Vice presidential nominee, Tim Walz, is accused of ‘staging’ a pheasant hunting stunt to ‘woo’ male voters, as critics spot a glaring gaffe.
The Minnesota governor, 60, returned to his home state to attend the Pheasant Hunting Opener in Sleepy Eye, roughly 100 miles outside of Minneapolis, on Saturday.
During a press opportunity, Walz and his daughter Hope were seen at the event where the politician greeted fellow hunters, before standing in a circle for a quick chat while dressed in reflective bright orange.
His attendance at the event comes as the Harris-Walz campaign has begun deploying the governor to swing states to hopefully encourage voters to cast a blue ballot.
However, detractors immediately noticed something off about Walz’s appearance at the pheasant hunting opener: The hunters were all sans gun, despite the fact that Walz is a legal gun owner and had been recorded with a gun at the event in past years.
‘Did anyone see what was missing? Where are their guns? I saw cameras but no guns. So they took him out with some guys in vests and took pictures of him while he played with a dog,’ one wrote on X.
The Minnesota governor, 60, (pictured with daughter Hope) returned to his home state to attend the Pheasant Hunting Opener in Sleepy Eye, roughly 100 miles outside of Minneapolis, on Saturday
His attendance at the event comes as the Harris-Walz campaign has begun their new tactic of deploying the governor to swing states to hopefully encourage male voters to cast a blue ballot
‘Pheasant hunting without guns. Democrats are all about perception without the reality,’ Jeff Carlson wrote on X.
‘Kinda hard to hunt without a gun,’ one wrote.
It is unknown if Walz was filmed before or after he hunted or if he participated in the Minnesota tradition this weekend.
In previous years, Walz has attended and hosted pheasant openers and posted various photos and videos of him enjoying the midwestern activity. He has yet to post any photos from today’s events.
In 2022, the Minnesotan posted a photo of him and a group of six other men in Worthington at the Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener, where Walz was seen with his gun and a dead bird.
‘And happy to report that I bagged two birds this morning!’ he excitedly wrote in the tweet.
In 2020, a now-widely-circulated picture of Walz holding a gun in a field with a white and brown dog was shared with his fan base, as he wished ‘good luck to any hunters taking part in this time-honored (and socially distant) Minnesota tradition!’
Detractors immediately called out the hunters for not showing their guns in the footage, despite Walz being a legal gun owner
He also shared a photo of him in a field with two others, widely spread apart to respect the pandemic’s social distancing rule.
In 2019, Walz attended the Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener in Austin, Minnesota, and posted a series of photos of him shooting a bird down from the sky and him holding the bird.
In one photo, he triumphantly held up his fist after making the kill at the event. He told his fan base he ‘bagged a bird’ that year.
At this year’s event, Walz was expected to meet with outdoors-focused influencers, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune. They were expected to discuss the Second Amendment, conservation, hunting, and gun safety.
Walz is also expected to travel to Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania to discuss hunting and being a football coach, as well as, encourage black voters to engage with politics, according to The Tribune.
His appearance at the pheasant opener comes a day after he took to X to call out Republican nominee Donald Trump and his VP pick, JD Vance, for ‘manufacturing bulls**t.’
Walz slammed Donald Trump for ‘manufacturing bulls**t’ after the former president warned in Detroit that the whole country ‘will end up like Detroit.’
In previous years, Walz has attended and hosted pheasant openers and posted various photos and videos of him enjoying the midwestern activity (pictured: Walz at the 2022 Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener)
In 2019 (pictured) and 2022, Walz ‘bagged’ a bird or two while enjoying the activity
In one photo, he triumphantly held up his fist after making the kill at the event. He told his fan base he ‘bagged a bird’ in 2019
That prompted pushback from Walz, who has had his own series of recent fumbles, including calling himself an occasional ‘knucklehead’ during the vice presidential debate.
‘Now look, Donald Trump and JD Vance, they got a little different view of things. Just yesterday, Donald Trump was in Detroit, and he said: “Our whole country will end up being Detroit. You’re going to have a mess on your hands,”‘ Walz said.
‘Well, look, I know you don’t that’s not unexpected for him. That’s exactly what he’s going to do, tear down America. But if the guy would have ever spent any time in the Midwest, like all of us know, we know Detroit’s experience in American comeback, in Renaissance.’
Look, I’m a [Minnesota] Twins fan, and you whipped our a**,’ Walz said. ‘We know where this is. Detroit’s there. So we know: City’s growing, crime’s down, factories are opening up. But those guys, all they know about manufacturing is manufacturing bulls**t. Every time they show up, every time they show up,’ he said, earning a laugh from the crowd.
A new Wall Street Journal poll released Friday gave Harris a 2-point lead, 49-47, over Trump, within the margin error, in a tightening race.
