Cheney tires of animals, bags "ultimate prey"

Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a campaign contributor during a weekend quail hunt on a friend's South Texas ranch, local authorities and the vice president's office said Sunday.

The wounded man, 78-year-old Harry Whittington, was in intensive care at a Corpus Christi hospital after being hit by several pellets of birdshot Saturday afternoon, hospital spokesman Peter Banko told CNN.

"He's doing well and in stable condition today," Banko said.

Whittington, an Austin attorney who gave $1,000 to President Bush's 2000 campaign and $2,000 to his 2004 re-election bid, was among a handful of people accompanying the vice president when the accident occurred Saturday afternoon.

Like most of his "hunting", and his politics, Cheney doesn't like things on the level. He normally goes to game farms where the animals are released and driven in front of him so he can blast away. Rather than stalk and kill a wylie young "homo erectus", Cheney chose to bag one which was not too fast and ready to be culled anyway.

Cheney was heard to be very disappointed at not being able to hang Wittington's head on the wall of his den.