Published: February 13, 2006 07:52 am      

Cheney accidentally shoots fellow hunter in Texas

WASHINGTON (AP) — The honor of hunting with the vice president of the United States turned into a medical emergency for a Texas attorney.

Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney who has long been active in GOP politics in Texas, was rushed to the hospital after Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot him in the face and chest when aiming for a quail.

Whittington, 78, was in stable condition Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi. He was alert and talking as visitors, including Cheney, came by to see him.

Cheney ‘‘was pleased to see that he’s doing fine and in good spirits,’’ said Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride.

Katharine Armstrong, owner of the Armstrong Ranch where the accident occurred, told The Associated Press in an interview that Whittington had walked up near Cheney unannounced and the vice president didn’t see him when he pulled the trigger.

Whittington was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest, she said.

‘‘He just got whacked there for a minute and then he was fine,’’ she said.

Armstrong said Whittington was bleeding and Cheney was very apologetic while medical personnel traveling with him attended to the wounds.

‘‘It broke the skin,’’ she said of the shotgun pellets. ‘‘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 accident happened around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, but Cheney’s office didn’t disclose it until the next day. It was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

Armstrong said both Whittington and Cheney are friends of hers and regular hunters on her ranch, but she believes they were out together for the first time this weekend.

Armstrong said she was watching from a car while Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of the vehicle to shoot at a covey of quail.

Whittington shot a bird and went to retrieve it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey.

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 said. She said the grass was tall and Whittington was at a low point in the ground, which also might have made him hard to see.

‘‘The vice president didn’t see him,’’ she continued. ‘‘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.

‘‘Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been,’’ she said. ‘‘The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came.’’

Whittington is a millionaire who has been a private practice attorney in Austin since 1950 and has long been active in Texas Republican politics. He’s been appointed to several state boards, including when then-Gov. George W. Bush named him to the Texas Funeral Service Commission.

Cheney is an avid hunter who makes annual hunting trips to South Dakota to hunt pheasants. He also travels frequently to Arkansas to hunt ducks.

Armstrong said Cheney comes to the ranch to hunt about once a year and is ‘‘a very safe sportsman.’’

‘‘This is something that happens from time to time. You now, I’ve been peppered pretty well myself,’’ Armstrong said, adding that she still carries some of the pellets in her legs.

The 50,000-acre Armstrong ranch has been in the influential south Texas family since the turn of the last century. Katharine is the daughter of Tobin Armstrong, a politically connected rancher who has been a guest at the White House and spent 48 years as director of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. He died in October. Cheney was among the dignitaries who attended his funeral.