The New Zealand Firearms Code should be changed to include a new rule - do not take a shot if you cannot see your shooting partner.
That is a recommendation from Coroner Wallace Bain after the inquest into James Dodds' hunting death.
Mr Dodds, a 30-year-old Rotorua mountainbiking identity, was killed by his friend Henry Worsp after they separated while hunting for fallow deer in the Paeroa Ranges in September. Coroner Mr Bain yesterday released his findings and recommended the Firearms Code be amended to incorporate a new rule.
"When hunting with companions, once separated and/or lost sight of each other hunting must cease and not resume until visual contact is made and confirmed between the hunting companions."
Mr Dodds' partner, Gabby Molloy, pleaded with the coroner at the inquest on Friday to make sure other hunters were not killed under similar circumstances. A previous inquest into a hunter's death recommended this ruling should be law and had it been incorporated into legislation, Mr Dodds would not have been killed, Mr Bain said.