Vice presidential hopeful Tim Walz is facing backlash after his pheasant hunting appearance at the Pheasant Hunting Opener in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, left critics scratching their heads. Walz, dressed in the mandatory blaze-orange vest alongside his daughter Hope, was photographed chatting with hunters but without the usual hunting gear—guns. While Walz has shared plenty of past photos showing him with a shotgun and game in hand, this year’s absence of firearms drew attention, sparking accusations that his appearance was more PR stunt than genuine hunt.
“Where are their guns? Just cameras and vests?” one critic posted on X, while another claimed, “Pheasant hunting without guns—Democrats are all about perception without reality.” Some accused Walz of pandering to male voters, as the Harris-Walz campaign pushes the Minnesota governor through swing states with his Midwest appeal in tow.
In past years, Walz has been an enthusiastic participant in the pheasant opener, even bragging about bagging birds in 2019 and 2022. But this time, photos were sparse, and the lack of a gun in sight has fueled speculation that the event was more about optics than outdoor tradition.
Meanwhile, Walz isn’t just aiming at hunters. He’s expected to tour Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, talking about hunting, gun safety, and his background as a football coach to connect with working-class and Black voters. On top of that, he took a swing at his rivals, calling out Donald Trump and JD Vance for “manufacturing bulls**t” after Trump claimed that Detroit’s economic issues reflect America’s future under Democratic leadership.
With the election tightening, Walz’s pheasant opener appearance may be scrutinized more for what it didn’t include than for the message he tried to deliver.
