April 20, 2012
By Casey Grove, Anchorage Daily News
He broke 'some crazy law' he didn't know about, says his lawyer
Wayne Anthony Ross.
Activist and musician Ted Nugent has signed a plea agreement with
federal prosecutors admitting he took an illegally shot black bear
in Southeast Alaska two years ago, according to the agreement.
Nugent, 63, launched an arrow at a black bear while on a bow-hunting
trip with friends in Tongass National Forest in May 2009. Federal
prosecutors say he wounded the bear, attracted to the hunters by a
bait station. Nugent's lawyer says the arrow grazed the animal and
it scampered off alive.
Whether injured or merely scratched,
the bear got away. Nugent shot and killed another bear four days
later. Then he put the scenes on TV.
"The Motor City Madman"
was filming on Sukkwan Island, south of Hydaburg, for his TV show
"Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild," according Nugent's deal with
federal prosecutors, made public Friday.
It's unclear if a
viewer notified federal authorities or if the investigators saw the
clip themselves.
Nugent and the prosecutors now agree: The
second bear was shot illegally. By striking the first bear and
killing the second, Nugent exceeded his bag limit for Game
Management Unit 2. Transporting the illegal second bear off federal
property -- in a boat called the El Dorado -- amounted to a
misdemeanor violation of the Lacey Act, the law that prohibits the
sale and transport of illegally harvested wildlife and plants, among
other things.
Nugent will pay a $10,000 fine and create a
30- to 60-second public service announcement about responsible
hunting to run on his show every other week.
Nugent will be
banned from hunting or fishing anywhere in Alaska and on any U.S.
Forest Service land nationwide for one year. He will also be placed
on two years' probation.
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