Posted on 02/19/2006 5:33:25 PM PST by digger48
Feb. 27, 2006 issue - Like Dick Cheney, veteran hunter John Freck knows the feeling of raising a shotgun to a covey of quail. "You get a huge adrenaline rush when the birds flush," says Freck, who regularly pursues quail with his German shorthaired pointer, Gunnar. That rush is one of the reasons hunters love the sport. But it's also the cause of accidents. No matter what else they may think of Cheney, hunters around the country agreed last week that the vice president, known as a careful sportsman and a good shot, broke a cardinal rule: in that exhilarating moment when the birds scattered up all around him, he didn't check to make sure his line of fire was clear before he pulled the trigger. "He lost control of his emotions," Freck says. "In a split second, you have to decide all these things at once."
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Cheney did the gentlemanly and proper thing and took full responsibility, but the fault was not entirely his.
What a moron! Killing an animal is not a "sport". It's a barbarity. Unless you're killing it for food, there's no reason to kill a living creature. Blood-thirsty "pro-life" hypocrites.
I tend to agree. I used to hunt, grew up on a farm, could hunt for miles each direction.
And I still don't mind others doing it responsibly, in fact I take any chance I get to eat most wild game. I just LOVE IT.
But I no longer have any desire to kill something myself. I haven't shot a long gun in 10 years. Even have a shotgun I won 8 years ago that I've never shot.
BTW I also have an uncle who has, for 40 years, made custom, very high-power African hunting rifles. He's made guns that have shot some of most every large animal on the planet. Ironic, isn't it?
According to someone who was at the scene, the lawyer had been hunting for a bird he shot. He was in a depression and starting to climb up when Cheney turned to shoot his bird. Cheney was facing the setting sun at that point and his vision may have been blown.
....this past Sunday had David Gregory in full defense mode.
I hope you are right about the port story..........because I still have questions. Seems like the pro-sale side of the story has had no coverage. I would like to see that side of the debate.
I just "love" that title - thank God we have a VP who cares about his wounded friend enough to show some emotion about the whole ordeal. The MSM still doesn't get it do they? After initially reporting this subject, it is actually none of our business. Let it go already.
He's a poseur. He's obviously not a bird hunter. I've been outing them on a number of open boards (including outdoors sites) for the last week. It's been a hoot.
Infants and children will do that.
Love this NYT stuff.
Good work!
Thanks and keep up the good work.
I don't see where not killing animals for sport comes in in reference to quail . . . everybody eats all the quail they get. They are prime eating.
But you can't get around that humans originated as hunters, and are hard-wired to enjoy the chase. And pitting ones civilization-dulled senses and wits against a wily creature is a great tradition. Quite often the animal wins the encounter.
Food alone, however, is not the only justification for following the sport of hunting. With the ever-increasing pressures of suburbia, it is absolutely necessary to thin the wildlife population -- ESPECIALLY deer. If the thrill of the chase motivates the hunters to get out there and keep us from having thousands of starving, stunted 60-pound deer dying of disease and getting the browse line up to 50 inches . . . then that's a good thing.
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Thanks... I have more New York Slimes Editions on my FR Homepage and my