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Cheney accidently shoots fellow hunter

Just before sunset Saturday, 78-year-old Harry Whittington pulled off "a double" — bringing down two quails with two successive blasts from his shotgun.

One of Whittington's hunting companions, Vice President Dick Cheney, wasn't as accurate.

A few minutes later, Cheney accidently shot Whittington, an Austin lawyer, according to Pamela Willeford, the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, who was hunting with the pair on the 50,000 acre Armstrong Ranch in South Texas.

Cheney sprayed Whittington with birdshot across his face, shoulder and chest, said Katharine Armstrong, whose family owns the ranch in Kenedy County.

"He got peppered pretty good," she said. "He's going to be sore and bruised. But he was talking and communicating the whole time." Armstrong was with the hunting party but in a nearby vehicle with her sister.

After a brief stop at a Kingsville hospital, Whittington was taken by helicopter to Corpus Christi's Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital, she said.

A hospital spokeswoman Sunday afternoon said Whittington was in stable condition.

"He is just doing great," said Willeford, who visited Whittington Sunday. "As my husband said, he has a twinkle in his eye . . . It was scary, but fortunately he is going to be just fine. He is anxious to get on home."

Whittingon, one of the founders of the modern Republican party in Texas, is a regular visitor to the ranch. He started working in Republican politics in the 1950s and in the 1960s drove the young George H.W. Bush around West Texas during his first congressional race.

In Austin, Whittington is perhaps best known for a high-profile, and so far successful, fight against city hall. Six years ago, Austin condemned a downtown block Whittington's family owned to build a $10.5 million parking garage at the city's convention center.

Whittington's been fighting the city ever since. He racked up two legal victories last year and in January the Texas Supreme Court denied the city's request to hear an appeal, which basically re-affirms a prior ruling in Whittington's favor.

Whittingon and his family and the Armstrongs are longtime friends.

Armstrong is the former chairwoman of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission and the daughter of the late Tobin Armstrong, a longtime power in Republican politics and cattle rancher, and his wife Anne, a former U.S. ambassador to Britain during the Nixon administration.

The vice president's office didn't release any details about the shooting until Sunday afternoon and didn't explain the delay.

A White House official, speaking anonymously on background Sunday night because he is not authorized to release the information, offered this explanation for the delay: "I think the first priority was on making sure (Whittington) got the medical care he needed, and then get the facts together," the official said.

Cheney has also been a frequent visitor to the ranch. He spoke at Tobin Armstrong's October funeral. Armstrong's ancestor, Texas Ranger John Barclay Armstrong, settled the ranch in 1882 after winning fame for capturing the outlaw John Wesley Hardin.

Willeford said she doesn't know whether Cheney and Whittington have hunted together before at the ranch.

Armstrong on Sunday gave this account of the accident:

Whittington, Cheney and Willeford saw two coveys on the ground, one directly in front of them, with dogs on point, and the other 100 or so yards to the left. "The idea was to shoot the first, then for the group to move ahead and shoot the second covey," Armstrong said.

After Whittington shot the two birds, he moved away to look for them. He had trouble locating one so he told the group to move ahead.

Cheney and Willeford moved to the second covey. Unbeknownst to either of them, Armstrong said, Whittington had walked back near the group and was about 30 yards to the right of the vice president when Cheney fired at birds emerging from the covey.

Willeford added that the sun was behind Whittington as well, possibly making him more difficult to see.

After he shot Whittington, Armstrong said the vice president rushed to him, then backed away when his security detail started tending to Whittington.

Armstrong said Cheney visited Whittington Sunday and "they had a great time."

Whittington was alert, sitting up, and being talkative Sunday, she said.

"It's all OK," Armstrong said. "It's not that big a deal. Even Harry will tell you that."

Robert Elder writes for the Austin American-Statesman. E-mail: relder AT statesman.com. Cox Washington bureau writer Ken Herman contributed to this report.