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.
About what?
BTW, thank you for posting. I don't visit DU so information on how crazy they are going is appreciated.
This is true about "spray" shot, they are not round anymore and therefore are not areodynamic. They show up out of "pattern".
I have had beagles shot from time to time {never had one die} it tends to make them gunshy. This kind of stuff only happens when you have enexperianced people with you.
Now there is a man I would not want to be down range from.
Actually, during my first quail hunt (it was a big event with a lot of sharpshooting female shooters, MYSELF not among them), I'd not shoot, and everyone kept saying "Why don't you shoot?"
I was afraid I'd hit a dog, but everybody else shot at the birds just as they were breaking cover. By the time I'd shoot, the birds were gone.
Since shooting and hunting were both new to me, I was OVERLY cautious. Still am, but would prefer to be that way to shooting a hunting partner or a dog.
We had a contest later shooting skeet, during that event, and I tied for the "Deadass Last" trophy.
BTW, a city girl who had never had a gun in her hands (or even been near one) before that day WON. She outshot some women who were on the Women's Shooting Sports Foundation BOD. This girl was just a natural.
Dang... I bet Dick Cheney could take out Chuck Norris.
"No, you make darn sure of not just your target, but the surroundings. That includes what is behind your target, the possibilities of people or other unintended targets moving into your line of fire, etc. If you're not completely sure, you don't fire. People who've been shot on the edge of woods are shot by careless hunters who don't take the time to know the lay of the land, their position and any possible people who might be in the area."
My guess would be that the V.P. swung his gun to follow the flight of the quail (a sport requiring quick reflexes and quick actions). I am suspicious that he might have swung down on his hunting buddy. When you are hunting quail, or other birds, you should always be aware of where your buddies are, and you should constantly, "CONSTANTLY," be analyzing your permissible parameters of fire.
Good for you, you had common sense. The idea that occasional peppering with shot is part of hunting is insane.
Did your dog have feathers and wings?
Anyone who can't tell the difference between a dog and a duck anywhere within birdshot range doesn't have any business picking up a gun.
"....how can you blame a Hunter everytime he fires and does not hit his target and the victim is raking leaves and gets shot in his own yard."
Please explain that.
"Why birds? They are easier to hunt and you can get alot more of them. Plus you don't have to worry as much about someone hitting your dogs as much by accident."
Man, you lost me on that statement. Sounds like someone who has never shot at a small flying object, with dogs in close proximity.
Try shooting a dove sometime. I hit a lot of clouds and waste a lot of ammunition, but it's the comraderie (sp) I'm there for -- and the gumbo, watching the dogs work, etc.
I agree. Getting shot takes all the fun out of shooting/hunting.
Whittington's getting up there in years, himself, so I'm not so sure his 78-year-old reflexes would necessarily be what they once were. I'm giving Dick Cheney the benefit of the doubt and relying on what Anne Armstrong said happened, since she witnessed it.
NBC Brian Williams led off the news segment with "Bizarre News from Texas." Said three times how "bizarre" and "strange" this story is. To me, it's "bizarre" and "strange" to think that the story could be described by those words.
On a side note, this is the exact scenario that was relayed to me in junior high school, one lunch period, by which we all heard that JFK had died. The buzz was that LBJ and Kennedy were hunting on a ranch in south Texas and that LBJ accidentally (we kids added "on purpose" in our passing it along) shot and killed JFK--and that they weren't going to tell us Kennedy was dead until later.
Back in class a few minutes later, the announcement came over the intercom about the shooting in downtown Dallas and JFK still alive.
I know! I Know! It's the old bird!
Was "Quayle" a Freudian slip? I would certainly hope they were not hunting for VP Quayle, but for the quail species of birds. The press loved to serve a well braised Quayle regularly. I assume VP Cheney was hunting for the bird species rather than the homosapien variety. :o)
This isn't a rank issue. It happens. It's probably just an accident. And it has absolutely nothing to do with your traffic accident, you can't analogize to brake lights or rear-end collisions. Customs and practices in the field are not Uniform Rules of the Road, and there isn't any legal liability issue here.
This is not new info. People that live in wooded areas that are frequented by Hunters legally, are at risk. They have two choices either move or be very careful, and put up with it. I grew up in the Country and live in the Country now, and I am glad in my wooded area there is no hunting that close. Do not show your ignorance by calling someone else a joke. Look it up in your Funk and wagnalls and report back. There will be a test, and you need remedial work big time.
NBC just showed their biased view and the photo they used of Cheney was unreal. They are unbelievable~
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