A late-night walk in the countryside by two Wairarapa men and their dogs turned into the "hunt of a lifetime" last weekend after they stumbled across and captured a mammoth wild boar in the bush.

There's been plenty of kills and thrills for the young ones at the third annual Wild Game Hunt and Fishing Competition in the rural Waikato area of Tauhei.

The heli-hunting season on Department of Conservation land ends in late July and it is quite likely to be the last.

A Matakanui farmer hunting on his property at dusk lined up a shot, was alarmed by hearing two gun shots nearby then spotted a suspected poacher through his sights when a man ran across his potential field of fire in what police are calling a "near-miss".

It is the start of the duck shooting weekend and police are out and about in Otago and Southland.

A hunter shot and killed by his best mate last year had previously told his partner he knew how easy it was to mistake a person for a deer.

Coroner Wallace Bain has made a number of recommendations to the Law Commission and the Government. How can hunting be made safer? Read a selection of Your Views.

The partner of hunting victim James Dodds says the only way to prevent hunters shooting each other is to stop them splitting up.

Multiple gunshots startled volunteers at Orokonui Ecosanctuary in Otago late on Monday, prompting a warning from police over the use of firearms.

A Southland man is expected to be sentenced this morning in relation to a hunting fatality earlier this year.

Having been faced with the prospect of drinking his own urine to stay alive while lost in the Ureweras, a bacon and egg breakfast never tasted so good for Desmond Kuik.

The wife of a hunter found after three days lost in the Ureweras was last night able to tell their three young children: "Papa is coming home."

A man has appeared in court this morning charged with causing the death of a Rotorua hunter.