The hearing – a joint meeting of three House committees – kicks off at 10:30 a.m. The agenda? “DNR Accountability.” The main attraction? A camo-clad rock legend who owns a 340-acre hunting ranch in Jackson County. Nugent will be showing up in Lansing with his long memory and a longer list of grievances.

Welcome to the jungle (committee room).

MORE NEWS: Teacher of the Year Calls Teacher Retention a Crisis

According to Rep. Ken Borton (R-Gaylord), who chairs the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee, Nugent, an avid hunter and conservative activist, plans to air out how the DNR allegedly uses “lawfare” to bully landowners, hunters, and others into compliance or financial ruin.

Nugent knows the terrain. In 2023, he shared on an episode of The Nightly Nuge on Facebook about getting sued by the DNR for allegedly harboring “feral Russian boars” on his property – a charge he calls absurd. According to Nugent, the pigs in question are domesticated, securely kept at his Sunrise Acres ranch, and didn’t meet the legal definition of “feral.”

He also disputed the claim that they are “Russian boars,” arguing that such a species doesn’t technically exist and that the state is suing him for something that “doesn’t exist.” Nugent blamed the lawsuit on political animosity from the administration of Governor Gretchen Whitmer. On the show, he called Whitmer a communist and Joe Biden a gangster. He went on to call the DNR clowns and idiots – pointing out that, insultingly enough, it’s his tax dollars footing their salaries.

Nugent has also sparred with Whitmer’s DNR over deer baiting and has never been shy about calling the DNR “stupid or even “liars” – and it’s safe to say he won’t be dialing it down just because the cameras are rolling. When discussing a House Government Operations Committee meeting in 2019 when he testified in support of legislation that would legalize elk and deer baiting during hunting season, he said about the opponents, “If they think they can stop deer from swapping spit, they’re idiots.”

Fee hikes and feral logic.

Aside from discussing lawsuits, Borton says he’s concerned about recent proposals to jack up hunting and fishing license fees and force residents to buy state park passes with their vehicle registration. The DNR claims inflation and declining participation are squeezing their budget. Borton says about the situation, “These deceiving efforts to boost their own bottom line just further expose DNR leadership’s long-term plan of stripping every ounce of joy from those who enjoy the outdoors. Not only that, but now the DNR wants to trick people, many of whom live in the city and never have been to a state park, into purchasing year-long recreation passes.”