Sunday, February 12, 2006

Cheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter

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 Whittington with shotgun pellets on Saturday at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.

Cheyney was heard to comment "Whee! Have we got any more lawyers?"

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

At least he did not kill the old boy.

Anonymous said...

I don't know who said this first, but some guy over at polipundit said he would rather hunt with Cheney than ride with Kennedy.

Hey, accidents happen. At least Cheney helped the man. Which is more than can be said for you know who.

Eric said...

Don't come between an armed man and his quail.

Anonymous said...

I knew a guy who fell out of a tree stand and his gun went off and he was shot. He was ok but after that he made sure he kept the damn safety on.

Rick Ballard said...

Peter,

It was a quail load. To "shoot" someone in Texas requires 00 Buckshot (or .30 caliber or above). Otherwise it's just "wingin' 'em" which is akin to hazing. From the account, this appears to be even less - an accident (although not a "Texas accident" - which generally involves the loss of at least fingers or toes, if not limbs).

Cheney was obviously not raised in Texas. Best wishes for a speedy recovery for his friend.

Charlie Martin said...

Somebody call the police, something's wrong with Mark.

Luther said...

Nothing's wrong with Mark, look see at the mess he left at the end of the 'Carter' thread.

Rick Ballard said...

Peter,

Well. it's usually acompanied by "Did you see that boy jump when I winged 'em?" and applies to newcomers. The proper response is for the newcomer to catch a rattlesnake amd leave it under the front seat of the 'good 'ole boy's vehicle for later discovery. All in the spirit of good fun, of course.

Texas may seem a rather odd place, at first, but those who actually live through the first few months there are captivated by its charm.

buddy larsen said...

Dove hunting is the worst--the White Wing is either in clouds or none at all. So people drink and wait. Then around sundown for a half hour there's more birds than you can count, and people are shooting in all directions as fast as they can--doves fly tricky up & down flight paths and your gunbarrel will be waving up and down as well as tracking left or right. I once dropped shot all over a Frenchman from Louisiana who was on the next-over lease, some years ago, who wasn't mad because he'd shot his own daughter some years earlier and drawn a little blood. This is 'rain' shot, very light, comes from too many people in too small an area. Common accident. People close enough to be hurt will be too low most of the time even you do shoot 'at' them. You have to track the target, and sometimes over yonder where the shot falls, theres a person. Everybody's drinking that Wild Turkey, too--a tradition.

gumshoe said...

maybe mark's having
a "tipping point".

Rick Ballard said...

Nah, Buddy, a pheasant drive in unpicked cotton in the fog is the worst. There's always an idiot who thinks that a 3" mag with #4 shot is the optimum combination for a 25 yard shot. The cotton is shoulder high and the pheasant won't flush until 30 yards from the cross roads. Being a "blocker" on the road is only fun until the first time you get shot by the yahoo packing a 3" who thinks the pheasant is going to get away if he lets it clear the top of the cotton. #4 stings pretty good through a padded vest at 30 yards.

Rick Ballard said...

"maybe mark's having a "tipping point"."

Read up on paresis - it's not unexpected.

buddy larsen said...

Yup--#4'll killya, whether from a .410 or a 10 gauge.

buddy larsen said...

Also Catharsis. And since tomorrow is a new day, probably Cathexsis, too.

buddy larsen said...

RR's last words to the operating team as he was going under anesthesia after the Hinkly shooting were "Hope you're all republicans!"

And I thought at the time--silly me--that he was kidding.

Doug said...

Rick,
Where might those cotton fields been a rotten?

Doug said...

Buddy,
Terror:
Injured and in the care of that Sacramento Dr. with the Jihad Jones about the Pledge of Allegiance.

Doug said...

It's "Cathexis," but it gave me a charge, anyway.

Rick Ballard said...

Tranquility - Five Points or somewhere in between.

buddy larsen said...

Rick, Doug:

Eric said...

1st day of deer season, upstate New York has got to be the worst. Lots of "once a year hunters" blasting at anything that moves.

You could always hear them, one shot, followed by another, and then a fusillade, tapering off.

I came out of my house to find one of my car tires had caught a slug.

Very very annoying.

Charlie Martin said...

PDS, I'm puzzled: what could this affect, other than some silly jokes? Cheney's not running for anything, and the guy's going to be on TV in a day or two saying "Shee-it, boys, I cut myself shavin' worse'n that!"

buddy larsen said...

You guys have got to remember, the VP is from Wyoming. He was jus' a-visitin' down hyar.

buddy larsen said...

You guys have got to remember, the VP is from Wyoming. He was jus' a-visitin' down hyar.

Good points on the walk-hunting in high cover.

Doves are 'still-hunting', but as such everyone wants to be near water, as that is what brings them to shooting altitude. So you get too many folks in a small area--unless water is plentiful, in which case the birds'll be dispersed better and the shooting too.

buddy larsen said...

I actually don't shoot birds anymore--or anything else but rattlers, scorpions, black widows, brown recluses, and red ants--with poison or firearms as per application. In my older age I can't wreck eyes anymore--they're too dadgum miraculous. I know it's dumb--a foot in the nonesense PETA door--so ity's just personal. Doves have this fantastic little black eye smaller than a bb that sees far better than our eye, and they maneuver with trailing-edge feather movements so perfectly ((they execute those weird simultaneous flock flight-movements by every single individual copying the single closest bird, and hundreds--a thousand--can change direction that way in effect simultaneously)) that i dunno it just seems crude too moider the little fellers anymore.

buddy larsen said...

Oh, yeh--wrapped in bacon--on second thought, ignore that other post--