Sorry, couldn't resist :o)
Posted on 02/12/2006 12:46:46 PM PST by bayourant
Edited on 02/12/2006 2:10:43 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday.
Harry Whittington, 78, was "alert and doing fine" after Cheney sprayed him with shotgun pellets on Saturday while the two were hunting at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.
Armstrong said Whittington was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest, and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Whittington was in stable condition Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System.
Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president was with Whittington, a lawyer from Austin, Texas, and his wife at the hospital on Sunday afternoon.
Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shot at a covey of quail late afternoon on Saturday.
Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and found a second covey.
Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong told the Associated Press in an interview.
"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."
The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
She said Whittington was bleeding but not very seriously injured, and Cheney was very apologetic.
"It broke the skin," she said. "It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that."
She said emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington, holding his face and cleaning up the blood.
"Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been," she said. "The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came."
Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the ranch to hunt about once a year. She said Whittington is a regular, too, but she thought it was the first time the two men hunted together.
"This is something that happens from time to time. You now, I've been peppered pretty well myself," said Armstrong.
___
Associated Press writer Paul Weber in Dallas contributed to this report.
You are obviously not a quail hunter.
A flushed covey often spreads out and flies at shoulder level, especially the blue quail of South Texas. Some of the birds will swing around and fly behind you.
When shooting, both elbows are up and out and your cheek is down on the gunstock. Your vision is very constricted and you are rotating rapidly to keep on a bird. The trigger pull is a trained reflex that happens automatically as you swing through the bird. If someone is where they should not be, or you are disoriented and don't know they are there, they may get hit.
I have never hit anyone, but I have come close, and close to being hit. I have seen it happen. It's a normal part of quail hunting.
So9
The stupid S.O.B. shouldn't have voted for Kerry. Everyone knows Cheney is an extremely vindictive man; a man who is not to be trifled with.
"I was thinking maybe he took Howard Dean hunting."
Maybe Cheney should head up a hunting party with a few world leaders. Like Kim (Iamso) Ill and Ahm-mad-in-de-head from Korea and Iran.
They can't be *that* dangerous -- apparently they won't even seriously injure a 78-year-old guy when you blast him with a shotgun... ;-)
More seriously, the anti-gun nuts will look silly if they try to use this as an example of the "dangers" of guns, given how the guy who was shot is pretty much laughing it off with a few band-aids.
"It's a normal part of quail hunting."
Getting shot?
He also wouldn't let you touch his guns.
Yeah. Meanwhile when you see the guy with the shotgun leading a bird and he’s swinging around to your location it’s pretty much SOP to drop to the deck. It’s an oldie but a goodie and it works too, provided the guy isn’t trying to shoot you.
Well, at least it was a lawyer. Too bad it could't be his albino looking friendly senator from Vermont.
Unfortunately, he would be labeled a RINO by quite a few FReepers were he alive today.
When the Clintons shoot *their* lawyer, he *stays* dead.
to be introduced this week (joke):
Kerry's/Hillary's Gun Contol Bill: Bill indicates that Hunters over 65 years of age will have to surrender their firearms, before they receive their check (SSoc) or Prescription discounts.
I would't put it past them.
I'd be willing to bet that JF (Where's that DOD-180) Kerry hasn't donned hunting gear nor handled a firearm since the 2004 campaign.
No, a neocon, have some respect.
Exactly........
Much as I've liked and participated in the humor here, hunting accidents are no joke. "If you don't know, don't shoot" is absolutely right. The Vice President, who probably feels horrible right now, should (and will likely) admit that he messed up and acknowledge that safety must come first when hunting.
They were too close together. Shotgun shot doesn't got that far. The whole thing could have been prevented if they'd kept at least 75 or more yards apart. I've dove hunted a few times in CA, where the fields are full of hunters. I've had shot fall on me at least a half a dozen times. Yes, it is spooky. None of this is intended as hunting advice. The number one rule of gun safety is, NEVER ALLOW YOUR SELF TO BE IN FRONT OF ANY GUN.
"From Yahoo New/AP
BREAKING NEWS: Vice President Dick Cheney Accidentally Shot During Texas Hunting Trip AP"
They were being very hopeful here weren't they? What does AP really stand for? Almost Precise... Awful Press... Abortions Preferred... Absolute Propaganda... Agenda Pushing...
- Can't quite get it right... LOL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.