Posted on 02/15/2006 5:09:45 PM PST by SJackson
Despite last weekend's hunting accident involving Vice President Dick Cheney, Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker will go ahead with a $500-per-person pheasant hunt fundraiser on Saturday.
"I just can't cancel an event that's had invitations out for three weeks," said Walker's campaign manager Bruce Pfaff. "I need money in the bank, no matter whether I do it this weekend or a month from now."
Pfaff said he "only briefly" thought about the correlation between the vice president's incident and this event in deciding to proceed with the event, which Walker will attend.
He noted that such fundraisers are fairly common in Wisconsin, and that both former state Sen. Bob Welch, R-Redgranite, and Senate Majority Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, have hosted similar events in recent years.
File photo A hunter shows off his catch in this undated photo. Pfaff maintained that the hunt at the Wern Valley Sportsmen's Club, a 600-acre private preserve in Waukesha County, will be different from the hunting party in Texas in which Cheney sprayed another hunter with birdshot.
"This is a private gun club. You pay a flat fee and get so many birds to shoot. They have professional guides and professional dogs, and everybody goes through a safety course so you understand gun sweep. The guide never lets anyone get ahead of the line, and no one goes retrieving birds," he said.
Pfaff added that it would be better to have the hunt "now, in the winter, when the birds are a little less hunkered-down."
The campaign invitation promises 10 birds, guide dogs, lunch, and a donation to Walker's campaign.
Club owner Steve Williams said the campaign had told him that as many as 30 people could be attending the event, although only about 18 have signed up so far.
The club charges between $12 and $20 for a half-day hunt. Williams said parties pay in advance for the number of birds they want to hunt, but are not guaranteed a certain take.
"You're paying for the opportunity to hunt them," Williams said. "You may not come back with anything if you're a poor shot or if you have a bad dog."
The club requires all hunters to wear blaze orange and, unlike Cheney's quail hunt in Texas, uses dogs to flush the birds from the fields and to retrieve those that have been shot.
Hunters at the club do not need a state license because they are hunting birds that have been privately raised, Williams added.
There is also a brief hunter safety lesson at the beginning of each hunt, Williams said, but most of those who come to the club are already experienced hunters. There have been no shootings in the roughly 20 years that the club has been open, he said.
Williams acknowledged that there's been considerable discussion at the club about Cheney's shooting of his hunting partner.
"I think the whole thing brings a little levity to the political scene, as much as anything," he said. "It shows that those guys are just human, too, and they make mistakes."
As though it shouldn't
They may actually benefit from the publicity and thanks to a backlash against a hostile, disgraceful media.
Just so the fields aren't bated... .
go for it.
Ping
From all the press grandstanding you'd think they were hunting peasants.
The whole problem in Texas was Cheney was confused and thought he was on a peasant hunt...............
Sincerely hope Dick Cheney is a guest.
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