LANSING, Mich. — Conservative rocker and hunting enthusiast Ted Nugent headlined a more than hour-long airing of grievances Wednesday against the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in front of a joint meeting of three separate state House committees.

Nugent, a 77-year-old Detroit native and frequent critic of the DNR and Michigan Natural Resources Commission, referred to DNR staff as "jack-booted thugs" who were inflexible and, at times, targeted in their creation of rules and enforcement. His criticism ranged from the DNR's deer-baiting ban to their treatment of wild pigs to conservation officer's warrantless entries onto private land.

"The people who enforce it and create these policies would qualify as insane," Nugent said Wednesday. "And they’ve ran people out of this state."

The Department of Natural Resources defended its conservation officers in a statement after the hearing, arguing that 98% of conservation officer contacts with residents resulted in no citations. The agency would welcome an opportunity to testify before the House committees to clarify its stance on the issues, said spokesman Ed Golder.

"The DNR is committed to science-based natural resource management and the fair application of the law," Golder said. "Our conservation officers are focused much more on education and helping people comply with the law than on writing tickets or making arrests."

State Rep. David Martin, chairman of the House Natural Resources and Tourism Committee, said the hearing's purpose was largely to highlight the DNR's public relations problem.

"If they would get out there and promote things and treat the citizens as the owners of the natural resource instead of the abusers of the natural resources," Martin said. "But they don't own anything. The DNR, we didn't sign a deed over to them for anything. They manage it and are custodians for the citizens of Michigan."

State Rep. Angela Rigas, a Caledonia Republican who chairs a subcommittee on the weaponization of state government, argued the hearing supported cuts to the department budget and the department's authority.

"They're abusing their department," Rigas said. "We need to remove some of their power and we need to tighten down their budget. They shouldn't have extra money to terrorize the people of Michigan."

Nugent and most Republican lawmakers have railed against Michigan's deer baiting ban since it was put in place in 2018 by the Michigan Natural Resources Commission in an effort to control the spread of chronic wasting disease. The ban is enforced by the DNR.

Nugent has argued deer are just as likely to "swap spit" and spread chronic wasting disease at an apple tree or corn field as they are at a bait pile. DNR enforcement of the ban, he argued, was unscientific and limited hunting opportunities for deer hunters throughout the state.

"The government of Michigan has turned on the best families who want to be a benefit for wildlife balance," Nugent said.

The DNR and Michigan Natural Resources Commission have argued there is "ample" science supporting the idea that chronic wasting disease can spread through bait piles.

"The department maintains that continuing to prohibit the act of baiting and feeding is in the best long-term interest of our deer resource," Golder said.

On Wednesday, Nugent also criticized the state's ban on Russian boar, arguing the state's definition of Russian boar unjustly nets swine used for farming and hunting endeavors.

Several individuals from the Upper Peninsula testified against the DNR's policy, arguing the agency's enforcement of the law had disrupted legitimate hunting and farming activities without a clear definition of what qualified as a Russian boar or Russian boar hybrid. Cody Wehner, owner of Superior Wildlife Adventure, said undercover DNR officers signed up for a hunt at his property in September 2021 in Cornell, using false names and money orders to pay for the wild boar hunt.

"Over three years later, I finally heard that the DNR had been undercover at my place and that we're being sued for it," Wehner said Wednesday. DNR officers said they confirmed the boar shot on Wehner's property were Russian boar through a DNA test, Wehner said.

The DNR confirmed Wednesday that officers had gone undercover "as part of our ongoing legal actions involving facilities that continue to illegally possess Russian boar."

Rigas said her subcommittee on the weaponization of state government has requested documentation from the DNR to better understand how the decision was made, how the undercover hunt was paid for and the legality of conservation officers signing liability forms with undercover names.

Golder said most feral swine in Michigan are "Russian boar or Russian boar hybrids" that threaten Michigan's natural and agricultural resources. In 2010, the agency issued an order prohibiting possession of the species, an order that's been upheld by courts and that is enforced, in part, through genetic testing, Golder said.

"Where they have become established in other states, they are impossible to eradicate through hunting," Golder said.

Other farmers and hunting property owners who said they were a target of DNR Russian boar enforcement argued Wednesday that the DNR's definition of the type of boar prohibited was too broad.

"The DNR knows nothing about pigs," said Baraga County pig farmer Roger Turunen, who's battled the DNR in court in recent years.

"But they know the court system and with the power of the attorney general's office, they can come with any kind of bullshit story there is," Turunen said. "They throw crap at the walls. See what sticks to it.”

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