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Knimrod
02-14-2006, 11:45 PM
Cheney's little shot not a big deal among mishaps
February 14, 2006
D'Arcy Egan
Cleveland Plain Dealer Columnist

Harry Whittington has to be thanking his lucky stars that Dick Cheney is a crack shot.

As shotguns go, Cheney's little 28-gauge is a pipsqueak. It shoots a shotshell that holds far less powder and lead shot than the standard 12-gauge shotgun most hunters carry into the fields and woods. Only the most accomplished of quail hunters, like Cheney, shoot a slender-barreled 28-gauge.

Cheney may not be Annie Oakley, Ohio's Little Miss Sure Shot, but he has a reputation as a slick shooter who loves bird hunting. President George W. Bush, who once mistakenly killed a killdeer, a protected songbird, while on a dove hunt, has said that Cheney is the top gun of his administration.

The smaller 28-gauge shotshells used by Cheney are much like Humphrey Bogart's cigarettes compared to George Burns' cigars. They contain only about 3/4-ounce of tiny No. 7 1/2 shot, which is so small it takes about 35 pieces to cover a dime. Three pieces equal the size of the BB used in a Daisy Red Ryder air rifle.

A 12-gauge shotshell would be loaded with 1 ounces or more of the same size lead shot.

As hunting accidents go, this one was no big deal. If Cheney had a 12-gauge shotgun in his hands with heavy-duty waterfowl or turkey hunting loads, Whittington would have been seriously hurt.

A millionaire lawyer, Whittington, 78, was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and was peppered at about 30 yards in the face, neck and chest. While some pellets broke the skin, Whittington wasn't hit in the eyes or seriously injured. If Whittington were another 10 or 15 yards away, the quickly decelerating pellets wouldn't have broken the skin.

The effective range of a shotgun firing small lead shot is only about 50 yards.

Bird hunters are always at risk of being hit with a stray pellet, especially while dove hunting. Hunters surround a good dove field. If they fire at a low-flying bird, pellets can hit hunters on the opposite side of a small field.

Quail hunting can be dangerous because of the erratic flight of the small, beige and brown birds when a group, or covey, explodes from its hiding place. Gunners hope they fly straight away, but many will twist and turn in flight and head for all points of the compass.

For that reason, a brace of hunters will walk up together behind a pointing dog that has a snoot full of quail scent. The birds that fly to the left are fair game for the hunter on that side, and vice-versa. Bird hunting accidents are rare, even on Ohio's wildlife areas where pheasants are released, but hunters there often are hit by a stray lead pellet.

All of the hunters in Cheney's small party were wearing blaze orange so they could easily be seen. Whittington apparently broke standard quail hunting rules by walking toward Cheney and another hunter without letting them know he could be in their line of fire.

Without knowing that Whittington was behind him, Cheney followed the flight of a bird and swung his shotgun barrel through the target, pulling the trigger. It is not known if the quail died, only that Whittington was "peppered pretty good" and "knocked silly."

Regardless of public opinion, hunting is a bipartisan issue. Democrats fish and hunt, too. As the media has a field day after this strange day afield, Cheney is now fair game. But hunting should not be.

Link to story (http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/sports/1139909709214190.xml&coll=2)

Quaamik
02-18-2006, 11:31 PM
From everything I've heard, Cheney violated rule 4.

Rule # 4
Be absolutely sure of your target, and what is behind it.

Call it an accident or call it negligance, whichever you prefer. Myself, I call it negligance on Cheney's part. I don't care if the guy had decided to play hide and seek out there. If you don't absoultely know where your hunting partners are, you DO NOT take the shot.

Me, I wouldn't hunt with the man if he paid me to.