Dick Cheney is not a hunter!

In 1995, Cheney became CEO of Halliburton Co., the giant military contractor. He entered the exclusive preserve of very rich men who could, by and large, get their way. The new role suited Cheney. He began going on frequent hunting trips, partaking of a sport he had enjoyed since youth.

The VIP world inhabited by Cheney is perfectly symbolized by the Armstrong Ranch, where the hunting accident occurred. More than 50,000 acres of rolling country, the ranch is "Gosford Park" with a twang—not quite as gilded or as pampered as an English country house on a shooting weekend between the wars, but just as private and entitled in an understated, elegant way. Quail hunting is an elaborate ritual on the great Texas ranches, performed with outriding guides to find the birds and trained dogs to flush and point and fetch. There are servants and cocktails and barbecues and not a reporter for miles around. The ranch is as insular, in its own way, as the vice president's official bubble.

I mentioned the Cheney story to a few Alaskans, most of them hunters, in a work setting and the attitude was universal. That is not hunting! That is just killing! (By the way several of these hunters were female)

You see to an Alaskan hunter there is an actual hunt before you shoot at the animal. Alaskan hunters don't drive up to a flock of birds and then roll down the window to shoot them. Alaskan hunters are flown out into the middle of no-mans land and left to fend for themselves until the plane returns to pick them up.

Now no matter what the hunters are hunting for there is always an element of risk involved. There is potential danger from changing weather patterns, there is dangerous terrain to traverse, and there are other animals which might actually be hunting you. You see we have a creature up here that adds an element of danger to any hunt. He is the monarch of Alaska, and when you hunt you are in his backyard. I am of course talking about the Grizzly bear. 1500 pounds of claws, teeth, and bone rending muscle. Sometimes he walks right on past you, sometimes he doesn't.

This is what gives Alaskan hunters bragging rights. Even if you come back empty handed you have still weathered a potentially fatal experience.

So I would like to invite Dick to come on up. There will be no martinis. There will be no warm lodge. There will be no farm raised birds to kill. But there will be hunting.

And no hunting little birdies either. You can hunt something that will put some hair on your chest. How about a moose? 1200 plus pounds. Angry and dangerous when wounded. The prey of a real man.

Or how about a sheep? Treacherous terrain to circumvent. One of the harder shots to get. And then there is retrieving the meat off of the mountainside and packing it out. Not for the faint of heart.

Or how about the afore mentioned Grizzly? If that hunt does not get Cheney's heart pumping faster, then nothing will. Lining up your shot as a set of open jaws hurtles at you powered by over a thousand pounds of fury? That is a hunting experience!

I don't expect to see the V.P anytime soon. He is of the privileged class who expects everything to be handed to him. He is not tough just because he talks tough. He is not a man just because he sends other men to die. He is not a leader just because he does not listen to dissenting opinions. What he is is an angry old man who takes out his frustrations on creatures who cannot defend themselves. He is a killer. He is not a hunter.