Ted Nugent agrees to plea deal over illegal killing of black bear in Alaska

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Give him the benefit of the doubt or he should have known the law?

Either way, once again, in the interests of 'entertainment'. :rolleyes:

(CNN) -- Rocker and avid hunter Ted Nugent has agreed to pay a fine, serve probation and record a public service announcement as part of a deal to plead guilty to transporting an illegally killed black bear in Alaska, according to court documents.

The plea deal, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Alaska, stems from federal allegations that arose during a bear hunt in May 2009 that was filmed for Nugent's television show, "Spirit of the Wild," on the Outdoor Channel.

News of the plea deal broke a day after Nugent was questioned and cleared by the Secret Service over comments he made at an annual meeting of the National Rifle Association where he said he would be "dead or in jail" if President Barack Obama were re-elected.

In the plea agreement, Nugent admitted to shooting and killing a bear using a bow and arrow during a hunt on Sukkwan Island in southeast Alaska, just days after he wounded another bear.

Alaska limits licensed hunters to the bagging of one bear per hunting season. Under the law, the wounding of a bear counts toward the season's bag limit.

"Nugent failed to locate and harvest the wounded bear," the plea agreement said.

Where the federal charge against Nugent -- a misdemeanor count of violating the Lacey Act -- comes in to play, according to court documents, is that he left the island by boat with the dead bear and "knew or should have known, in the exercise of due care, that the black bear was taken, possessed or transported in violation of a law or regulation of the United States."

Neither the federal complaint nor the plea agreement revealed how federal authorities found out about the violation, though scenes from the hunt aired on Nugent's show. Nugent nor his attorney, Wayne Anthony Ross, immediately responded to a CNN request for comment.

News of the plea deal comes as Nugent is promoting another bear hunt, this time in Quebec, Canada, on his web site.

As part of the plea deal, Nugent has agreed to pay a $10,000 fine, not to hunt or fish within Alaska or on any other U.S. Forest Service lands for one year. The deal also includes two years probation.

Additionally, according to the agreement, Nugent agreed to create a public service announcement that promotes the importance of a person's responsibility in knowing the rules and regulations of their hunting activities.

The televised announcement, which must be approved by federal prosecutors in Alaska, must be at least 30 to 60 seconds in length and be broadcast every second week on his television show for one 12-month period, according to the plea agreement.

A federal judge still must sign off on the agreement.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, the maximum penalty is one year in prison and $100,000 fine.

Nugent's attorney told the Anchorage Daily News on Friday that his client, who has previously hunted in the same area, was unaware of the law, which was introduced less than five years ago. He told the newspaper he watched the video clip from Nugent's show and the arrow "touched" the bear and stuck in the ground.

"There wasn't any blood trail that they could find," Ross said. "There was a little blood apparently at the spot, but nothing that indicated the bear was hard hit."

On Thursday, the Secret Service said it resolved questions regarding comments that Nugent, a conservative activist and gun rights advocate, made about President Obama during a speech at an NRA convention in St. Louis, Missouri.

Secret Service clears Nugent after interview

"If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year," Nugent said, according to a video that the NRA posted on YouTube. "If you can't go home and get everybody in your lives to clean house in this vile, evil, America-hating administration, I don't even know what you're made out of."

The video has since been removed.

Many have questioned whether Nugent was alluding to violence against the president.

Earlier Thursday, Nugent issued a statement confirming his meeting and describing it as a "good, solid, professional meeting concluding that I have never made any threats of violence towards anyone. The meeting could not have gone better. I thanked them for their service, we shook hands and went about our business. God bless the good federal agents wherever they may be."

Nugent, the self-styled "Motor City Madman," gained musical fame in the 1960s as a member of the psychedelic band The Amboy Dukes, then as a solo act in the 1970s and later as a member of the 1980s supergroup Damn Yankees. He is probably best known for the1977 rock anthem, "Cat Scratch Fever."
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hxxp://www.cnn.com/2012/04/21/justice/alaska-nugent-bear-hunting/
 
I agree with Ted's sentiments most of the time, though he does forget to use the 'filter' now and again when in the public eye.

On this, however, ignorance of the law is no excuse. The facts seem pretty clear (at least on the face of what has been reported):

Under the law, the wounding of a bear counts toward the season's bag limit. "Nugent failed to locate and harvest the wounded bear," the plea agreement said ...

"There was a little blood apparently at the spot, but nothing that indicated the bear was hard hit." ...

... the importance of a person's responsibility in knowing the rules and regulations of their hunting activities.
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And that's the kicker right there.
 
Much ado about nothing.

He and his producers are guilty of poor preparation when it comes to studying other states regulations, but evil criminal poacher? Nope.

Every year hundreds of hunters in north america are found guilty of small regulatory infractions due to ignorance, the only reason this is news is because Nugent is a celebrity. If it was Joe Bloggs from Wisconsin who made the mistake, it would maybe result in a small line or 2 in a local newspaper.
 
Now there is a law with grey areas if I ever heard one. What if you hit and have no blood, what if you were unsure of a hit and had no blood, what if you missed and the animal was previously wounded and bleeding?No sir, I don't like it!!

Next will be if you get a bite when fishing and miss the hook set , that fish will go towards your possession limit!

However the law is the law and they are likely trying to make an examplke out of Ted.
 
What a dumbass law...ignorance of the law is no excuse, but who would ever think that was a law? I guess I will only need 1 bullet in Alaska...even if you miss, your tag is used up.
 
Most provinces and states are like that. Wounded game is to be considered part of your daily and or seasonal bag. Ted has an advantage in this case in that he for sure would have been filming that hunt and can run play back of the shot to see if he had a hit or not. Unfortunately for him he is high profile so for political reasons he is going to be jumped on whether he intentionally broke the law or really did not know the law. Doesn't matter who it is it sucks if you are in that position. It sounds to me if he took a plea they had some evidence of a hit on a bear and it got away and Ted decided to try to fill his tag on another bear. I don't think Ted would be the kind of guy to plead out if there weren't some eveidence. He sure isn't afraid to fight for his rights or beliefs. As for the fine $10,000 to Ted is like $10 to you and I. In light of the maximum penalty he could have incurred I think he did alright with his plea. I still like the guy, always have and always will. I am sure he isn't losing much sleep over this one.
 
Problem is that it was aired on TV. I can imagine being a CO up there and being under some pressure to act. The producers of the show should know the regs inside out and backwards and if they didn't before, they sure do now.
 
Whether or not the bear was actually wounded or not he is a high profile hunter and needs to follow the letter of the law.
Pleading ignorance when he and his entourage expend that much on a hunt is laughable.
It makes all of us hunters look bad.
 
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Pretty straight forward. And then air something non-kosher on TV is a real fail. Remember a few years back the CGNers that got pasted for an illegal grizzly harvest in the Yukon? Likely would never have been caught had they not seen fit to post details online.
 
BigUglyMan said:
Pretty straight forward. And then air something non-kosher on TV is a real fail. Remember a few years back the CGNers that got pasted for an illegal grizzly harvest in the Yukon? Likely would never have been caught had they not seen fit to post details online.
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And those dumbass shooting the baby ducks with 22. I guess they really didn't know if they went and aired it.
 
It's interesting to see how varied our various hunting laws are. In BC it would have been illegal for him to have cut his bear tag,without recovering the bear. It would be considered "pre cancellation"
 
Gatehouse said:
It's interesting to see how varied our various hunting laws are. In BC it would have been illegal for him to have cut his bear tag,without recovering the bear. It would be considered "pre cancellation"
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Same as some countries have law against large caliber guns, while others (like ours) that discriminate against small caliber pistols. Making sense is not where it's at!
 
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