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?

Comments

[izzylobo.livejournal.com]

Both are at fault, but in the end, it's the responsibility - first, foremost, and always - for a shooter to always know their backdrop, where they're shooting, what's in their field of fire, and positively identify their target.

So Whittington screwed up by not announcing his presence and making sure the Veep knew he was there. But Cheney screwed up worse by not making sure of where and what he was shooting at.

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

You are correct that is the responsibility of hunters to make sure they've got a clear target. Was Whittington wearing any blaze orange? That's required around here, and i thought most places.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Got nothing to with hunting. The shooter, anytime, anywhere, is responsible to know what's in front of him.

I'm having a hard time picturing (even with the quirks of wing shooting) how Cheney managed to get another hunter in the line of fire. Unless the hunter was in front of them, he ought not have been swinging that wide, and he certainly should have seen the man in his perifial vision in time to not pull the trigger, much less have followed through.

TK

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

There's a phenomenon which has been central to a couple of episodes of various CSI series (at least one each of the real and the Miami shows) called "tunnel vision" wherein, if you are concentrating on something at a distance, you can easily miss something coming into your field of vision closer up. This effect seems very likely to be exaggerated when bird-hunting, because you have to follow one bird and ignore those around it.

It seems likely that Whittington walked in front of Cheney's gun.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I feel that Dick's right to sling lead ended where Harry's face began.

[nwhyte]

Better or worse than Aaron Burr, the then Vice-President who deliberately shot and kileld Alexander Hamilton?

[solri.livejournal.com]

I'm reminded of that old Tom Lehrer song:

"I went and shot the maximum the game laws would allow:
Two game wardens, seven hunters, and a cow."

[sethg]

Oh, thank God it's not just me.

I'm starting to feel like Tom Lehrer wrote the whole soundtrack to this Administration....