Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is on a media blitz trying to reach Midwestern men who do not support the 2024 Democratic ticket for various reasons. So, he decided to pull a page from John Kerry’s failed 2004 playbook and go hunting. I’m not kidding—like Kerry, he donned the infamous orange vest and went to shoot some pheasants (via The Minnesota Star Tribune):
On Saturday morning, the governor arrived wearing a blaze orange hunting cap and toting a Beretta shotgun in quest of a pheasant. Unfortunately, for the hunting party, which included landowner Matt Kucharski, Nobles County Pheasants Forever Chapter President Scott Rall and Pheasants Forever CEO Marilyn Vetter, Walz didn’t get a bird. He didn’t even fire a shot during his time walking through the tall grass.
But Walz — whose prowess around rural subject matter, from hunting to tinkering with vintage vehicles, has been touted by the campaign — let other hunters know when a pheasant flushed out by the inexhaustible dogs was a hen, which they couldn’t legally shoot, not a rooster.
When a rooster did burst from the thicket and soared over the press corps, all dutifully wearing orange vests, Walz raised his shotgun vertically, making a joke about the infamous hunting mishap in 2006 when Vice President Dick Cheney shot a hunting partner in the face.
This hunting trip turned up empty, but a Dick Cheney joke? Not that this territory is off-limits, but Walz couldn’t easily shoot someone or eat a faceful of buckshot since he struggled mightily to load a shotgun that he reportedly owned. The hunting trip isn’t the story; it’s that Tampon Tim was unable to load a shotgun:
Tim Walz brought his own gun, a beretta, to hunt for pheasants, he tells me. “
— Shawna Mizelle (@shawnamizelle) October 12, 2024
I bought it when I was we shooting a lot of trap,” the Minnesota governor said. pic.twitter.com/K1zGkWYEPY
This is excruciating to watch
— John Hasson (@SonofHas) October 12, 2024
“How do you do, fellow manly hunters?” pic.twitter.com/MKskkaCpp2
Here's another angle of Tim Walz fumbling around with his gun during his pheasant "hunting" photo op.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 12, 2024
Tampon has absolutely no idea what he's doing. pic.twitter.com/EKj7Pp3EZN
“Need help with that?” pic.twitter.com/Hp0rB27LlX
— Sean Agnew (@seanagnew) October 12, 2024
— The Right To Bear Memes (@grandoldmemes) October 12, 2024
🤣 @ComfortablySmug pic.twitter.com/hciKtOhdxQ
— Just Donna (@Crypsis12) October 13, 2024
We’re lucky no one was injured on this disastrous bird hunt.