For me, 2010 couldn’t be off to a better start.
A little late with the season’s greeting’s Shawn, but I am SO with you. Dusty Rhodes shooting wild hogs form a wheelchair, next to soldiers drawing a bead on our porcine friends, with the smell of barbecue wafting through the air with strains of Ted Nugent playing an acoustic guitar and singing Kiss My Glock. Why don’t I get invited to these things?
