U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney took full responsibility for shooting his hunting companion last weekend, calling it "one of the worst days of my life," in his first public comments since the accident.

"You can't blame anybody else," Cheney told Fox News' Brit Hume, in an interview that aired Wednesday night. "I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend," he said.

He refused to make excuses about the accident.

"You can talk about all of the other conditions that exist at the time but that's the bottom line, and it was not Harry's fault," he said.

Cheney described seeing 78-year-old Harry Whittington fall to the ground after he pulled the trigger while aiming at a covey of quail.

"The image of him falling is something I'll never ever be able to get out of my mind," Cheney said. "I fired, and there's Harry falling. It was, I'd have to say, one of the worst days of my life at that moment."

Cheney said he ran over to Whittington, who was on the ground, conscious and breathing, but silent.

"I said, `Harry, I had no idea you were there.' He didn't respond," Cheney said.

Whittington recovering in hospital

Whittington, who is a lawyer, suffered a minor heart attack Tuesday when some of the pellets lodged in his body migrated to his heart.

Peter Banko, an administrator at the Christus Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi told reporters Wednesday afternoon Whittington is recovering quickly.

He is now able to sit in a chair, eat normal food, and even plans to do work from his hospital room.

"He's doing extremely well and we'll just continue monitoring him," he said, adding that Whittington described the media attention as "much ado about nothing."

The turn in Whittington's condition has raised questions about whether Cheney could face manslaughter charges if Whittington dies, but a former U.S. federal prosecutor told CTV's Canada AM Cheney probably won't be charged because the shooting was an accident.

Charges unlikely

"It's still very unlikely the vice-president will be charged with a crime, mainly because there's no evidence he intended to hurt the victim," said former prosecutor Paul Butler.

"If the family was very upset, if they thought Mr. Cheney had done something wrong… they could put pressure on the prosecutor, but ultimately it's his call, and what he's said is that Mr. Cheney has been co-operative."

Texas officials said the shooting was an accident, and no charges have been brought.

The story turned political on Tuesday when it became clear that there was a disconnect between the way Bush's aides and the Cheney camp were handling the story.

It wasn't until 14 hours after the shooting that Cheney spoke with local police about the incident.

While he took full blame for the shooting, Cheney was unapologetic about not disclosing the accident right away.

He said he thought it made sense to let the owner of the ranch, Katharine Armstrong, make the accident public by telling a local newspaper's website.

"I thought that made good sense because you can get as accurate a story as possible from somebody who knew and understood hunting and then it would immediately go up to the wires and be posted on the website, which is the way it went out and I thought that was the right call," Cheney said.

"What do you think now?" he was asked. "I still do," Cheney responded. "The accuracy was enormously important. I had no press person with me."

Cheney said he personally first told the White House about the accident Sunday morning in a phone call to Chief of Staff Andy Card. He said he didn't discuss it with Bush until Monday when he was back in Washington.

Cheney said White House press secretary Scott McClellan and communications strategist Dan Bartlett urged him to get the story out quickly, but he made the decision how to handle it.

"I had a bit of the feeling that the press corps was upset because, to some extent, it was about them - they didn't like the idea that we called the Corpus Christi Caller-Times instead of The New York Times," he said. "But it strikes me that the Corpus Christi Caller-Times is just as valid a news outlet as The New York Times is, especially for covering a major story in south Texas."