Charlie P

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Rocker and celebrity hunter Ted Nugent may have run afoul of South Dakota game laws by shooting pheasants after some of his hunting privileges were revoked in California.

Nugent — known as the “Motor City Madman” — lived in Michigan most of his life before moving to Texas in 2003.

Nugent’s loss of his California deer hunting license through June 2012 allows 34 other states to revoke the same privilege under the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, though each state can interpret and enforce the agreement differently.

South Dakota honors other states’ license revocations through both the compact and a state law that doesn’t differentiate between large game such as deer and small game such as pheasant, said Andy Alban, law enforcement administrator for the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department.

Alban wouldn’t confirm or deny whether the agency was investigating Nugent, but said: “In South Dakota, if a person had any hunting privileges revoked elsewhere, all of their hunting privileges would be revoked here.”

Nugent, famed for his 1977 hit “Cat Scratch Fever,” was hunting pheasants with his black Labrador retriever, Gonzo, at Dakota Hills Shooting Preserve on Oct. 16 in the southwest South Dakota town of Oral, according to Nugent’s Twitter posts and published reports.

A spokeswoman for the 61-year-old singer-guitarist said he was afield Thursday and she was trying to reach him for a statement.

California revoked Nugent’s deer hunting license on Aug. 13 after he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of deer-baiting and not having a properly signed tag, said Dana Michaels, spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Game.

The California deer-baiting charge was filed earlier this year after game wardens said they saw Nugent kill an immature buck on an episode of his Outdoor Channel television show “Spirit of the Wild.”

Investigators found that the deer had been eating bait called “C’mere Deer.” Baiting wildlife is legal in some states but illegal in California. Nugent originally faced 11 charges, but his attorney entered the two no-contest pleas as part of a deal with Yuba County prosecutors.

“I should have been better informed, more aware and I take full responsibility,” Nugent said in a statement after the plea. “The honorable hunting lifestyle is my deepest passion.”

The Outdoor Channel announced Monday that it had entered into an exclusive multiyear endorsement agreement with Nugent that is set to start in January.

The Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact allows 35 states, including South Dakota and California, to share information about fishing, hunting and trapping violations. It obligates members to report wildlife violation convictions to member states, giving them the capability to honor each other’s suspensions.

In recent Twitter posts, Nugent also talked about hunting in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Wisconsin was notified of California’s revocation, and he would not be allowed to purchase a deer license there through June 2012, although he is licensed to shoot small game and waterfowl, said Laurel Steffes, a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman.

“We would honor it and not sell him the deer license,” she said, noting that he would not need a license to archery hunt on private licensed deer farms in Wisconsin.

Nugent can still legally hunt in Michigan, where he has bought several types of licenses for 2010, state game officials said.

Although a compact member, Michigan doesn’t have a parallel charge to the one that got Nugent in trouble in California, said Mary Dettloff, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The violation in California would not have resulted in a mandatory license suspension if it had happened in Michigan.

falcon

The old Nuge set a fine example for all the youngsters who watch his show. Nuge is another another of the rich and famous crowd who thought that game laws were for someone else.

ipscshooter

Very old news. It was the ranch owner who baited. Nugent has acknowledged that he should have been familiar with the Cali game laws and he paid the fine. Seems to me, though, that when someone hunts all over the world, in a different state or country every week of the season, it's not entirely unreasonable to rely on the owner of the land to know that such actions are against the local laws.

s for SD... the compact allows them to revoke his license. I don't know whether the revocation is automatic or whether action is required by the state to revoke the license once they learn that a revocation has occurred elsewhere. But, the article cited states that the 34 other states are "allowed to revoke the licenses." That seems as though action by the state is required. If the state didn't revoke the license, then where's the problem?


http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/whit...game-laws.html

Sfury

This is a case where an avid hunter who pays for guided hunts got put into an illegal situation with the guide service he used. When you can afford to travel around and hunt as much as Ted can, you don't always do the proper background checks on the people you hire.

It's surprising this doesn't happen more often.

This isn't like so many other cases where the hunters are knowingly violating laws and taking animals illegally. It's sad how many corn piles my hunting group has found being used out on the public land where I hunt. Baiting deer has some very strict limits imposed now, and when you see piles of corn that are 50+ lbs you know it's time to contact the DNR.

warbirdlover

I think he got screwed.

Charlie P

The land owner baited with the product Nuge is paid to use C'mere deer I wonder why?

"Very old news." Not really.

Iflyagfour

Sucks all around. I think Californias game laws are a bit overboard but its jmo. It is our responsibility to know the game laws concerning the area we hunt but at the same time I can see how he got screwed.

ipscshooter

It was discussed at length here a couple months ago...

And, assuming that he lists ALL of his sponsors on his website, C'mere Deer is not one of his sponsors, nor is Nugent listed as an endorser on C'Mere Deer's website..

Charlie P

I was wrong about the sponsorship.

I wasn't here for about 7 monthes sorry.

If you don't want to discuss it again it's kinda of a simple solotion isn't? Don't open the thread.

ipscshooter

I checked to see if there were new allegations, or perhaps some information on how the interstate compact worked, and posted a link to the original thread.

Welcome back, by the way... Your commentary in the politics arena has been missed. Population has gotten kinda slim in there...