NorthRoad Creations

THE REAL KRISTI NOEM STORY AND WHY THIS RANCHER CALLS BULLSHIT: I was born on a cattle and poultry farm — I have spent the majority of my life living on the farm — and I currently have a ranch in Tennessee with cattle, horses, and sheep — and what I am here to tell you is that Kristi Noem was wrong. From the time I could crawl, I’ve been around hunting dogs — my dad raised treeing walkers and we currently have a treeing walker and a German shorthair pointer bird dog on the farm with us now. I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat and have limited knowledge of Noem’s political dealings — I base my opinion on her own words in describing what was done; words that many people supporting her decision have not read. As a rancher and an agricultural attorney, I 100% support the right of farmers and ranchers to protect their stock, including the use of deadly force on any animal, dog or otherwise, who is attempting to kill the stock — or poultry, as it was in this case. But contrary to the false narratives being posited on this site, that is not what occurred in this case. In the quotes published to date, Noem spends a fraction of the time in addressing the poultry incident, while attempting to justify her actions by opining on the dog’s hunting abilities. The dog in question was a 14-month old German wire-haired pointer, a bird dog in training to hunt pheasant. Noem had taken the dog on a hunt with some older dogs to help train her but said the dog ruined the hunt with her overexuberance and puppy-like behavior. On the way home from the hunt, Noem stopped by a friend’s house; however, Noem or someone else from her party apparently did not latch the kennel, and the young dog got out, got in with the neighbor’s chickens and began taking one bite at a time to kill each chicken, then moved on to the next one. I have seen that exact behavior previously from young hunting dogs with chickens, to include our own GSP. That is not a blood-thirsty killer, but is in fact a condition of curiosity in most any dog’s behavior who finds themselves face-to-face the first time in a pen of chickens. If Noem’s friend had walked inside her home, grabbed her deer rifle, and shot Cricket right between the eyes before she killed another of her chickens, that is an act I would fully support and is an act that is allowed under the law. And while that is the scenario some are screaming in support of regarding Noem, it is not at all what occurred in this case. — CONTINUED —