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Posted on 02/13/2006 10:38:19 AM PST by SirLinksalot
How Did Dick Cheney Break the No.1 Rule of Hunting?
For veteran sportsmen like the vice president, safety is a core value
By TIMOTHY J. BURGER/WASHINGTON
The cardinal rule of hunting could not be more simple: Don’t shoot the people (or the dogs). If there’s anyone in Washington who knows this, one would have thought it would be Vice President Dick Cheney, who accidentally shot his friend and fellow hunter Harry Whittington, 78, late Saturday afternoon. Whittington is expected to recover from his injuries, but the question will linger on: how does an accident like this happen among hunters with so much experience?
For years, Cheney's take-charge public image has been bolstered by photos of him fly fishing in Wyoming and stories about Cheney jetting into hunting hotspots for quail, pheasant and other game. While serving as a congressman from Wyoming — before President Bush’s father tapped him for secretary of defense in 1989 — Cheney was a solid ally of the National Rifle Association, the staunch defender of gun rights, which also preaches gun safety.
Cheney frequently hunts ducks in Arkansas, Texas and South Dakota. His hunting career had been relatively smooth until controversy arose after he was reported to have taken conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia hunting in Louisiana in 2004, just after the Court had agreed to hear a case involving the secrecy of documents related to the Vice President’s 2001 work heading an energy task force. (Cheney was in favor of keeping them secret.)
Cheney also drew attention for reportedly shooting ducks and some 70 pen-raised pheasants at the exclusive Rolling Rock Club in southwestern Pennsylvania in December 2003. Experts were quoted at the time as saying there’s nothing wrong, legally at least, with blasting away at stocked birds. But depending on how and when they are released, it should not be confused with actual hunting, since disoriented birds placed in the field or released in front of the shooters are often neither as wary or elusive as wild quarry.
An eyewitness account reported by the Associated Press suggests that Cheney may have, in the heat of the moment, violated the No. 1 rule of hunting by failing to keep track of his hunting buddies at all times. The AP quoted the ranch's owner saying that Cheney could easily have failed to see Whittington, as the latter walked up behind the Vice President from lower ground and in tall grass. To be sure, safety should be paramount for everyone in a hunting party and some responsibility would have fallen to Whittington to make sure his fellow hunters knew he might be just out of sight behind them. But for the shooter, hunting safety dictates that focusing on the target should never be more important than keeping in mind what's behind it.
Accidents can happen, of course, in a single careless moment. Quail, when you find them and they flush, don’t exactly follow gun-safety rules. They fly up suddenly and may go in any direction. And the first thing that happens to the hunter is the adrenaline rush. That’s why quail hunters wear orange, as Cheney's group reportedly were. And that’s why experts counsel the hunter not to sweep the shotgun around and fire if they don’t know what’s in the line of fire. Knowing what's behind the target is also a rule with which, one can bet, Cheney’s Secret Service detail would have wanted Whittington himself to be intimate.
What probably spared Whittington more critical injury was the tiny size of birdshot being used on the hunt; quail are typically hunted with No. 8 shot, which is even smaller than BBs. After the accident, Whittington's face "looks like chicken pox, kind of. He's so lucky, it's a miracle," Whittington's daughter Sally told the Dallas Morning News. Cheney visited Whittington in the hospital the next day. The vice president "feels so bad," said Sally Whittington. "He's a very accomplished hunter. He was obviously relieved to see how well my father was doing."
If Cheney now finds himself criticized or lampooned, he'll ironically be in the same position he himself put Senator John Kerry in during the final days of the 2004 Presidential campaign, though the circumstances then did not involve a potentially deadly accident. At the time, Cheney used his widely-known experience as a hunter to mock a duck-hunting foray in Ohio in which Senator John Kerry ended up shooting a goose. "The senator who gets a grade of 'F' from the National Rifle Association went hunting this morning," Cheney reportedly said, to hoots. "I understand he bought a new camouflage jacket for the occasion, which did make me wonder how regularly he does go goose hunting.” As the Texas incident shows, experience does not make hunters immune to accidents, which is why hunting advocacy groups put such a relentless focus on safety as the top priority.
Turkey hunting always worried me a bit. You have a guy wearing camo trying to sound like a turkey a hundred yards from another guy wearing camo and trying to sound like a turkey.
I've read that they get more hunting mishaps with turkey hunting than any other form of hunting.
"The Winchester 42 is sweet. I see them from time to time in shops, but they've really gone up in price."
They're a really nice little gun. I've shot his a bunch of times, but my little brother had dibs on it, so it won't be mine.
However, I get the Model 12s...all of 'em....eventually. He has every gauge made, including a 10 that once knocked me on my butt at age 12, and a 16 that I don't think has had more than 50 rounds through it.
But the 42 is a special shotgun, for sure.
I've used to live for hunting and fishing. I now live in urban So. Cal so very seldom fish and never hunt anymore. Almost everyone who has hunted has had some close shaves. Two of may friends from highschool accidentally shot themselves while hunting (both survived). Things happen, mostly from being careless. However, you can do everything right and still have an accident. Since none of us were at the scene of the Cheney shooting, it would be hard for any of us to pontificate about it.
My neighbor in Tulsa had a double-barrel 10 gauge goose gun. Just about needed a pony to get it out to the blind.
Ok, I have to ask this.....I'll probably be chastised and humiliated....but. What is the deal with turkey hunters and these enormous 3 1/2" 12 gage magnum turkey loads? The last turkey I took was a .22 hornet and a scope at 30 yards, strait through the head. I don't get it, why blast the bird to pieces with a huge magnum load? I do live in the plains, so perhaps this is a function of cover?.......
Just so. I would hope the VP will state very clearly:
"I was careless and am only grateful my good friend is recovering. I believe I will enroll in an NRA Safety Refresher Course asap."
"My neighbor in Tulsa had a double-barrel 10 gauge goose gun. Just about needed a pony to get it out to the blind."
Still some guys using 10 ga. for goose hunting. I can't see it, myself, with modern choke design, but tradition is tradition.
There's sure no shortage of geese up here if you want to hunt them. In the cities, they're vermin, to tell you the truth. Huge flocks of them on every large lawn. This year, with the warm weather, some didn't even bother to fly south for the winter. What a mess.
I do like eating goose, though, so I may bundle up next Fall and take a couple for the table.
The guy who does the local hunting and fishing talk show on the radio here calls them "Sky Carp." Funny.
Enjoy.
That's classic. I remember back in the mid eighties in the Philly suburbs when they were a quaint novelty. Now they're a nuisance and a health menance, but good luck getting a controlled hunt past the animal-rights types.
"This was a canned hunt"
Where do you get that?
And how would you even be able to do a "canned hunt" with quail, short of hunting in an aviary?
Yes. My grandpa had one also, he would lay down, prop it against a tree and "blast" ducks sitting on the pond. This is depression era, so please, no flames. Sure wish I had that 10 gauge though....
"Are you suppose to wear orange vests when you go quail hunting?"
Depends on the terrain. Most of the time, most people do not. (I don't, but I've been hunting with the same people on my own ranch for 20+ years.)
My dad has a nice little hunting arsenal, and my brother doesn't like guns, so I'll get them when the time comes. But until then, I can't coax anything out of his collection, even though my mom has put him on gun probation - he did offer to give me a 7mm that he has never been able to get sighted in.
Thanks, dad...
Below are Jeff Cooper's four gun safety rules.
If you own a firearm, you should be able to rattle off and obey each and every rule at all times. Never violate a single rule.
As far as I can tell, VP Cheney violated #2, #4, and possibly #3.
When the rules are broken, expect unintended consequences, like shooting your friends.
RULE I: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED
RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY
RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET
RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET
.......
205 posted on 02/13/2006 2:04:03 PM MST by MyDogAllah
The NRA used them for many years, They began to to use the following about fifteen years ago. Gun safety increased and "accidents" decreased dramatically. The NRA Safe Gun Handling rules are : Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot. Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.
NRA
2. Be sure the gun is safe to operate. 3. Know how to use the gun safely. 4. Use only the correct ammunition for your gun. 5. Wear eye and ear protection. 6. NEVER use alcohol or drugs before or while shooting. 7. Store guns so they are NOT accessible to unauthorized persons. 8. Be aware that certain types of guns and many shooting activities require additional safety precautions.
Colonel Cooper first developed these rules
in WWII for grunts and dogfaces.
They work well still for grunts and dogfaces.
but through studies have found that they have proven to be unsafe. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
These rules hold true at all times.
Eight Rules for Using or Storing A Gun 1. Know your target and what is beyond.
"The last turkey I took was a .22 hornet and a scope at 30 yards, strait through the head."
Me too, but I used a Ruger 10/22 and no scope (my I-ain't-gonna-clean-it rifle).
Well, my dad still shoots sometimes, and he cleans his collection and maintains it like always. Whenever we visit the citrus farm we always take some time to do a little shooting. I'm sure going to miss that man when he's gone. Best dad a kid ever had.
An eyewitness account reported by the Associated Press suggests that Cheney may have, in the heat of the moment, violated the No. 1 rule of hunting by failing to keep track of his hunting buddies at all times.
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