The Dick Cheney hunting incident occurred on February 11, 2006 (this particular date has been subject to question), when then U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney shot Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old Texas attorney, while participating in a quail hunt on a ranch in Kenedy County, Texas.oth Cheney and Whittington called the incident an accident. First public news of the incident was called in to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times on February 12, 2006, by ranch owner Katharine Armstrong.