A poll of 883 South Dakota bird hunters, conducted before Vice President Dick Cheney's weekend hunting accident, asked: "Have you ever been peppered with shotgun BB's?"
It so happens 484 of the hunters, or about 55 percent, replied "yes." And 365 of them said they were wearing orange vests when sprayed.
The poll was conducted by Pheasant Country ("where pheasant hunters come to roost"), a Web site sponsored by the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader newspaper.
Have you ever hunted? Getting hit by birdshot (not buckshot) is pretty common, and anyone who's hunted for longer than 20 years has probably has had some experience with that.
Cheney's friend snuck around Cheney without notifying him of his position, Cheney took responsibility for it, but he certainly didn't "deliberately" take aim at his own friend. That's ridiculous.
Hunting is a dangerous sport, and accidents do happen. But hunting isn't nearly as fatal or dangerous as abortion..which was Adams' point in his article, highlighting the hypocrisy of the liberal.
A hunter friend of mine was critical of Cheney's careless shooting, then went on to tell me about the times he's been hit by birdshot. It happened twice, first time when he was 13.
I am (or at least was, back when I had the time) a hunter. Grew up in the Northeast, going after mainly woodcock (They're an awfully tasty bird and fun to shoot at, especially with something light like 20 or a .410!) and the occasional deer. My father and I shot a bear once - just once - because it was the most miserable drag out of the woods that I've ever experienced. :-) There's nothing on a bear to grab on to!
With all of the time I spent in the woods, I've never been peppered. My family are all hunters. I've never heard them mention getting 'peppered' either. Wonder if hunters in my neck of the woods were more responsible (unlikely), or maybe there are just less of them (more likely).
I got peppered while hunting once when very young. Well, I was hunting Domestic Duck on somebody else's property at the time I was very happy that the old man was using birdshot in a .410 and not the rocksalt in a 20 that I found out later he usually used.