Experts say Cheney failed to follow rules
February 19, 2006
By BOB RIEPENHOFF Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MILWAUKEE — When Vice President Dick Cheney shot a member of his quail hunting party last weekend, he violated some of the basic rules of hunter safety, according to safety experts.
"This is a perfect example of making an extremely bad judgment call in a matter of a split second," said Mark Kakatsch, a volunteer hunter education instructor for 17 years. "Whether you're the vice president of the United States or an average Joe, the same common sense firearm safety rules apply to everyone."
Cheney was quail hunting last Saturday at a private ranch near Corpus Christi, Texas, when he shot Harry Whittington, a lawyer from Austin, hitting him with about 100 birdshot pellets.
Whittington's wounds were initially described as largely superficial, but on Tuesday he suffered a heart attack, apparently caused by one of the pellets in his chest.
Katherine Armstrong, who witnessed the shooting, said Whittington was returning toward the group after retrieving a quail he had shot. Cheney did not see him as he swung his 28-guage shotgun toward a covey of quail just taking flight. The spray of birdshot from Cheney's gun hit Whittington in the face, neck and chest.
Pat Lisi, recreational safety specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said Cheney had violated two of the basic rules of hunter safety: "know your target and what is beyond," and "always keep your muzzle pointed in a safe direction."
"It sounds like he knew his target, but not what was beyond it," Lisi said.
Armstrong said Whittington had failed to announce himself when returning to the hunters.
But Lisi, a conservation warden who teaches hunter safety instructors, said it was wrong to blame the victim.
"In Wisconsin, we don't presume that someone got into the line of fire," he said. "We presume that the shooter knows his target and what's beyond it so that if there is someone there, he doesn't take the shot. While communication among hunters is important, it's more important that the shooter knows where everyone is at all times."
Kakatsch, of Oconomowoc, Wis., agreed.
"If one hunter from your party is retrieving game that is potentially in the other hunters' line of fire, it's important that all hunters cease hunting while that individual is in harm's way."
Armstrong said all members of Cheney's hunting party were wearing blaze orange at the time of the incident.
"That makes it even worse for Cheney," Lisi said. "If the guy was wearing camouflage and was behind the line of hunters in the brush, then he's going to be real hard to see. But when you spin around and you see orange, you don't shoot."
Lisi said bird-shooting incidents were a "fairly common" hunting accident.
"People kind of get tunnel vision when they're aiming at an animal," he said. "A quail is a small target, and the smaller the target the narrower the tunnel."
Kakatsch said: "When bird hunting, a covey can flush causing instant excitement that has the potential to cause a mental lapse in safety. That's why it's so important that hunters have a constant awareness of potential hazards."
In 1999, Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight was cited for failure to report a hunting accident and for hunting without a license after he accidentally shot a friend while hunting grouse north of Eau Claire, Wis., in southern Sawyer County. Knight admitted firing a 20-gauge shotgun that wounded the friend, Thomas Mikunda of Exeland, Wis., driving 16 pellets into the man's back and shoulder.
Lisi said young hunters could learn lessons from the Cheney incident.
"This should teach kids that accidents happen quickly and you can't recall the shot once you've pulled the trigger," he said. "If something happens like this, you can't take it back and you're going to feel bad for that person for the rest of your life."
There's another lesson, Lisi said.
"Anybody can have a hunting accident, even the vice president of the United States," he said. "Nobody is exempt from the safety rules."
