Four days after Vice President Dick Cheney shot his hunting partner while bird hunting, he has publicly discussed the incident. He spoke with the cable news station Fox earlier today/Wednesday.
New Hampshire officials say similar episodes occur here about three times a year. New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein found out how the state handles what it calls hunting related shootings.
Hunting related shootings aren't too common in New Hampshire...at least not anymore.
40 years ago the state averaged about 21 incidents a year.
In the past decade or so, that's dropped to 3.
But of those three, deer and bird hunting trips are most likely to result in a shooting.
Licensed guide Steve Coushane says following hunting protocols: like being in constant communication with your partners helps prevent accidents.
4:25 you are always trying to vocally talking to eachother....YOU GET AN IDEA THEY ARE OVER TO YOUR RIGHT, OR OVER TO YOUR LEFT...but you can't always see them b/c you are in a hole, or over the hill. But you still have to know they are there
Fish and Game Hunter Education Coordinator Tom Flynn says another key is establishing what he calls shooting zones.
For bird hunts, that's when a person- standing face-forward imagines a cone shape and never shoot outside of those lines.
T.5
2:38 by doing this, what you do is prevent yourself from- wherever the bird flushes, from swinging too far to a point where you would be pointing to the person next to you. So you have limitations on how far you can go left or right to prevent incidents like that.
Hunters disagree on whether Vice President Dick Cheney was at fault for the shooting last weekend.
John Rosenthal is co-founder of the American Hunters and Shooters Association- a pro-gun and pro-gun safety group.
Rosenthal says the Vice President violated the cardinal rule of hunting: never aim your gun at another person.
3:34 the fact that the VP shot a hunting companion in an orange vest at close range is incredibly unusual and reckless.
Other hunters say there's nothing unusual about the Cheney episode.
When it comes to bird hunting accidents they say, shooting someone 30 yards away- as Cheney reportedly did- is the garden variety hunting accident.
Fish and Game's Tom Flynn says he's seen that happen before.
12:44 there certainly have been incidents in NH where the hunting partners are all wearing orange, and still someone endds up being hit by the projectile. That's the fact that someone is focusing on the bird that flushes and what's called target fixation is a term a lot of people use, in this type of incident, where you are so focused on the target, you are blocking out any and every thing else that is around. It seems odd that the person was in hunter orange and in plain view, but it's b/c of that target fixation.
Flynn says using common sense, wearing orange, and being careful make hunting safer than ping pong.
Concord attorney Paul Maggiado- represented a hunter charged with negligent homicide after an accident.
He says when there are shootings, the state doesn't play around.
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:50 Fish and Game takes a strong position they basically believe that no hunter should ever fire their weapon without identifying their target tip to tail. And if this was an instance where the person who was shot ran into Cheney's lane of firing, that would be one thing, if Cheney swung his rifle too quickly and shot in a direction he shouldn't have been then you could say he would be at fault.
Fish and Game Captain Martin Garibedian says after a shooting is reported, officers will interview those involved and try to recreate the event.
Garibedian says he must analyze dozens of factors, weather, terrain, but maybe most importantly- common sense.
He says, he asks himself, would nine guys out of ten acted the same way.
On occasion, he says he comes across a genuine accident: two people ignorant of the other's presence.
But usually, he says the shooter is at fault.
1:32 based on our experience a lot of our investigations have found someone was negligent in what they did.
In New Hampshire the penalties for a hunting related shooting vary.
It ranges from a misdemeanor that carries a fine and possible jail time to homicide.
And Captain Garibedian says the shooter almost always has his shooting license suspended for some period of time.
For NHPR News, I'm DG.
