This all happened pretty quickly. (Whittington) did not announce - which would be protocol - `Hey, it`s me, I`m coming up.` He didn`t do what he was supposed to do. So when a bird flushed and the vice president swung in to shoot it, Harry was where the bird was.
This happens, and my God, I`ve never seen a case of hard feelings. I bet this would deepen their friendship.
The first thing that crossed my mind was he had a heart problem.
I said, `Mommy, this important news. This needs to get out. We ran it by the vice president and he was very mindful of his role as a guest. He said something along the lines of, `You all do whatever you are comfortable with.
We had dinner and went to bed. We were all very worried about Harry. That was the main thing on our mind.
The priorities would have remained the same ? first medical care, then law enforcement alert.
We have absolutely no pen-raised birds on the Armstrong Ranch. It goes to the issue of sportsmanship. These are completely wild birds.
It was not the vice president`s fault.
The vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. By God, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good.
The cardinal rule is you stay on line.