Is there a hunter in the house?

[nancylebov]

Cheney accidentally shot a fellow hunter--fortunately, it was birdshot and the injuries were minor.

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.

Whittington shot a bird and went to look for it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey.

Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong said.

"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by God, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."

The news article makes it sound as though it was Whittington's resposibility to make himself known, but I thought it was the responsibility of hunters to make sure they've got a clear target. On the other hand, I've never hunted (and this story don't make it sound more attractive--you could lose an eye, getting shot in the face like that--or both eyes), so do any of my readers know how responsibility is ususally distributed?