KEY POINTS:
The family of Ashburton hunter Corey Foster, presumed dead in the Mid Canterbury high country, have opted not to mount a private search for his body.
Mr Foster, 24, failed to return to meet his fiancee, Rachel Pawsey, at the Avoca Hut after a day's hunting on June
3.
When he hadn't returned by noon on Monday, Ms Pawsey, as arranged earlier with Mr Foster, drove for more than four hours on an off-road track to raise the alarm.
Intensive searches in the Avoca Valley beyond Lake Coleridge by teams of volunteers using dogs and supported by an air force Iroquois helicopter failed to find any trace of Mr Foster. Police divers were called in from Wellington to check waterways in the area.
As the week drew on and temperatures plunged ahead of a southerly front, police said they had serious concerns for his wellbeing.
On Sunday, seven days after Mr Foster was reported missing, police called off the search at nightfall in bitterly cold snowy conditions.
In Ashburton today, his parents, Ross and Joy, sister Joanne, brother Shane and Ms Pawsey fronted reporters to share their grief and praise the "extreme commitment" of scores of volunteers who turned out for the search.
Mr Foster said the family was "totally satisfied" with the way the search was conducted.
"It was done so thoroughly to the point of total satisfaction for us that at this stage there is nothing more that can be done," he said.
Joanne Foster said the family wanted to "thank each and every person for thier extreme commitment in the search for Corey".
"On professional advice, as a family we believe the search options have been exhausted thoroughly through the outstanding efforts of all of the search teams and people involved," she said.
"We will not be carrying out a private search."
Mr Foster said he had to be certain there was "absolutely no possibility" of Corey being found alive before he could accept an end to searching.
The family now hoped "Corey will be brought home in time".
Mrs Foster spoke of her son's love for the outdoors, especially the Lake Coleridge area, where he'd regularly hunted and fished.
She said the family could take some comfort from Corey having chosen to "go up there doing something he loved".
"We don't know where he is, but at the end of the day he's up there.
"Corey's where he wants to be. If we were supposed to find him, we would have found him."
Mr Foster said the family was discussing a memorial service for Corey.
- NZPA
