Grenadier said:
Michael, I'm going to explain the situation in a simpler sense, and if you have any questions on how hunting is conducted, I would certainly be more than happy to discuss this with you, and if you're ever in the Central Alabama area, I would certainly be happy to take you on a trip.
The area was clear, until the other fellow blundered into the area without announcing. If you were a hunter, you would know that birds get flushed out, and once you see them flushed out in the opening, you take the shot. You don't expect someone to pop into your sights when you're in the process of pulling the trigger.
It wouldn't be your fault if someone jumped into your previously clear picture, and unless you had superhuman reflexes, there would have been no way to stop the shot. You can't pin the blame on Cheney, because he did follow proper protocols. The other fellow did not.
It's no different than a pedestrian who jaywalks across a busy street, and gets hit by an oncoming car. The driver wouldn't be at fault, unless the pedestrian were at a designated crosswalk. Even though it's a driver's responsibility to be aware at all times, and that usually the driver is at fault when hitting a pedestrian, this is simply a case where no such fault would be assigned to the driver.
Quail are fast - lightning fast. They bolt unseen from underbrush without warning and you have to follow them with your eyes and the end of your shotgun in an arc of up to 180 degrees, at any height (in this case about six feet), at a very close distance,
in about 1/4 second to get a shot off.
That is, it's not like shooting a deer from a stand at 200 yards wherein you can clearly see the background - it's instinctive reaction to a stimulus (the quail flushing suddenly from cover.) at a close range. Furthermore, there are protocol for what to do if you come up to a
line of hunters: as the hunter at the end of a line is allowed to swing his weapon to the side
given that no one is supposed to be there, you announce your position.
If a fellow hunter suddenly appeared anywhere within that arc while you were shooting a quail you wouldn't know he/she was there as your eye is on the quail (foreground)
not the background. Especially if he/she was in deep underbrush/grass. And didn't tell you he/she was there. Like he/she was supposed to.
From Reuters (February 12, 2006):
Katharine Armstrong, whose family owns the ranch, was a member of the hunting party and witnessed the accident.
She said Cheney, an experienced hunter, did not realize Whittington had rejoined the group without announcing himself, which is proper protocol among hunters.
``They had no idea he was there,'' Armstrong said.
``A bird flew up, the vice president followed it through around to his right and shot, and unfortunately, unbeknownst to anybody, Harry was there and he got peppered pretty good with a spray of 28-gauge pellets,'' Armstrong said in a telephone interview.
``He was turning, facing the vice president, but turning to the right, and it sprayed him across the right side of his face, his shoulder, his chest and along the rib cage area,'' she said.
Armstrong said Cheney's medical team attended to Whittington before he was taken to the hospital.
She described Cheney as ``an excellent, conscientious shot.''
``The person who is not doing the shooting at that moment in time is just as responsible and, should be, as the person actually shooting,'' Armstrong said.
Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said the vice president had been with Whittington at the hospital on Sunday.
``The vice president visited with Harry Whittington at the hospital and was pleased to see he is doing fine and in good spirits,'' McBride said.
Best,
Steve Lamade
