A hunter stranded on a sheer cliff at Cape Palliser was plucked to safety by helicopter after repeatedly firing his rifle to raise help.
Julian Burns, Westpac Rescue Helicopter Life Flight crewman, said farmers in the Mangatoetoe area heard the volley of shots soon before 6pm on Sunday and hadscaled a nearby hill in the gathering darkness, shouting "across a gully" to the stranded man before calling police.
"The guy had taken a wrong turn and found himself on Kupe's Sail, a sheer cliff that's a few hundred metres high. He started firing off his rifle for help and it worked."
Mr Burns said the air rescue team quickly found the hunter, a man in his 40s, due to information from farmers and police and the Nitesun night vision goggles that enabled helicopter crew members "to pick up the hunter's torchlight from over five kilometres away".
Mr Burns said mounting winds, pitch black darkness and the sheer drop meant the intensive care paramedic who was winched down to the hunter had stay tethered to the helicopter, which is not usual practice, during the entire rescue operation.
"It was pretty precarious and landing the helicopter was never going to be a safe option, so the paramedic was winched down to the hunter and they were both winched back."
Mr Burns said the hunter was medically assessed and found to be well despite his ordeal and had walked to his nearby car after disembarking from the helicopter.
