Enemy of Conservation’: Ted Nugent Demands Lawmakers Rein in Michigan DNR

Rock icon and longtime outdoorsman tells Michigan lawmakers the DNR is abusing its power, targeting landowners, and driving hunters out of the state.

LANSING, Mich. — Outspoken outdoorsman, musician, and conservative activist Ted Nugent delivered a blistering rebuke of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Wednesday during testimony before the Michigan House Oversight Committee. Nugent accused the agency of gross overreach, anti-science policies, and targeting hunters and landowners with what he called “insane violations of common sense.”

Nugent, who has spent decades advocating for hunting and conservation, told lawmakers he’s been inundated with stories from across Michigan about what he described as “jackbooted thuggery” by DNR officers.

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“Michigan is now the laughingstock of the nation,” Nugent said. “Families are getting tickets because they have a salt block on their farm. That’s insanity. These people enforcing this have no moral compass.”

He cited the state’s enforcement of baiting bans and deer hunting regulations as prime examples of mismanagement, calling them not only unscientific but immoral.

“There’s a law in Michigan that says wildlife policy has to be based on science. What’s the science of whether a bow case is zipped up?” he said. “When I started hunting, they told me what trees I could climb. That’s not conservation — that’s tyranny.”

Nugent also slammed the DNR’s handling of the state’s pig hunting ban and enforcement actions against private game farms, referring to a personal lawsuit in which the state accused him of harboring “feral Russian boar.”

“There’s no such species,” Nugent said, ridiculing the case. “They might as well have sued me for having pterodactyls.”

At the center of his testimony was a call for lawmakers to rein in the agency and restore Michigan’s status as a leader in conservation and outdoor heritage.

“The DNR and the Natural Resources Commission are the enemies of conservation,” Nugent said. “We were the number one hunting state in the nation. Let’s return to that.”

He also took aim at the state’s ban on consuming sandhill cranes, calling it a “wanton waste” and accusing the DNR of violating federal game laws by allowing the birds to be shot but not eaten.

“They call them the ribeye in the sky,” Nugent said. “Other states allow people to hunt and consume them. But here in Michigan, we’re ordered to waste them.”

In a final plea to lawmakers, Nugent asked them to listen not just to him, but to the hundreds of thousands of hunters and farmers in Michigan who feel targeted by state enforcement.

“I’ve got a big mouth — and I’ll keep using it,” he said. “Because the people against me are against God’s miraculous creation and the responsible stewardship of our land and wildlife.”

Nugent's passionate testimony was met with applause from the audience and nods from Republican lawmakers, who have increasingly scrutinized the DNR’s regulatory power and enforcement practices.