Does Kari Lake really hunt, or is she just hunting for votes?

It’s almost always the same photo.

In it, Kari Lake is kneeling against a wooded backdrop, wearing khaki pants, a camouflage shirt and a brown-and-tan “Kari Lake” hat. Through sunglasses, she looks off to the side, a big grin on her face. One hand holds a pump-action shotgun, barrel pointed toward the sky.

It’s a good picture, which is perhaps why the Republican candidate for Senate has used it so often. She posted it to social media on Sept. 23, 2023, to celebrate National Hunting and Fishing Day. This year, the former newscaster has reposted it twice — on Sept. 1 for the opening day of hunting season; and on Oct. 12, in an apparent taunt of Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Happy to show you how it’s done, Tim! pic.twitter.com/4fFey0XDve

— Kari Lake (@KariLake) October 12, 2024

The posts — particularly the dig at Walz — are designed to give the impression that Lake is a seasoned hunter. But is that impression accurate? Phoenix New Times attempted to find out.

What’s certain is that Lake does not have a long paper trail of hunting in Arizona. Records from the Arizona Game and Fish Department show that between 1999 and June 2024 — the years Lake has lived in Arizona — she and her husband, Jeff Halperin, held hunting licenses for only one year.

They purchased them on Aug. 30, 2021, while Lake was running for governor. They expired a year later, months before she lost the 2022 election to Katie Hobbs. Lake and Halperin also each purchased a stamp to hunt migratory birds on the same day they purchased their licenses, just two days before dove season opened.

It’s unclear whether Lake purchased a license this year. When asked if Lake currently has a hunting license, campaign spokesperson Alex Nicoll responded: “Kari Lake follows the law, so of course she’s had a hunting license every time she’s gone hunting, a fishing license every time she’s gone fishing and a driving license every time she’s driven. Oh, and an ID every time she’s voted.”

If Lake actually has hunted, her social media posts are light on details. The one time Lake shared a different hunting photo — on Sept. 1, 2023, the first day of hunting season that year — she’s captured from a different angle but wearing a nearly identical outfit and sitting in a nearly identical stance.

Seeking an expert opinion about whether Lake’s hunting posts pass the smell test, New Times showed Lake’s photos to Chandler resident Frank Cota, a 64-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran and lifelong hunter. He immediately noticed a safety concern.

“If she had any safety in her brain right there,” Cota said, “she would be holding that weapon with two hands.”

The nonchalance also bothered him. Lake’s photos do not include any kills, a staple of a successful hunting trip. Instead, Lake comes across as a literal poser. “That is just like a pose right there,” Cota said. “I mean, she looks too happy. That, to me, is what the giveaway is.”

If Lake is hunting for anything, Cota said, she’s “using photos to hunt for votes.” If the polls are any indication, she needs them. And if a recent event appearance is any indication, Lake’s aim could use some work.

‘I love the Second Amendment’

On Oct. 15, the hunter advocacy group Hunter Nation held a “virtual campfire” talk show. The event was hosted by music legend Ted Nugent and Keith Mark, a workers’ compensation lawyer and the organization’s president. Their special guest: Kari Lake.

From the beginning, the subject of politicians posing as hunters was top of mind.

“Isn't it offensive,” Mark asked rhetorically, “when politicians pander for hunter votes in just a few weeks?"

Mark then turned his attention to Lake. “I love your posts about deer hunting,” Mark gushed. “You come across as a legitimate real hunter because you post about hunting, not just every now and again.” He then made a request: “Tell us a Kari Lake hunting story.”

Immediately, Lake seemed thrown off. She offered a quick correction — she is “not a deer hunter.” As for a story, the best she could manage was a tale about giving her staff the day off to dove hunt on the first day of the season.

“They were all asking to have the first day of dove hunting season off, and I finally just had to say, “Okay, literally everyone can have Sept. 1 off,’ because I knew they were going to come up with mystery ailments if I didn’t do it,” Lake told the group.

She and her family ended up joining the group, she said, adding that her daughter was the “most successful hunter of the day.” That was “just beginner’s luck,” Lake noted, a comment that suggested family hunting trips are hardly a frequent occurrence.

Seemingly aware that she bricked a layup, Lake sped off on a tangent about her love of guns.

“I’m more of a Second Amendment — I love to — I love the Second Amendment,” Lake said. “I love target shooting, and I like to practice so that if I ever, God forbid, have to use my weapon, I pity the fool that I have to use it again — against — because I, uh, my husband and I go target practice all the time.”

Reached by phone, Mark said he wasn't bothered Lake's social media posts led him to think she was "a legitimate real hunter," as he said during his talk show. He noted that Lake "didn't try to bullshit" on air about her lack of hunting experience.

"She didn't try to mislead Ted and I," Mark said. "She made it very clear that it wasn't really her thing."

Mark is a self-described lifelong Democrat and labor union attorney, although he donated heavily to the failed Kansas gubernatorial bid of Republican Kris Kobach and, as the Kansas City Star reported in 2018, "landed a small role in the Trump administration, serving on an advisory board that is helping the U.S. Department of the Interior rewrite federal rules for importing the heads and hides of African elephants and other animals."

That same year, he and Kobach formed Hunter Nation. Speaking to New Times, Mark expressed disappointment that Lake's opponent, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, did not join Nugent and him on the program. Whatever Lake's hunting background, he said, she showed up.

"If she is a limited hunter but was willing to take the time and come on our podcast and listen to hunting issues and say she supports what our organization stands for, that's impressive to me," Mark said. "It's even more impressive to me if she's not a die-hard hunter, because she cared enough to listen to us."

But at least one veteran hunter isn’t buying her social media act.

“I’ve lived here forever and seen her on the news forever. But I’ve never, ever heard her talk about hunting,” Cota said. “Most of her political story is just making stuff up as she goes.”