Kristi Noem Posted Elk Hunting Photos and Her Cricket Critics Lost It All Over Again

The media once branded Kristi Noem a psychotic dog killer over a work dog named Cricket.

Now Noem has posted herself kneeling behind a massive bull elk she killed with a bow.

Her hunting photos just triggered a meltdown that proves exactly who these critics really are.

Noem Drops Bow Hunting Photos From a Twelve Point Bull Elk

Noem shared a batch of photos on September 21 showing herself kneeling behind a twelve point bull elk, her bow resting across the animal.

Some shots were solo.

Others showed her with the friends who hunted alongside her.

She called the trip "super fun."

She said "the strategy and work paid off," and she thanked the men who helped her track the bull.

That is it.

That is the entire offense.

Trump's special envoy for the Shield of the Americas went hunting, killed a legal animal with a bow and arrow, and told her followers about it.

For most Americans that is a Tuesday in South Dakota.

For a certain online crowd it was an emergency.

Comments flooded in accusing her of bloodlust and cruelty within hours of the post going up.

Other commenters piled into her replies with the kind of language usually reserved for actual violent criminals.

Meanwhile the replies underneath her post from actual hunters and outdoorsmen ran the opposite direction, congratulating her on a clean shot and a well earned trophy.

Archery hunting is not easy.

A bow hunter has to close the distance on an animal with senses built to detect danger from every direction, and a twelve point bull is the kind of trophy most hunters chase for years without ever tagging one.

Noem landed hers and shared it the way any proud hunter would.

https://twitter.com/ferozwala/status/2102529024010658256

The Same Crowd That Called Her a Dog Killer Is Back

This is not Noem's first rodeo with the professionally outraged.

She wrote in her memoir about putting down an aggressive, dangerous dog named Cricket, and the backlash never fully died down.

Hillary Clinton mocked her over it.

The Democratic National Committee blasted out statements calling it horrifying.

PETA activists called her a "psychotic loony" over that dog story, according to the Washington Examiner.

Fox News reported at the time that social media users called the Cricket story "not normal."

None of those critics have forgotten it, and the elk photos gave them a reason to bring it back up.

The pattern is not new to conservative women who hunt.

Sarah Palin faced the same mockery from network anchors and late night writers every time she picked up a rifle or a bow.

Noem is getting the Palin treatment now, right down to strangers online accusing her of being a monster for doing something millions of American hunters do every fall.

Bow season opens across dozens of states every September, and normal people do not blink.

Why This Story Actually Matters

Here is the part that fires up anyone who has ever sat in a deer stand with their dad.

Legal hunting feeds families, funds wildlife conservation through license fees, and keeps herd populations healthy across the country.

None of the people mocking Noem online can explain why a woman with a bow triggers them more than an actual criminal walking free.

The same online mob that melted down over Cricket melted down over an elk, and both times the outrage said more about them than it did about Noem.

Noem has not budged an inch either time.

She fired back at her critics directly instead of deleting the post or issuing some mealy mouthed apology, which is exactly why her base loves her.

Compare that to how many Republicans handle online pile ons.

Most cave within a news cycle and quietly delete the post that started it.

Noem posted a trophy photo from a legal hunt, got called a psychopath by strangers online, and kept the picture up anyway.

Every deer camp, duck blind, and bow stand in this country is full of families who see exactly what Noem is doing and respect her more for refusing to flinch.

Kristi Noem is still Trump's point person hunting cartels across the Americas, and that elk still hangs on her wall.

Sources:

• TMZ, "Kristi Noem Poses With Dead Elk From Archery Hunting Trip," TMZ, September 21, 2026.
• New York Post, "Kristi Noem poses with massive dead elk in graphic bow-hunting photos," New York Post, September 22, 2026.
• Washington Examiner, "PETA calls Noem a 'psychotic loony' for deadly dog story," Washington Examiner.
• Fox News, "Social media disturbed by Gov. Noem's story about shooting her 14-month-old dog: 'Not normal,'" Fox News.
• Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem), post on X thanking President Trump for her appointment as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas, March 2026.