Q. You've been actively engaged in many outdoor activities for years. Can you speak about the outdoor experience, its importance to you on a personal level, and what issues are of concern to you as a hunter and fisherman.

Vice President Dick Cheney aims for a pheasant during a hunting trip in South Dakota, Nov. 5, 2002. White House photo by David Bohrer

A. I think of it as a very important part of my life. I've been privileged to be able to do it not just here in U.S. but around the world. Group of friends before I got this job I've had to put it on hold now because I travel with such a large entourage. Whether you're pursuing steelhead in northern British Columbia...(I've) hunted South America, fished in New Zealand, Canada, the Soviet Union. It gives you a different perspective on the world and the way the world works at least to some extent...it does for me any way. Not everybody has the opportunity to go to all those places and hunt and fish. But I have just as much fun with a day on the Snake an hour from the house...and I take just as much satisfaction from it. I've always firmly believed in the old saying that a day spent fishing is a day hat doesn't count against your total life in time. I believe there is some truth to that...it's part psychological.

It (fishing and hunting) takes you to some of the most beautiful places in the world in terms of the setting. From a standpoint of personal relationships, friendships that develop...there's a guy I became very close friends with over the years...he's a retired school teacher and coach in Pennsylvania...we ran into each other when I was newly elected congressman from Wyoming and he was a park ranger in Yellowstone. We started fishing in about 1980 and now we go fishing together every year, sometimes in Pennsylvania where he lives in wintertime and sometimes on the Big Horn in Montana where he guides now, sometimes, a lot of times on the Yellowstone up in the Park....

In terms of the issues and things that are important to being able to protect and preserve all of that. Obviously, it's very important to protect and preserve the environment. We need to be able to make certain we pass on those resources to the next generation at least in as good of shape as we found them.

One of the pieces of legislation I worked on when I was in Congress was the Wilderness Act. Probably one of the most important pieces of legislation I passed when I was in the House. Al (Simpson) handled it over on the Senate side. We set aside almost a million acres additionally of public lands in Wyoming...back in 1984.

Obviously, you have to focus on that (the environment). From a standpoint of fishing, clearly, the quality of habitat, water becomes very important. Water is an important issue all over the West....Increasingly under pressure because of the demands of a growing population. It's a tough issue to referee and resolve but it's very, very important that we not do anything that would destroy great fishing. I'm an avid flyfisherman, as an advocate of catch and release...I much prefer to catch wild fish or chase wild quail in South Texas...and perfectly happy to adjust as required.

And I also care a lot about gun laws. I worry sometimes that there is a growing antihunting sentiment that I run into with people...people who have no idea what it's all about...have never done it and don't like the idea of somebody else doing it.

I'm a very strong advocate of the Second Amendment and that's an important part of protecting and preserving our heritage. (Q. I'm assuming you're speaking for the the other half of the ticket, ie, President Bush?)I'm speaking for myself but I'd be happy to speak on behalf of the president if you want me to. He and I are usually very close on this ...(keep in mind) he and I fish in his bass lake in Texas....

Q. Sportsmen for Bush-Cheney...what does that mean when you see that sign?

A. I think it indicates people who have same passion as I do for those sports. Depends where you're going around the country. Most of the so-called "red states" are the heart of America across the South, the Midwest, and West...an awful lot of sportsmen in Pennsylvania (where a high number of hunting licenses are sold every year)...

When I see something like that (a sign indicating a sportsman's support) the assumption I make is whoever is holding that sign shares those same common interests that I have ...cares about those important issues and events. When I think about the presidential campaign and who they want to vote for for President. Those issues are prominent in their minds. We've got others, the economy, foreign policy, whatever it might be, but that is the one they choose to demonstrate with.

Q. I saw some numbers recently released by the outdoor industry that noted if all sportsmen had voted in 2000, it would have equaled 36 percent of the entire vote. Does that surprise you?

A. No..... some may not be politically active...sounds like a lot of them stayed home....otherwise we wouldn't have won by just 537 votes (in 2000). (Obviously) in some states virtually everybody goes hunting,, fishing...(and those outdoorsmen/women are very important to us).

Q. The tradition of hunting and fishing...it really is part of the fiber of America. It's important to the family.

A. A year or so ago there was an ancestor who was one of the leading writers in the outdoor sports, especially on fishing...he wrote extensively for outdoor magazines. She (Lynn, Cheney's wife) went back and got a compilation of these writings...a prolific writer...had it all compiled. When you talk about history of fishing and hunting in America, I had an ancestor back there who was doing it for a living... I could never manage to do that...but he did.

Q. Speaking for Bush-Cheney ticket, what would you like to tell our readers, who are outdoor enthusiasts?

A. I think they ought to look at our position and our track record what we've done over these years in these areas. I think if you put the President's record and my record alongside those of our opponents, John Kerry and John Edwards, that there's no question about where we stand where we came from--products of the West, and avid sportsmen most of our lives. I'm not sure that's true for the opposition. I don't want to deliver an attack piece in the magazines. They can speak for themselves, but I think the record is pretty clear that we're far more committed to those endeavors than Senators Kerry and Edwards. They come from a different part of the country and I don't think they have, over the years, been as involved either as participants or from a policy standpoint as President Bush and I have...

Thank you Vice-President Cheney.