On hunter safety

I read this morning that Vice President Dick Cheney was involved in a hunting accident while quail hunting, accidentally shooting hunting partner Harry Whittington, an Austin, TX, lawyer. Cheney was using a 28 gauge shotgun and shot the man from about 30 yards. Whittington is apparently doing well after having the birdshot picked from his body.

All hunting, but particularly bird hunting, is dangerous because of the concentration needed to shoot a small, fast-moving object bent on escape. Quail hunting is even more dangerous because the birds gather in groups and flush in every direction. Trying to pick out one bird, follow it with the gun and shoot the bird while avoiding shooting the dog is a challenge.

That being said, Cheney and company weren't following the rules of hunter discipline as they were instilled in me by my father. From the accounts I've read, the hunting party had separated as Whittington went to pick up a bird he'd shot. I'm assuming all were attired in some hunter orange. Cheney continued hunting, more birds flushed and Cheney shot at one without seeing his hunting partner unexpectedly in the path of the shot. It was beaten into me (not literally) that members of the hunting party ALWAYS know the EXACT location of each member and hunting DOES NOT proceed until all members of the party are located and accounted for. If someone bags game, the others wait while he collects the animal.

I grew up hunting woodcock and grouse in some of the thickest vegetation on the planet, where you could be 20 feet from a fellow hunter and be invisible to them. So I learned the absolute necessity of KNOWING where my fellow hunters were - in the one or two seconds a gyrating woodcock was visible you had to identify the bird, sight and shoot...there was no time to look around and wonder as to the location of your comrades.

There is no excuse for lapses in safety, because the killing sports are for keeps. Unsafe hunters were not invited back for repeat outings in our family and I follow that tradition to this day. I'm sure Cheney feels remorse over this careless mistake, and it's good that the injury wasn't terribly serious, but he gets no pass from me. He should have known, and behaved, better.