CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) - A 78-year-old hunting companion of Vice President Dick Cheney was recovering in stable condition Monday after Cheney accidentally shot him during a weekend quail hunting trip, a hospital official said. Harry Whittington "rested well last night," said Peter Banko, hospital administrator at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial. The hospital listed Whittington's condition as "very stable," he said.
Whittington, an Austin attorney, was flown to the hospital after Cheney accidentally shot him late Saturday afternoon at the Armstrong Ranch, hitting him with birdshot.
"It's not critical. It's not serious. It's just stable at this time," Banko said at a morning briefing. He said admitting Whittington to the trauma-intensive care unit was "a fairly common procedure" for a patient hit by a spray of the small pellets.
"I don't know how much spray he has got," Banko said. "My understanding from the physicians is that after you get peppered, sometimes they need to do exploratory surgeries if it gets lodged in a little deeper. Sometimes it's tweezers. I can't really comment on how extensively he was sprayed."
Banko said he did not know when Whittington would be released.
The vice president visited Whittington and his wife before returning to Washington on Sunday. Cheney "was pleased to see that he's doing fine and in good spirits," said Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride.
Whittington sent word through a hospital official that he would not comment out of respect for Cheney.
Ranch owner Katharine Armstrong told The Associated Press the vice president was using a 28-gauge shotgun, and Whittington was about 30 yards away.
Armstrong said Whittington had gone to retrieve a bird he shot while Cheney and a third hunter, whom she would not identify, walked to another spot and discovered a second covey of quail.
Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," said Armstrong, who was in the car.
"The vice president didn't see him," she said. "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."
"He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that," she said.
Each of the hunters was wearing a bright orange vest, Armstrong said.
The accident was not reported publicly by the vice president's office for nearly 24 hours, and then only after the Corpus Christi Caller- Times reported it Sunday.
McBride said the vice president's office did not tell reporters about the accident Saturday because they were deferring to Armstrong to handle the announcement of what happened on her property.
Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the 50,000- acre ranch, about 60 miles southwest of Corpus Christi, to hunt about once a year and is "a very safe sportsman." She said Whittington is a regular, too, but she believed it was the first time the two men hunted together.
Cheney purchased a hunt license in November, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesman Steve Lightfoot said.
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Associated Press writers Nedra Pickler in Washington and Paul J. Weber in Dallas contributed to this report.
