Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz spent Saturday morning tramping through tall grass on the opening day of Minnesota’s pheasant hunting season, giving the campaign a chance to highlight the governor’s rural roots and love of outdoor sports.

Walz has hunted pheasants every season as governor, but the crowd at this year’s safety briefing was much more crowded than usual because of his Democratic vice presidential candidacy. Secret Service agents and a small media contingent surrounded the governor in a sea of orange before he took his Beretta A400 into the field.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz joined fellow hunters in Minnesota to mark the start of pheasant season hunting in the official Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener in the southern town of Sleepy Eye.