Of all the places to (finally) find some accuracy from the media on this over-publicized hunting accident...

February 14, 2006
Cleveland Plain Dealer

By D'Arcy Egan

Harry Whittington has to be thanking his lucky stars that Dick Cheney is a crack shot.

As shotguns go, Cheney's little 28-gauge is a pipsqueak. It shoots a shotshell that holds far less powder and lead shot than the standard 12-gauge shotgun most hunters carry into the fields and woods. Only the most accomplished of quail hunters, like Cheney, shoot a slender-barreled 28-gauge.

Cheney may not be Annie Oakley, Ohio's Little Miss Sure Shot, but he has a reputation as a slick shooter who loves bird hunting. President George W. Bush, who once mistakenly killed a killdeer, a protected songbird, while on a dove hunt, has said that Cheney is the top gun of his administration.

The smaller 28-gauge shotshells used by Cheney are much like Humphrey Bogart's cigarettes compared to George Burns' cigars. They contain only about 3/4-ounce of tiny No. 7 1/2 shot, which is so small it takes about 35 pieces to cover a dime. Three pieces equal the size of the BB used in a Daisy Red Ryder air rifle.

A 12-gauge shotshell would be loaded with 1 ounces or more of the same size lead shot.

As hunting accidents go, this one was no big deal.

Click here to read the entire op-ed from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

By Larry S. Moore

The Ohio Wildlife Council met on Wednesday February 8 to finalize the proposed changes to the hunting and trapping regulations. Most of the discussion centered on the 2005 – 2006 deer harvest and projections for 2007.

The Division received complaints that statewide muzzleloading season did not include a weekend date. The Division follows the statewide muzzleloading season dates as December 27 through 30 regardless of the day of the week. The major concern is the availability of deer check-in stations if the Christmas holiday or New Year’s is included. Following this pattern, there will be at least one weekend date for the muzzleloading season through 2009.

The major change proposed for deer hunting is the addition of a statewide weekend gun season proposed for December 16 and 17. The deer archery season is being proposed to extend through February 3, 2007. There are no changes being proposed in the deer zones for 1, 2 or 3 deer harvest counties. Additional changes will prohibit transporting deer into Ohio from areas known to have CWD. Currently no CWD has been detected in the Ohio deer herd.

The most important part of the proposals, at least in my opinion, is not what was proposed but what was once again ignored by the Division of Wildlife. Concealed carry for hunters is once again not included in the proposals.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Julie Carr Smyth was first to report that State Sen. Eric Fingerhut is dropping out of the race for governor just 27 days after he formally announced his candidacy.

The Associated Press has since published a more extensive story on this good news for Ohio gun owners.

On the day the Buckeye State's concealed carry bill passed into law, Fingerhut told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that "It's going to lead to tragedies and accidents of all kinds." And in 2001, he told the Cincinnati Post that "the presence of a gun is actually likely to escalate violence."

Eric Fingerhut could not have been more wrong about Ohio's concealed carry law then, and it appears Democrats have let him know they believe he could not be more wrong for Ohio now.

Fingerhut is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in the Ohio Senate. His departure from the gubernatorial race leaves as the three front-runners Buckeye Firearms Association-endorsees Ken Blackwell and Jim Petro on the Republican ticket, and NRA "A"-rated Ted Strickland on the Democrat ticket.