Another hunter shot

A week after a Taupo man shot dead his best mate on a deerstalking trip, a Waikato hunter came close to killing a stranger in the central North Island's Urewera ranges.

The victim was still in his camp when he was hit in the shoulder by a bullet from a high-powered rifle about 6.30am yesterday.

"It was a reasonably serious injury - very close to being a fatality," said Detective Sergeant John Wilson of the Rotorua police.

"This was yet another case of failing to identify your target."

The injured hunter, a 48-year-old Aucklander, was airlifted to Rotorua Hospital by the Tenon rescue helicopter.

He was "doing well" in a ward yesterday evening but did not want any further details released.

"He was very fortunate as to where he was shot," said Mr Wilson.

The unnamed man who fired the shot is understood to be a 66-year-old with a known medical condition.

He had failed to return to camp on Saturday evening and was the subject of a search-and-rescue operation.

As the first search party was being lifted in to the Maungapohatu area of Te Urewera National Park, about 37km southwest of Murupara, early yesterday, the helicopter was waved down by a hunter who said his companion had been shot about two hours earlier and was lying wounded in the bush.

Police were lowered into a clearing near the injured man and found him being comforted by the 66-year-old they were searching for.

Mr Wilson said the 66-year-old had spent the night in the bush as he had been caught out by darkness on Saturday evening.

While making his way back to his own party, the other man was shot.

"He doesn't know him [the victim]," said Mr Wilson.

Only last week the detective sergeant said that he could not stress enough the importance of identifying a target. "And lo and behold, here we are again."

With the roar nearly half way through, he re-emphasised: "If you don't know for sure it's a deer - and a whole deer - don't shoot, because the consequences are immense, not only for the shooter and the victim but for both their families."

The Rotorua CIB is investigating yesterday's shooting and it is not known yet if any charges will be laid.

Taupo police have still to decide whether to prosecute over the April 2 death of William Gillies, 55, who was shot by his hunting mate of 30 years, Bernard Lee.

The pair were in the rugged Hauhungaroa Range in Pureora Forest, 15km west of Lake Taupo, when Mr Lee mistook his friend for a deer.

The family of Mr Gillies do not want Mr Lee charged with causing his death.