When the jokes on late-night TV have all dried up, and the spinmeisters on the right finally stop accusing the left of blowing the story all out of proportion for political gain, the vice president’s unfortunate little hunting accident down in Texas will almost certainly have left its mark on more than just Harry Whittington.

“It’s the kind of thing that gives all hunters a real black eye,” said Gene Seymour of Milford, who believes Dick Cheney should be held accountable – a fine for not having a bird permit, at least? – after recklessly peppering his lawyer buddy with birdshot while hunting quail over the weekend.

Seymour tends to be extremely critical of hunters like Cheney, and for reasons that go beyond his disdain for politicians of any sort.

A hunter for most of his 59 years, he has taught hunter-safety courses in several towns in Penobscot County for two decades now, cautioning his students against the very kind of irresponsible behavior that the vice president allegedly exhibited when he fired his shotgun without considering his surroundings.

“There are certain zones of fire, and when there are two or more hunters in a group you can’t swing a gun outside of a small area without jeopardizing your partner,” said Seymour, who works for Central Equipment’s sign division in Stillwater. “Be sure of your target; that’s the number one rule. You must always identify your target.”

The fact that Cheney clearly violated that rule, Seymour said, is not only inexcusable, it’s an affront to all good hunters everywhere who strive to keep their sport safe.

“This certainly doesn’t help the image of hunting,” he said. “We’re doing everything in our power to keep the tradition alive, and keep it safe. But we’re losing hunters in Maine, and the anti-hunting groups are doing what they can to keep that going. Anytime they can get their hands on something like this, they’ll use it.”

It might have helped matters, of course, had the vice president not waited until Wednesday, four days after the shooting, to finally lift his maddening shroud of silence and address the public on Fox News about what happened.

And even then, he adamantly refused during the interview to apologize for not publicly disclosing his terrible lapse of judgment until Sunday, a day after it happened.

Instead, he appeared content for several days to allow the owner of the 50,000-acre spread where the accident took place, Katharine Armstrong, to put the blame on Whittington for “not announcing himself” and making his presence known after rejoining the others in the hunting party.

Armstrong, by the way, is the same woman who has suggested that getting sprayed with birdshot is a fairly routine occurrence among hunters, a statement that Seymour finds absurd. In all his years of hunting, he said, he has never once shot a person nor has he ever been shot.

“Being political as this is – and I don’t like politicians – I figure they’ll sweep everything under the rug,” he said. “If this happened in Maine, there would be a complete investigation as to exactly what happened. There are no excuses for accidents like this. None. This was preventable.”

Perhaps Cheney could take a hunter-safety course to remind himself of that. His buddy Whittington should insist on it, in fact – just as soon as he gets out of the hospital.