Cheney accidentally shoots hunting partner

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a hunting partner Saturday in Texas, and the White House did not confirm the shooting until nearly 20 hours later. The victim was described as being ''peppered pretty good" with birdshot and was in stable condition yesterday.

Cheney shot Harry Whittington, 78, a multimillionaire Austin lawyer, spraying his friend and hunting partner with shotgun pellets from head to chest. He was being treated in the intensive care unit at a Corpus Christi hospital.

Whittington, bloodied but still conscious, tumbled to the ground after he was hit. Cheney thought he was shooting at a covey of quail, according to an owner of the ranch.

Cheney is a longtime hunter and delivered the keynote address in 2004 to the National Rifle Association, from which he accepted a rifle as a gift.

The accident happened in south Texas at the famed Armstrong Ranch, co-owned by members of a family long close to Cheney. Tobin Armstrong was a major financial backer of the Bush-Cheney team who died last October, with Cheney attending the funeral. Anne Armstrong, a former counselor to President Nixon, has served on the board of the Halliburton Corp., where Cheney was chief executive before becoming vice president.

Whittington is a longtime friend of President Bush from their days together in Austin when Bush was governor of Texas. He was described in an article published two weeks ago in the Austin-American Statesman as being ''very rich, very stubborn, and very patient."

The Associated Press quoted Katharine Armstrong, one of the ranch owners, saying she watched the shooting from her vantage in a nearby car. She said that Whittington shot a quail and went to look for it in the grass. Cheney then went to search for more quail.

Cheney was using a 28-gauge shotgun and was about 30 yards away from Whittington, she said. Both men were wearing orange vests.

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 told the Associated Press. ''The vice president didn't see him. 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."

Armstrong said Whittington was injured mostly on his right side, from cheek to chest. Cheney was described as apologetic for shooting Whittington, who was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Kingsville and transferred by medical helicopter to the Christus Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, about an hour away.

The vice president visited Whittington in the hospital yesterday, Armstrong said. Whittington said through a hospital official that he would have no comment out of respect to Cheney.

''It broke the skin," Armstrong said, referring to the birdshot. ''It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that."

The shooting occurred about 5:30 p.m. local time Saturday and was first reported on the website of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times at midday yesterday, according to a reporter at the newspaper. The White House confirmed the shooting after being contacted by the media.

White House spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride, asked in a telephone interview why the shooting was not announced sooner, referred questions to Katharine Armstrong. McBride said Armstrong talked to ''her local paper and when we were asked about the account she had provided, [we] confirmed that."

Armstrong did not return a call seeking comment on McBride's statement.

After the hospital visit, McBride said Cheney ''was pleased to see that he was doing fine and in good spirits."

Cheney, who suffered four heart attacks before he was elected vice president and has been hospitalized for heart problems while in office, always travels with a medical team. His team treated Whittington before he was taken to the hospital.

Bush, who owns a ranch in Texas, and Cheney, who grew up in Wyoming, are both enthusiastic hunters, a fact they have frequently mentioned during political campaigns. McBride said Cheney has a Texas hunting license.

Cheney's hunting trips have included one with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who went duck hunting in January 2004 with the vice president in Louisiana, a trip criticized because Scalia participates in decisions that affect the administration.

Tobin Armstrong was quoted by the Associated Press in 2000 saying that he frequently went hunting on the ranch with Cheney, who turned 65 last month.

When Armstrong died in October, his funeral was attended by Cheney and former President George H. W. Bush. ''Tobin is one of our dearest and most respected friends," former President Bush said. ''Barbara and I loved Tobin Armstrong."

The 50,000-acre Armstrong Ranch was purchased in 1852 by Tobin Armstrong's grandfather, John Armstrong III, who became known for capturing outlaw John Wesley Hardin, according to a profile of the ranch in the Caller-Times.

Whittington has long been active in Republican Party politics and was appointed by then-Governor George W. Bush to the Texas Funeral Service Commission.

In the final stages of the 2004 campaign, Cheney mocked the way Democratic presidential nominee Senator John F. Kerry went on a hunting trip.

''He wore a brand new camouflage jacket for the occasion, which makes you wonder just how often he does really go goose hunting," Cheney said, according to a White House transcript. ''My personal opinion was his camo jacket was an October disguise. . . . But, my fellow sportsmen, this coverup isn't going to work because you and I know the Second Amendment is more than just another photo opportunity."

The Houston Chronicle has reported that there were 29 hunting-related accidents in Texas in 2004, with four fatalities.

Material from Globe news services was included in this report.