Hunting
Much is being made of Dick Cheney's "hunting accident" in the press and in the blogs. There are any number of aspects to this situation that one might expect me to comment on: the delay in public admission that the accident took place, the blame-the-victim aspect as spin masters floated the idea that the man who was shot was at fault (when I took gun safety class I learned it's the responsibility of the shooter to know where he's shooting, and that even a seemingly "innocent" action of shooting a gun up into the air can have repercussions...those bullets have to come down somewhere), the White House and Bush family making jokes while the victim of the shooting was in the ICU... but I'm going to pick one that I don't think my readers would predict.
Hunting.
Where I come from, what Dick Cheney was participating in was not "hunting". Sure, but the strict dictionary definition of the term, he was engaged in pursuing game for sport, but that would never fly in my family.
My dad is a hunter. Just this Christmas he decided he was in the market for a new over-under shotgun to replace the tried and true shotgun that he's used every year for duck, grouse, and pheasant hunting since he saved up the money to buy it for himself when he was 16. He can load his own shotgun shells, has owned umpteen duck decoys and camo-painted boats, has trained several Black Labrador retrievers to hunt and flush and return birds in lake and field. When he hunts, alone or with friends and family, it involves actually going out to a likely location and walking the miles of terrain and working the dog to find wild birds. My dad used to enter shooting competitions and had several trophies for skeet shooting. He's a quick draw and an excellent mark and I've seen him flush, identify, and shoot a bird before I could even draw. He's been a member of Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever, among other organizations, and is interested in environmental conservation specifically with an eye to protecting habitat for game birds so he can continue to enjoy his lifelong hobby.
My dad is a hunter. He goes out hunting. What Dick Cheney was involved in was "shooting" but I object to the idea that his idea of sport should be called hunting. Cheney engages in so-called "hunting" of captive animals. The Humane Society of the United States issued a statement against our esteemed Vice President engaging in such captive hunts back in 2003. In this most recent incident, the birds were apparently pen-raised and then released for the VPs hunting party. This is not hunting and the fact that both Bush and Cheney involve themselves in these sorts of "hunts" goes a long way to explaining their views on a lot of other things in life.
Hunting.
Where I come from, what Dick Cheney was participating in was not "hunting". Sure, but the strict dictionary definition of the term, he was engaged in pursuing game for sport, but that would never fly in my family.
My dad is a hunter. Just this Christmas he decided he was in the market for a new over-under shotgun to replace the tried and true shotgun that he's used every year for duck, grouse, and pheasant hunting since he saved up the money to buy it for himself when he was 16. He can load his own shotgun shells, has owned umpteen duck decoys and camo-painted boats, has trained several Black Labrador retrievers to hunt and flush and return birds in lake and field. When he hunts, alone or with friends and family, it involves actually going out to a likely location and walking the miles of terrain and working the dog to find wild birds. My dad used to enter shooting competitions and had several trophies for skeet shooting. He's a quick draw and an excellent mark and I've seen him flush, identify, and shoot a bird before I could even draw. He's been a member of Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever, among other organizations, and is interested in environmental conservation specifically with an eye to protecting habitat for game birds so he can continue to enjoy his lifelong hobby.
My dad is a hunter. He goes out hunting. What Dick Cheney was involved in was "shooting" but I object to the idea that his idea of sport should be called hunting. Cheney engages in so-called "hunting" of captive animals. The Humane Society of the United States issued a statement against our esteemed Vice President engaging in such captive hunts back in 2003. In this most recent incident, the birds were apparently pen-raised and then released for the VPs hunting party. This is not hunting and the fact that both Bush and Cheney involve themselves in these sorts of "hunts" goes a long way to explaining their views on a lot of other things in life.
I must admit I've been thinking about Folsom Prison Blues, to wit:
When I was just a baby,
My Mama told me, "Son,
Always be a good boy,
Don't ever play with guns,"
But I shot a man in [Texas],
Just to watch him die,... .
Actually, there are many mean things that could be said about Cheney, but I don't think he'd shoot a GOP supporter on purpose. Nevertheless, I agree that he's an unwitting poster child for why gun safety is important for every hunter (or, in this case, shooter).
I think Cheney was "hunting" in the same way the Ancien Regime hunted. It's an activity for nobility, the killing of domesticated creatures in a pre-arranged fashion... since the peasants get all uppity about being killed for sport, I suppose you need to kill pheasants instead.
It's all an example of how Cheney and the boys think of themselves as the divine ruling class.