Cheney Cited for Breaking Hunting Law

danger boy

anyone else been following this story? I can't stop reading it. and laughing every time I do. How dumb can one person be, to shoot their friend with a shotgun while hunting quail?



WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney has been given a warning citation for breaking Texas hunting law by failing to buy a $7 stamp allowing him to shoot upland game birds.

The warning came from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department after it investigated Cheney's accidental shooting of a fellow quail hunter Saturday on the private Armstrong Ranch in the south part of the state.

The department found the accident was caused by a "hunter's judgment factor" when Cheney sprayed another hunter while aiming at flying birds.

The report said the victim, prominent Republican attorney Harry Whittington of Austin, was retrieving a downed bird and stepped out of the hunting line he was sharing with Cheney. "Another covey was flushed and Cheney swung on a bird and fired, striking Whittington in the face, neck and chest at approximately 30 yards," the report said.

madmax

I went bird hunting once but I forget the ground rules. In any case, I think you need to know where your partner is and be aware of your surroundings before firing. If unsure, you let the chance pass...
madmax

Strong Bad

Cheny reminds me of Uncle Jimbo from Southpark...

"MY GOD, IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR US!" (BOOM)

Early B.

An accident? Why the cover-up?

I can see Cheney shooting someone and saying, "f**k off!"

Tour2ma

Jon Stewart wrote:

First shooting by a sitting Vice-President since Alexander Hamilton.

God, did Jon have fun with this last nite...

-justin-

This is actually not an uncommon thing (it's called deer scope? deer eye? Help me out here.) Anyway, a friend of mine was hunting for deer up in MD and shot his buddy by mistake -- same thing, sprayed him with a shotgun, was tracking for the shot and didn't see him. He lived to tell about it and isn't angry, it was an accident. Besides, rednecks love those kinds of stories / scars!

Tour2ma

Hunting Deer with a shotgun?

RuSsMaN

My thoughts exactly, I sure wouldn't want to be picking bb's out of my dinner.

-justin-

Maybe not deer, I don't know what the hell they were hunting. Anything that moved? I think it was a sawed off shotgun, too. I'm not into guns so I dont' know which guns are for which animals. His back looks like he has a hundred little dots on it though. He loves to show off the scars, freak.

~JB

ohskigod

you friend must have got pegged good to have that many dots.
the Veeps live target, from what I can gather, got grazed, but getting grazed with shot is no small matter.

I think the press corp went a little to nuts crying scandal or coverup. who wants to go on tv and say, "ooops, I shot my hunting buddy"

it should be investigated by authorities just to be thorough, but I think it is safe to say the Veep didnt plug this guy on purpose

Early B.

ohskigod wrote:

the Veeps live target, from what I can gather, got grazed, but getting grazed with shot is no small matter.

Well, I wouldn't say the dude was "grazed." He was transferred to another hospital and ended up in an intensive care unit, so it was pretty bad.

Early B.

ohskigod wrote:

I think the press corp went a little to nuts crying scandal or coverup. who wants to go on tv and say, "ooops, I shot my hunting buddy"

That's exactly what should have occurred. This is PR 101. Bad press should be handled immediately by the White House, not 24 hours later by a private citizen in a local newspaper. Just makes you wonder what else about the incident is not being told to the public.

bobman1235

Two things. First, I heard that the law in Texas is that you don't have to report a hunting accident unless the victim DIES. Wierd.

Second, the VICE president was Aaron Burr. Alexander Hamilton was the president that he shot, in a duel, I believe.

Tour2ma

Daily Show had a clip of an interview with a lady that runs the hunting ranch. She said Harry Whittington was "peppered pretty good."

Stewart's cut away remark was that, "In a statement the VP said, "Harry was not shot, just well seasoned'."

BTW, Harry is 72.

ohskigod

Early B. wrote:

Well, I wouldn't say the dude was "grazed." He was transferred to another hospital and ended up in an intensive care unit, so it was pretty bad.

any hit with shot will get that treatment, even if the guy is walking and talking.

for mechanism of injury alone he is going to get the works. the guy is supposed to be in great shape now (thank god), which makes him damn lucky in my book.

it depends on your definition of graze, he took some shot to the head and neck. it it wasnt a graze, in my eyes, he would be dead.

ohskigod

Early B. wrote:

That's exactly what should have occurred. This is PR 101. Bad press should be handled immediately by the White House, not 24 hours later by a private citizen in a local newspaper. Just makes you wonder what else about the incident is not being told to the public.

from a PR standpoint, your right. but from a moral standpoint I dont think its a big deal. whats to cover up? was Cheney like "Dude, your friggin dead!!!" BLAST. I think not. It was an accident, plain and simple.

aaharvel

he didn't have an authorized stamp on his hunting license, he'll get fined.
it was an accident, no one died.
Life goes on.

Demiurge

Tour2ma wrote:

Hunting Deer with a shotgun?

That's one of the most common ways, slugs.

Bird Shot is for birds.

There's nothing worse than biting into a duck after a long day of hunting and chomping down unknowingly on a piece of shot.

danger boy

aaharvel wrote:

he didn't have an authorized stamp on his hunting license, he'll get fined.
it was an accident, no one died.
Life goes on.

Ahhhhh but did you read the article?

Vice President Dick Cheney has been given a warning citation for breaking Texas hunting law by failing to buy a $7 stamp allowing him to shoot upland game birds. (and your hunting buddy.)

he won't even be fined.. he's above the law. He's only been given a warning.... and like I said.. he didn't think he needed a $7 stamp, he's above the law. Only a warning. NO FINE! HE'S ABOVE THE LAW.

Had this been me or you do you think we just would have gotten a warning? I hope the other guy presses charges and he has to surrender his firearms rights for the remainder of his life.

Tour2ma

^^ Maybe up north, but not in Tejas, Demi...

A "thirty-ought-six" is pretty much the deer rifle of choice 'round these parts.

Demiurge

Had this been me or you do you think we just would have gotten a warning? I hope the other guy presses charges and he has to surrender his firearms rights for the remainder of his life.

Why?

Demiurge

Tour2ma wrote:

^^ Maybe up north, but not in Tejas, Demi...

A "thirty-ought-six" is pretty much the deer rifle of choice 'round these parts.

It's mix between a rifle & shotgun with slug here. It's pretty much like that everywhere I have ever hunted, and we have arguably the best whitetail hunting in the country up in the Northwoods. The advantage you get in the rifle is the distance the expended round can travel. The advantage you get in the shotgun is stopping power. My uncle hit a nice buck this year with his rifle and the thing bled for about a mile. Someone else saw it and shot it and by the time he caught up with it the thing was being tagged.

Tour2ma

I can see that... Down here it's a lot of Mule Deer. Can pick half of them up with one hand tied behind you. Get bigger the more towards central Texas you get.

Skynut

TV Comedians Target Cheney Accident Tue Feb 14, 4:10 AM ET



LOS ANGELES - Television talk shows took aim Monday at Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental weekend shooting in Texas of a hunting companion. Here are a few of the jokes.

ADVERTISEMENT

___

"Late Show with David Letterman," CBS:

• "Good news, ladies and gentlemen, we have finally located weapons of mass destruction: It's Dick Cheney."

• "But here is the sad part — before the trip Donald Rumsfeld had denied the guy's request for body armor."

• "We can't get Bin Laden, but we nailed a 78-year-old attorney."

• "The guy who got gunned down, he is a Republican lawyer and a big Republican donor and fortunately the buck shot was deflected by wads of laundered cash. So he's fine. He took a little in the wallet."

__

"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," NBC:

• "Although it is beautiful here in California, the weather back East has been atrocious. There was so much snow in Washington, D.C., Dick Cheney accidentally shot a fat guy thinking it was a polar bear.

• "That's the big story over the weekend. ... Dick Cheney accidentally shot a fellow hunter, a 78-year-old lawyer. In fact, when people found out he shot a lawyer, his popularity is now at 92 percent."

• "I think Cheney is starting to lose it. After he shot the guy he screamed, 'Anyone else want to call domestic wire tapping illegal?'"

• "Dick Cheney is capitalizing on this for Valentine's Day. It's the new Dick Cheney cologne. It's called Duck!"

___

"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," Comedy Central:

• "Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a man during a quail hunt ... making 78-year-old Harry Whittington the first person shot by a sitting veep since Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton, of course, (was) shot in a duel with Aaron Burr over issues of honor, integrity and political maneuvering. Whittington? Mistaken for a bird."

• "Now, this story certainly has its humorous aspects. ... But it also raises a serious issue, one which I feel very strongly about. ... moms, dads, if you're watching right now, I can't emphasize this enough: Do not let your kids go on hunting trips with the vice president. I don't care what kind of lucrative contracts they're trying to land, or energy regulations they're trying to get lifted — it's just not worth it."

___

"Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," CBS:

• "He is a lawyer and he got shot in the face. But he's a lawyer, he can use his other face. He'll be all right."

• "You can understand why this lawyer fellow let his guard down, because if you're out hunting with a politician, you think, 'If I'm going to get it, it's going to be in the back.' "

• "The big scandal apparently is that they didn't release the news for 18 hours. I don't think that's a scandal at all. I'm quite pleased about that. Finally there's a secret the vice president's office can keep."

"Apparently the reason they didn't release the information right away is they said we had to get the facts right. That's never stopped them in the past."

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Skynut

danger boy wrote:

Ahhhhh but did you read the article?

Vice President Dick Cheney has been given a warning citation for breaking Texas hunting law by failing to buy a $7 stamp allowing him to shoot upland game birds. (and your hunting buddy.)

he won't even be fined.. he's above the law. He's only been given a warning.... and like I said.. he didn't think he needed a $7 stamp, he's above the law. Only a warning. NO FINE! HE'S ABOVE THE LAW.

Had this been me or you do you think we just would have gotten a warning? I hope the other guy presses charges and he has to surrender his firearms rights for the remainder of his life.

This is for a stamp that cost money.

When I was warned it was for a free stamp. FREE. The game warden told me if I did not get the free stamp within 72 hours the fine could involve jail time and $100,000.00 fine.
FOR A FREE STAMP.
If I had been caught without a $7.00 stamp I would have been acused of poaching and my weapons would probably have been confiscated.
But I am not as important as dick.

On a similar rant the govenator wrecked his motorbike without a license and the cops told the press that they did not see him violate the law so he would not be cited.
When I wrecked my car without a license they mailed me the ticket after they figured out I had no license. I got the ticket 3 or 4 weeks later.

I do not qualify for above the law so I will just have to go around it.

Sami

-justin- wrote:

Maybe not deer, I don't know what the hell they were hunting. Anything that moved?

Nothing wrong with hunting deer with shotgun, it's small enough. Now, moose and bear, you need slugs for those two but they can still be taken down with a shotgun. I just wouldn't do the latter myself, a bear can get pretty pissed off if (s)he doesn't die...

-justin- wrote:

I think it was a sawed off shotgun, too.

I believe that would be a felony right there, but I could be wrong.

Pablo

He probably should have gotten fined just to make a point, but I wouldn't call it 'above the law'. I just got caught driving and unregister vehicle, but they didn't give me a ticket. He said get it register tomorrow (which I did). I wouldn't call me 'above the law', just a little lucky.

Early B.

ohskigod wrote:

whats to cover up? was Cheney like "Dude, your friggin dead!!!" BLAST. I think not. It was an accident, plain and simple.

Most Americans should know by now not to place your trust in the media, President, VP, or the White House. You have to use your own judgment. The White House did not report the story to the media. So the question is -- did they have plans to do so? If it were a simple accident, then there is no reason to attempt to cover it up.

The best way to deal with an embarassing situation is to provide quick and full disclosure. The comedians make a few jokes, and after a few days it's mostly forgotten. Since it wasn't handled properly, now there's going to be more cover-up speculation, more press, more rumors, more jokes, and more embarassment for the Veep, especially since the dude had a heart attack.

cfrizz

Latest news in is the man has now had a minor heart attack & has bird shot lodged in his heart!

Demiurge

I agree with Pablo, dare I also say these types of things are also perks of the job to forego licsensing for bird hunting. Let's face it, it's just a tax you're paying...nothing more. Whatever, should have tacked him with a ticket just to stop the kooks from bitching and making a conspiracy out of it.

I wonder when he's going to be asked to resign, especially since the guy had a heart attack today.

I'd have to ask, though, how many of you have been asked to resign as a result of an accident? Assuming that there's nothing that would prevent you from doing your job.

If this was a cover up, multiple people would have 'disappeared' and you'd never have heard of it. It's amazing the lengths people will go to for a hint of smoke. The jokes are warranted, but IMO that's the end of it. Accidents happen, move on.

I mean, we could always try to ask Vince Foster about cover ups....oh wait...

Pablo

I wouldn't even call this a cover up. Not interupting the Olympics to anounce there was a hunting accident, doesn't mean it's a cover up. They probably should have told the AP this happened before a reporter asked them about it, but I wouldn't say they were covering it up.

Accidents happen, and it doesn't warrent such major negative media coverage. I hit my dog with my car today (see the thread in the clubhouse), and it was an accident. But I bet any money that when I get home today, the dog will be the first one to greet me. (although I did report it in this forum in less than 18 hours).