In April 2012, Nugent pled guilty to illegally killing and transporting an American black bear in Alaska. His sentence included two years of probation, a prohibition on hunting and fishing in Alaska and on any U.S. Forest Service lands for one year, and a fine of $10,000, and he was required to produce and broadcast at his own expense a 30-60 second Public Service Announcement (PSA) on the responsibilities of hunters. The judge in the case, Michael A. Thompson (Alaska), admitted in court that he himself had never heard of the law in which Nugent was charged, despite the fact that Thompson himself had been a lifelong bear hunter in Alaska. Nugent explained his side of the situation in an interview with Deer & Deer Hunting.