CHENEY'S QUAIL STORY DON'T HUNT
DOUG IRELAND, DIRELAND - A smart mid-western friend who has a lot of
quail-hunting experience writes:
|||| The entire Cheney hunting accident story stinks. The delay in
announcing it is suspicious, obviously. I'll bet Cheney had a few beers
in him, but I'm not sure that is illegal in Texas (drinking and hunting
is illegal in most states, but I couldn't find out if that includes
Texas). But a few other points that may be worth noting:
1. The news reports say the accident happened "around 5:30 pm" on
Saturday. In Texas, quail can be hunted until 30 minutes after sunset.
Sunset on Saturday, in Corpus Christi, was at 6:18, which means they
were legal until 6:48. The "around" is suspicious.
2. The news reports say that after Whittington had gotten off his shot
and went looking for his bird, Cheney and the other hunter went to
another spot where they saw a covey of quail. Texas quail might be
different from Iowa quail, but in Iowa when a shotgun goes off, every
quail within earshot flutters away. The story doesn't make sense.
3. None of the stories have commented on the fact that they were "road
hunting", or hunting from a car. That is just about the lowest kind of
low-rent, dishonorable kind of hunting there is (the phrase "road
hunting" is often used synonymously with "poaching"). When I was
growing up in Iowa, I went pheasant or quail hunting on scores of
occasions with my Dad and others. We never would have hunted from a
vehicle and it was an insult to even suggest that someone might. It was
considered dangerous and declasse, as it was too great an advantage for
the hunter to be "fair". It most states, including Texas, it is also
illegal: "It is unlawful to hunt from or by means of motor-driven
vehicles and land conveyances or aircraft of any kind except paraplegics
and single or double amputees of legs may hunt from stationary
motor-driven vehicles or land conveyances."
However, Texas exempts private property owners from the prohibition when
they are on their own land and Cheney was with the property owner on his
ranch. But it is still really tacky.
4. Hunting quail in Texas requires an "upland game bird stamp", which
costs $7. This is a relatively new requirement, but I'll bet Cheney
didn't have one.
5. The spin is that Whittington "came up from behind the Vice
President", implying that he snuck up on him or was somehow partially
responsible because Cheney didn't know he was there. When hunting, it
is bad form to walk in front of someone's gun. When given a choice, one
would always approach another hunter from behind. Cheney has gotten
negative press in the past for participating in "canned hunts" and a
couple of years ago he got really negative press for going on a canned
pheasant hunt in Pennsylvania where he got between 70 and 95 birds
(depending on which report is to be believed). The typical daily limit
in places like Iowa and South Dakota, where we have many more pheasants
than Pennsylvania, is 3 or 5 per day and a possession limit of 15 or 20.
To many of our milieu, hunting is hunting is hunting and the
distinctions noted above aren't that big of a deal. To hunters, these
are important distinctions. Hunting regulations are strictly enforced
in most states and every six pack Joe knows he better abide by them or
he'll get in trouble. Most hunters aren't affluent suede vest guys,
they are working class guys within a couple of generations of
agricultural roots. The gluttony of shooting 70 pheasant in a day is
almost impossible for them to comprehend. Focusing on the kill rather
than the hunt is frowned upon. Killing more than you can eat is frowned
upon. Canned hunts and that kind of over-indulgence is for the Rambo
hunters, who are not thought highly of by the old-fashioned Izaak Walton
league type of guys, like my Dad. |
