Check out what this lawyer reader who has been a bird hunter of 30 years' experience sent me in an e-mail on the improbability of Ms. Armstrong's version (pdf) of Cheney's shooting accident from a mathematical point of view. A snippet:

I conclude the target was within 10 or 15 yards, at most, of Dick and possibly as close as 5 yards. My reasons for saying this are algebraic.

...So, my best estimate is as follows: Dick nearly blew this guy's head off.

Conclusion: "I don't think I'd hunt anything with Dick."

Jon Podhoretz at The Corner gets this right:

It seems beyond question that the vice president is going to have to go before the cameras, explain what happened, and show genuine remorse for his actions, however inadvertent. It's a difficult challenge for someone as reticent as Dick Cheney. But unless he does so, and makes a good showing of it, he will be damaged goods for the remainder of the Bush presidency.

Keep the pressure on. Katharine Armstrong may have been an eye-witness, but she's no substitute for hearing from the man himself, both as to his account of the shooting and his explanation for the delay in notifying the press. The response of Cheney's office so far, that the Veep believed Armstrong should make the announcement because the incident occurred on her ranch strains credulity.

Raw Story has the transcript of this morning's press conference which is not up yet on the White House website. Crooks and Liars has the video.

As to how the report of the shooting became public:

MR. MCCLELLAN: Well, I think you can always look at -- you can always look back at these issues and look at how to do a better job.

Q Well, but let's not -- it's not really a hindsight issue here. I mean, the vice president made a decision about how the public should be notified. It basically is at odds with the standard practice of how the president's own press operation in this White House notifies the public, isn't that right?

MR. MCCLELLAN: Well, again, this was handled by the vice president's office. The vice president thought that Mrs. Armstrong should be the first one to give that information out since she was an eye-witness --

Update: Think Progress reports:

CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer reports Texas authorities are complaining that the Secret Service barred them from speaking to Cheney after the incident. Kenedy County Texas Sheriffs Lt. Juan Guzman said deputies first learned of the shooting when an ambulance was called. The Secret Service is looking into how the case was handled at the scene, Maer added.

The Sheriff of Kenedy County, Texas reports that reports of the shooting are being gathered, but investigations are not mandated in absence of a fatality:

The secretary for Kenedy County Sheriff Ramon Salinas the third, Sandra Guzman, said today that reports on the incident are pending. District Attorney Carlos Valdez says the matter hasn't been referred to his office, which prosecutes criminal cases in Kenedy, Klebert and Nueces counties. He says his office would become involved only if an investigative agency finds a hint of criminal wrongdoing or a dispute about the facts.

....Texas Parks and Wildlife spokesman Tom Harvey would not provide specifics on the information gathered. He says hunting parties aren't required to report accidents. The state penal code requires people to report fatalities, and law-enforcement would investigate those.

It sounds like the reports are gathered for statistical purposes only.

Update: 78 year-old shooting accident victim Harry Whittington is out of surgery.

A friend who has talked to family members said that Mr. Whittington was hit by about 50 birdshot pellets. He underwent surgery Sunday morning to remove some of the pellets, and doctors have told his family that the shot apparently did not damage any major organs.

[Harry's daughter] got to see her father Sunday afternoon after the surgery. Of her father's face, she said, "It looks like chicken pox, kind of." She said that he was sitting up telling jokes. "He is so lucky, it's a miracle," she said.

The Dallas News says, " It's not the first time the vice president's hunts have resulted in controversy." And President Bush once had his own shooting mistake: [Corrected, it was Bush not Cheney who made the following hunting mistake.]

In 1994, when he was running for governor against then-incumbent Ann Richards, Mr. Bush went dove hunting for the cameras in Hockley, northwest of Houston, and shot what he thought was a dove. The one bird he did hit turned out to be the protected killdeer. He reported the incident to the local game warden and paid a $130 fine.

Whittington is in the intensive care unit.

Hunting accidents are rare in Texas, primarily because hunters have to take mandatory hunting education classes, if they are born after 1971. Hunting accidents by older hunters are on the rise, however -- possibly because they are not required to take the classes. Has Cheney ever taken one?