Field and Stream: Sooner better than later,he should own up to his mistake

[kpete]

The Cheney Hunting Accident: A Texan's view of the so-called "Texas hunting protocol"
Doug Pike is a Field & Stream contributing editor who covers the outdoors for the Houston Chronicle. Here's what he has to say about reports suggesting that bird hunters in Texas follow different gun safety rules than bird hunters anywhere else.
by Doug Pike


Upland bird hunters everywhere knew exactly what had happened when word spread this past weekend that Vice President Dick Cheney shot a quail-hunting companion in South Texas, but some media reports made it sound as if the victim were to blame.

A quail flushed. Vice President Cheney swung his 28-gauge shotgun on the bird and tugged the trigger. His 78-year-old buddy, Austin attorney Harry Whittington, took a piece of the shot string in the upper body and face. Luckily, they were about 30 yards apart, far enough that pinhead-sized quail shot did minimal damage.

Reports from the owner of the ranch where the VP was hunting that Whittington violated some sort of ``Texas protocol'' requiring hunters to make formal announcement of their comings and goings in the field were a bit misleading. Everywhere that upland birds are hunted, the drill is pretty much the same. It makes sense to let other hunters know when you're moving to the left or right, or that you're back after visiting a nearby tree, but there's no requirement to do so. The onus is on everyone who carries a gun not to shoot at anyone else.

Cheney shot another hunter. Sooner better than later, he should own up to his mistake.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/fieldstream/hunting/article/0,13199,1159375,00.html

[TomInTib]

1. Spot-effing-on. Prime responsibility is with the guy whose finger is

on the trigger.

Nothing else really matters once the trigger is pulled.

Recommended

[Gormy Cuss]

2. Cheney's not a hunter.

He's an arrogant rich man who likes to shoot at stuff.

[Jade Fox]

5. "He's an arrogant rich man who like to shoot at stuff."

Brilliant. Exactly.

[SeattleGirl]

3. Did you catch the demonstration on AC 360 last night?

A reporter was demonstrating what bird shot pattern would look like at two different distances. Then, he talked about how quail hunters are supposed to behave when they are out in the field. They do not turn in 360 degree arcs, but instead, 180 degree arcs. One hunter is supposed to be on one side of a guide; the other on the other side. That way, it minimizes the change of someone getting shot. Obviously, there either wasn't a guide, or Cheney doesn't know the rules, or -- more likely, based on his usual behavior -- he doesn't give a flying fuck about the rules.

[kpete]

4. Be a man. You shot a guy.

COMMENTARY

Leggett: Responsibility yours, Cheney; stand up and take it
By Mike Leggett

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF


Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Be a man. You shot a guy.

That would be my unsolicited advice for Vice President Dick Cheney.


Ron Edmonds
ASSOCIATED PRESS


You shot a guy. At least stay in town until he's out of the hospital.

You shot a guy. Don't blame the sun or the wind or the rotation of the Earth. And for goodness' sake, don't blame Harry Whittington.

He's the guy you shot, and unless he pulled the trigger himself, it wasn't his fault. Unless he was invisible, it wasn't his fault. And it wasn't his fault that he didn't "announce his presence," either. He was supposedly 30 yards behind you. His only fault was being a human being standing on two legs.

He's in the hospital. You're in Washington. And others are making excuses for you.

You shot the guy.

I've been hit with pellets, and it felt like a swarm of bees coming upside my head. I didn't spend several days in the hospital. I've picked shot out of other people sitting on the tailgate of a pickup, and they didn't even have to go to the doctor. They went back out hunting.

They got peppered. Whittington got shot. By you.

http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/other/02/14leggettcolumn.html

[cliss]

9. Wow, Kpete a

great post. It's absolutely true.

[XOKCowboy]

10. Great article.

Unless he was invisible, it wasn't his fault.

Couldn't say it any better.

I take it that the American Statesman isn't a left wing publication. Would that be right?

[XOKCowboy]

6. Way to go F&S but it's just what I expect from them and all true sportsmen

Cheney really fucked up and he continues to disgrace himself by his silence. This has to be shaking up the right leaning hunters out there that know the truth. This story by virtue of it's author is huge.

[uppityperson]

7. I like this line "took a piece of the shot string in the upper body and fa

And this line "Luckily, they were about 30 yards apart, far enough that pinhead-sized quail shot did minimal damage."

[Gabi Hayes]

8. minimal damage....

intensive care

"heart attack"

sounds like he was in Iraq, or sumthin

was it an IED, or what?

[Olney Blue]

11. I was wondering if hunters went around yelling "I'm over here"

Wouldn't that flush out the birds?