Elderly possum trapper's body found after more than five months

Allan Hill. Photo / supplied

The widow of an 83-year-old possum trapper whose body was found more than five months after he went missing in rugged bush says he died doing what he loved.

The body of Waimakariri man Allan Robert Hill was found on Christmas Day, after he went missing in Ashley Gorge, northwest of Christchurch, in early July.

Mr Hill's widow Merle said today that despite the sadness his death had caused the family, it was a fitting way for him to go.

"He always said he didn't want to die in a bed or a chair so it's very appropriate for him really, it's just hard on the family not having him around," she told APNZ.

Mrs Hill said the discovery of her husband's body brought some closure.

"It's been quite stressful for the last nearly six months since he's been missing. And there's been people searching for him for all that time, and my family and my son have been up there continually, so it will be good to get him back and to have an end to it."

Mr Hill's body was discovered in a densely bushed area which had been searched many times before during an exhaustive operation.

It must have shifted into a more visible location due to heavy rain, or the recent Canterbury earthquakes, she said.

"It's very heavy bush, very steep and there's bluffs in the bush so it was very difficult for search and rescuers to get around. In some of those places the bush is so thick that when they pushed through it just closed behind them again."

The man who found him was involved with the original search but continued to look in his spare time after it was called off.

"They seem to be like that, they don't like not finding them. They were really marvellous people and they kept in touch with me and the family all the time, every day. I'm very grateful to them.

"Allan was very fit, as the guys found out when they were searching. Some of them said to me that they really respected Allan for what he did at his age so they really, really wanted to find him and they were quite sorry at that time that they hadn't come across his body."

Mr Hill had been heading to the hills all his life, and continued to go out at dawn every day to trap possums after he retired .

"He just loved the outdoor life, any excuse to get out in the bush and he was there, that's why he was so fit.

"The hill he climbed up every day is at a 45 degree angle and he went up about 800m before he even started setting his trap lines," Mrs Hill said.

A post-mortem examination found no evidence of trauma so it was presumed he had died of natural causes.

"If he'd fallen and broken his back or something he could have laid there for days before he died but we seem to think that he probably had something that happened quickly and hopefully that's what happened," she said.

Mr Hill's funeral is next Wednesday.