Hunter shot dead on Stewart Is

Deerstalkers Association reminds shooters that during roar season humans and stags are out in numbers

Ahunter was shot dead on Stewart Island yesterday. Emergency services were alerted to the incident at 10.15am when Maritime New Zealand picked up a signal from an emergency beacon.

“We located it as being at Stewart Island and DoC [Department of Conservation] notified us of a hunting party in the area,” said a rescue coordination centre spokeswoman.

A Southern Lakes Helicopters rescue helicopter was dispatched, and local island authorities were also notified, she said.

The helicopter arrived about midday. The beacon was located in the Abraham’s Bay area.

Detective Sergeant Grant Johnstone said staff were yesterday speaking to the family of the dead hunter.

An investigation into the incident was ongoing, he said.

It is not known yet whether the victim was shot by a member of the same hunting party.

More details are expected to be released this morning.

An island resident said two helicopters had been flying in the area yesterday afternoon.

The New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association said yesterday’s death was a reminder all hunters needed to be vigilant in following firearm safety checks.

The roar season, which runs until the end of next month, meant stags accidents and education around target identification.

Mr O’Leary said all shooters needed to have the mindset that everything seen in the bush was another person.

“If we start with that mindset, it will reduce the chances of a person misidentifying an animal because he or she is excited.

“Every time there is an incident, we always take a good, hard look at what happens, and then we use the details of that to hopefully train the next group of hunters — but we’re constantly dealing with the human factor.

‘‘It’s very rare that you have an incident which is solely the result of a firearm malfunction.

“It’s always disappointing when we hear of a fatality.”