Rocker and gun rights advocate Ted Nugent pleaded guilty Tuesday to transporting a black bear he illegally killed in Alaska.
With his plea, Nugent followed through with a signed agreement he made with federal prosecutors earlier this month.
A judge approved the deal at a U.S. District Court hearing in the Southeast Alaska town of Ketchikan. Nugent and his attorney participated by telephone.
Asked by Magistrate Judge Michael Thompson if the agreement was clear, Nugent responded: "It is with me, your honor."
The guitarist and singer, who also is an avid hunter, later apologized for his actions.
"I would never knowingly break any game laws," Nugent said. "I'm afraid I was blindsided by this and I sincerely apologize to everyone for it."
According to the document, Nugent illegally shot and killed the bear in May 2009 on Sukkwan Island after wounding another bear in a bow hunt. The bow incident counted toward a state seasonal limit of one bear in that location.
The musician's lawyer, Wayne Anthony Ross, also has said Nugent didn't know he was breaking the law and that there was no evidence the first bear was hurt.
"There was a blood trail. There was blood," said federal prosecutor Jack Schmidt. "He is an avid hunter, and he should have known what the regs were."
The plea agreement says Nugent knowingly possessed and transported the bear in misdemeanor violation of the Lacey Act.
According to the agreement, the hunt was filmed for Nugent's Outdoor Channel television show, "Spirit of the Wild."
The document says Nugent agreed to pay a $10,000 fine and serve two years of probation, including a special condition that he not hunt or fish in Alaska or on U.S. Forest Service properties for a year.
Nugent also must create a public service announcement that will be broadcast on his show every second week for a year, the document states. Nugent said he could have the PSA done within a week.
In addition, he agreed to pay the state $600 for the bear that was taken illegally, according to the document.
Nugent briefly drew the attention of the Secret Service last week after he rallied support for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and said of the Obama administration: "We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November."
His comments were made during a National Rifle Association meeting in St. Louis.
Nugent pleaded guilty in 2010 for illegally baiting a deer in California. His hunting license is suspended there until later this year.
Daily News reporter Casey Grove contributed to this story.
By RACHEL D'ORO
Associated Press