TED NUGENT Backs Plans To Cull Deer In Illinois Neighborhood

Rocker Ted Nugent has spoken to Joseph Ryan of the Daily Herald about his offer to personally take care of North Barrington, Illinois' deer population after residents in the Wynstone Estates complained that deer were tearing up their landscaping.

Nugent first came on the scene when a local trustee played a video at last week's board meeting that featured him howling as he killed various animals with arrows at his sprawling game ranch in Texas.

The short clip was meant to stir emotions against bow hunting, but a majority of officials still approved a plan to allow the Wynstone hunt.

A few days later, Wynstone resident Carol Bieniek, who opposes the hunt, gave a local radio interview in which she called Nugent a "redneck."

Enter Nugent: "My critics are soulless. They try to fault me for participating in the proven assuredness of the renewable harvest," he responded in an interview Thursday with the Daily Herald.

Nugent, who spent his late teen years in Palatine, is somewhat of a self-proclaimed chief for hunting activists. He has written several books on the topic, including "Kill It and Grill It" and "BloodTrails: The Truth about Bowhunting". The rock guitarist, who has produced 29 albums since the late 1960s, is a frequent television and radio guest in his crusade to promote conservation and hunting.

"I started bow hunting on my father's back before I could walk," he said. "I have been anointed in God's tooth-and-claw nature system, and I bow to its authority."

The hunting groups Nugent works with promote bow hunting as a safe and responsible means of thinning herds in suburban areas where they could hurt drivers.

"That is a win-win for the environment, the society and the critters," he said. Read more.