Well, that didn’t go as planned. The Harris-Walz campaign’s latest attempt to win over rural voters has backfired spectacularly. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential hopeful, showed up at the annual Minnesota Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, over the weekend, eager to display his supposedly impressive hunting skills.
Instead, we got a painful-to-watch display of incompetence that made people wonder if he’s ever even touched a shotgun.
In a staged photo op, Walz struggled to load his Beretta A400 semi-automatic shotgun. The kicker? He spent three hours in the field and didn’t bag a bird. Not one. As he fumbled with the gun, Walz muttered, “It never fits quite right,” while trying to adjust the firearm’s stock. Yeah, Tim, the problem isn’t the gun—it’s you.
Country star John Rich was one of the many who didn’t hold back. He tweeted, “Tim Walz claimed he carried ‘weapons of war in combat,’ but he can’t load a shotgun? This guy is beyond weak. My little sister could beat him up.” Rich wasn’t the only one laughing at the cringeworthy spectacle. Twitter was buzzing with mockery, with conservative commentator Buck Sexton adding, “Tim Walz looks as comfortable loading a shotgun as Kamala does answering basic questions.”
You can’t make this stuff up. Walz has been bragging about his hunting skills, even taking a cheap shot at GOP vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance by saying, “I guarantee you he can’t shoot pheasants like I can.” Well, after this weekend, it’s pretty clear Vance has nothing to worry about. As conservative influencer Ian Miles Cheong joked, “Incredible. Tim Walz has never used a gun before. So much for being a military badass. Just another lie in a long string of lies.”
If you thought the ridicule stopped there, think again. Author and commentator John Cardillo joined in the fun, tweeting, “Tim Walz claims that he’s a lifelong bird hunter, but this proves he has no idea how to load or charge a semi-automatic shotgun.” Cardillo, an experienced shooter himself, wasn’t impressed. “I shoot A LOT of sporting clays with both semi-autos but mostly over-under. He’s a first-timer right here,” he added.
The mockery didn’t stop on social media. Even the Trump campaign got in on the action. Trump campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita couldn’t resist poking fun at Walz, tweeting, “My prediction was in fact accurate… staged… and watching him bumbling around trying to load his shotgun was fun.” LaCivita isn’t wrong. The entire event felt like a sad attempt to pander to rural voters who see right through these stunts.
And, of course, there’s the inevitable comparison to Elmer Fudd, which lit up the internet. Ian Miles Cheong nailed it when he posted a side-by-side image of Walz and the iconic Looney Tunes character, captioned, “This is Tim Walz hunting pheasants. Who did it better?” Spoiler alert: Elmer takes the win.
The Harris-Walz campaign is trying way too hard to appeal to voters they’ve alienated for years. Just last week, they launched the “Hunters and Anglers for Harris-Walz” coalition, hoping to sway rural voters and sportsmen. The problem? Both Kamala Harris and Tim Walz support strict gun control measures. Harris even brags about owning a Glock, but the campaign isn’t fooling anyone. As user Kate Hyde snarked, “Glock-enthusiast Kamala Harris needs to teach Tim Walz how to load a gun.”
And don’t think the Trump camp wasn’t ready with their jabs. The official Trump War Room account tweeted a clip from MSNBC covering the event, sarcastically stating, “MSNBC implies that Tim Walz going pheasant hunting is nothing more than a desperate attempt to make up ground with male voters. Sorry, Tim, men aren’t voting for a gun grabber.”
For a guy who once had a top rating from the National Rifle Association during his time in Congress, Walz sure has fallen far. Since becoming governor, he’s signed anti-gun legislation, including expanded background checks and a red flag law.
Even his wife, Gwen Walz, is a big proponent of gun control. Conservative commentator Jason Robertson summed it up perfectly, writing, “After watching Tim Walz trying to handle a shotgun, I officially retract any criticism from him avoiding combat zones. He is a HERO. He is so bad with a weapon that he saved American lives skipping the war zone.”
Trump campaign adviser Tim Murtaugh delivered the final blow. He said, “The report from The Great Pheasant Hunt of 2024 is that, if Walz fired his gun at all, he didn’t hit anything. The claim is that one of his friends killed a pheasant, but they didn’t recover the bird—even while using dogs. So, no proof of any success.” Sounds like Walz’s campaign is running on empty—just like his shotgun.
This hunting stunt proved it was nothing more than a poorly executed attempt to win over rural voters. But instead of coming off as a rugged outdoorsman, Walz looked like a clueless city slicker, hopelessly out of his element. As Trump campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita said, it was all just “staged.” Too bad Walz forgot to practice beforehand.
The Minnesota Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener has been a tradition since 2011, but after this weekend, it’s safe to say that “Tampon Tim” Walz won’t be remembered for his marksmanship. Maybe next time, he’ll stick to safer territory—like reading gun control talking points from a teleprompter.
