Two attacks on hunters unrelated

Police believe there is no link between two attacks on hunters in the Bay of Plenty.

A masked attacker ambushed a 20-year-old farm worker while he was hunting in Ruapapa Station near Te Urewera National Park on the East Coast late last week.

His rifle was stolen.

In May, seven Mongrel Mob members armed with knives confronted two hunters in the Ureweras and demanded their meat and rifles.

"We are not aware of any connection between the two cases," Wairoa Senior Sergeant Tony Bates told the Gisborne Herald.

"No doubt we will look into it."

An appeal for information on the recent attack and the whereabouts of the gun had not produced much information.

Josh Holmes said he was hunting pigs about 6pm on Friday when a man wearing a balaclava jumped from behind a tree, hit him on the side of the head, knocking him to the ground, then took his knife and rifle.

"He was hiding in the bush; he must have been watching me," Mr Holmes told the Dominion Post.

"I just yelled ... but it was all over within a minute and a half."

The Department of Conservation's Gisborne and Opotiki manager Andy Bassett earlier said he thought the two incidents were linked, and they were the first he had heard of in his 35-year career.

"It sounds like there's a small group of people who are taking on this sort of stand-over tactics and the sooner it can get stamped out the better," he told Radio New Zealand.

Ruapapa Station is not considered to be in the Ureweras, but is close to the boundary.

- NZPA