Nugent cuts deal on illegal hunting

Heavy metal guitarist Ted Nugent has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors admitting he violated federal law limiting hunting of black bears in Alaska. The Anchorage Daily News reported Friday the plea agreement requires Nugent to pay a $10,000 fine and create public service announcements promoting responsible hunting, to be included in his TV show, "Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild." Nugent was filming for the show when he ran afoul of the law in May 2009, the newspaper said. In scenes that were aired as part of the show, Nugent, 63, fired an arrow at a black bear on Sukkwan Island -- wounding but not killing the bear, which ran off. Nugent shot and killed a bear four days later, and prosecutors said the second strike exceeded the bag limit. By carrying the second bear off federal property, Nugent committed a misdemeanor violation of the Lacey Act, which bans the sale or transport of wildlife or plants harvested illegally, the Daily News said. The plea deal means Nugent will not be permitted to hunt or fish in Alaska, or on any U.S. Forest Service land, for one year -- and he will be put on two years' probation. Wayne Anthony Ross, an attorney for Nugent, told the Daily News Nugent checked the first bear he had shot an arrow at and "didn't believe he had hit it fatally." He said the law Nugent admitted violating was less than 5 years old and Nugent had not been aware of it. The US Secret Service said Thursday questions raised in remarks by Nugent last weekend had been "resolved" after he met with agents. The conservative rock guitarist and spokesman for the National Rifle Association -- in a video posted by the NRA on YouTube, and subsequently taken down -- said, "If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year."