Police hope today to find out which of a man's friends shot him in the head while on a rabbit hunting expedition at the weekend.
The 21-year-old was on life-support in Waikato Hospital late last night.
He and six others were spotlighting, a method of hunting nocturnal animals
using off-road vehicles and high-powered lights, on a farm at Waotu, 10km south-west of Putaruru, on Saturday.
The man was sitting on the back of a ute with others when he was shot in the head about 11pm.
There was no cellphone coverage in the area so he had to be driven to a house on the farm, about 10 minutes away.
The man, who lives in the area, came to New Zealand from Dorset, England, early this year as a working exchange student and is a farmhand.
His parents were flying to New Zealand last night and are expected today at the hospital in Hamilton, where the student remained in a critical condition.
Detective Sergeant Kevan Verry of the Tokoroa CIB said police were speaking to people in the hunting party, who were colleagues of the student and friends from overseas.
A forensic examination of two locations was being conducted.
Asked if any charges would be laid in relation to the incident, Mr Verry said: "It's too early to say. Obviously it wasn't self-inflicted. We need to get a full picture of what actually happened.
"It's a really tragic thing to happen."
Mr Verry said the hunters were not novices but they were not wearing high-visibility clothing.
This year, a man pleaded guilty to accidentally shooting dead a fellow hunter in a remote area near Reefton on the West Coast.
Shane Ian Phipps was sentenced to nine months in jail for shooting William White in the chest while on a week-long hunting expedition with him.
