Cheney and the Bird Hunt

This has gotten beyond silly. QandO has a pretty strong point.

Ok, this is the last attention I'll give to the already over-remarked-upon Cheney Shooting, but this is getting sillier...

I really have nothing against hunting, but Dick's love of hunting pen-raised animals for fun is really actually quite sick. It's not hunting, it's just mass slaughter.

Says Atrios - and PZ Myers, and others -— all of whom eat only meat that stood a sporting chance.

Most of the blog entries I've been reading are so completely obviously by people that haven't hunted bird that it's sickening. Yes, Cheney made a mistake in his shot, but then Whittington made a very bad mistake as well. If you leave the hunt line, you have to let those on the line know you're returning. Especially if you're the end man. That's the prime spot for bird hunting because you have the largest field of fire. It's also an enlarged zone for the hunting partner if you walk away.

Bird hunting isn't easy. And the concentration to know the target and the background is very difficult. Seeing that Cheney has been doing this for a very long time with no reported incidents, I'm going to guess he's very disciplined.

Accidents do happen. And that sucks. Mostly because every crack-pot and know-nothing is now chiming in on what a fool Cheney is. Unfortunately this news will be another stain for gun rights, but it's far from the devastation that some make it out to be.