I've been waiting to get the verdict on Dick Cheney's hunting accident from one of the most experienced hunters I know, my older brother. He sends the following assessment. Note that the tone struck by a veteran hunter is considerably less hysterical than that adopted by the press corps yesterday. And, unlike Dana Milbank, I don't think he'll consider it necessary to wear blaze orange if he passes by the Naval Observatory:

Cheney was shooting a 28-gauge shotgun. That's closer to a .410 than a 12-gauge; it's a little gun.

Hunting quail--a little bird--they'd be shooting 6 or 8-shot, I suppose. This is not like shooting 20-lb geese. I suspect that the biggest quail on earth weighs a pound. The point of the tiny shot is to do little damage to the meat. References to "buck-shot" and "B-B"s are ridiculous. At 30 yards, buck and B-Bs might be lethal. The risk with light bird loads is the eyes.

I'm struck by the fact that the victim is 78 years old. I assume that he is a seasoned hunter. (This assumption is based on his age and that he's from Texas; I assume that he's been hunting a long time, or he wouldn't have been hunting with Cheney. On the other hand, he's an old lawyer and maybe a political ally who doesn't know the second thing about flushing parties. Who knows? But up here we have plenty of examples of city-folk who are incredible safety-liabilities every year. And it's hard to just walk away from important people on a hunt because they don't know what they're doing.)

A lot has been made of Cheney's violation of the rule that you don't ever shoot unless you know what's behind the target. But in this case, I guess, the victim dropped out of the line of hunters and returned later without announcing his presence. When someone hustles back to join the party without telling anyone, it's hard to blame the shooter when he doesn't know he's there.

And finally, accidents happen. Several years ago, Jim S--- shot his pheasant-hunting partner of many years, Larry P---. Larry ran up into a ditch, ahead of Jim, as I recall, without warning. A pheasant jumped up between them and Jim fired, thinking Larry was beside or behind him. It's Larrys's responsibility to let Jim know where he is. (Jim was shooting substantially bigger shot from a substantually bigger gun than Cheney and the range was about the same. Jim took Larry to the hospital and they plucked the shot out of his face and neck; we had dinner together later that night. Larry felt as stupid as Jim. And why's this guy in intensive care for two days? I assume it's heart-related.)

Almost all of us hunters have been peppered with shot at one time or another. Mostly it's inconsequential and the wind plays a big part. But I will say this: lots of us have quit a hunt when we realize that the next guy is an idiot. And this, too: knowing what I think I know about Cheney, there is no one in North America who I'd rather hunt with.

Posted by John at 07:10 AM  |    |