Camo gear factor in hunting tragedy
When Samuel Long wore camouflage gear while hunting on Stewart Island he made it harder for other hunters to see him. But the deer he was stalking were unlikely to have noticed his clothing, whether camo or bright orange.
New Zealand Deerstalkers Association president Bill O’Leary said deer were colourblind.
He urged hunters to wear highvisibility orange or blue so it was easier for other hunters to identify them.
Long, 24, was accidentally shot and killed by his father, Stephen Long, 61, during a hunting trip on the island on March 23.
Stephen Long failed to identify his son in the bush despite saying he spent two or three minutes identifying his target with his naked eye and his rifle scope.
Both men, who police said were about 20 metres apart, were wearing camouflage gear.
O’Leary said a key message the deerstalkers association gave to hunters was to clearly identify an animal’s head, neck and shoulders before shooting – rather than shooting at ‘‘bits of an animal’’.
A purpose of camouflage gear was to conceal a hunter’s outline which was a problem for those hunters trying to identify people wearing it, he said.
The purpose of wearing highvisibility clothing was to make individual hunters more recognisable to other hunters.
However, O’Leary stressed the responsibility remained with the hunter to identify his target, no matter what the other person was wearing.
O’Leary could not explain how Stephen Long failed to realise he was shooting at a person rather than a deer despite spending some time identifying his target.
‘‘We don’t know how it can happen, I will be blunt about it, we don’t know. Guys who have shot other people were absolutely convinced they were shooting at deer.
‘‘One would think, logically, in that period of time [two or three minutes] you could identify your animal rather than a human being. But we [humans] still get it wrong.’’
The deerstalkers association continued to hammer home the message of identifying the target.
‘‘But at the same time we acknowledge we are dealing with human beings who continue to make mistakes.’’
O’Leary said he had been hunt- ing for 40 years and had never before heard of a tragedy in which a father had accidentally killed his son while deerstalking.
‘‘Every year we have one or two [tragedies]. This year we have had three deaths at this stage, every death is a tragedy.’’
The New Zealand Deerstalkers Association national conference was being held in Wanaka in late June and the issue of hunting deaths would be discussed, he said.
Stephen Long was a long-time hunter and the Southland branch of the deerstalkers association and people who knew the Long family were absolutely gutted about what had happened, O’Leary said.