KEY POINTS:
A coroner has found that a hunter was suffering from "buck fever" when he fatally shot his mate in the bush near Reefton earlier this year.
William Douglas Prentice White, 40, died instantly when he was shot by Shane Ian Phipps during their hunting expedition in the Rough River on May 1.
Phipps, 39, of Nelson, has since pleaded guilty to careless use of a firearm causing death and was jailed for nine months.
The inquest in Westport before coroner Peter Roselli today heard Phipps was one of three hunters from Nelson who had planned for a five-day shoot in the area.
The group included the dead man's brother, Lindsay White, who told police that he and his brother had hunted the Rough River area for 20 years, holding firearms licences since their early teens.
Phipps, a good friend of Bill White's, had hunted with them on previous occasions.
They had a clearly defined set of rules, which included the necessity for each to wear an orange high visibility cap and to make sure targets were clearly identified. Each man had a set region to hunt and they were not to stray into another hunter's area.
About 4pm on the second day of the shoot Mr White said he heard one shot which was followed about 30 seconds later by another.
At first he thought he heard a goat braying but realised it was someone shouting his name. It was Phipps shouting: "I've killed Bill, I have shot Bill".
When taken to the site, Lindsay White noted his brother's cap was pulled down over his eyes. Removing the cap, he realised he was dead.
Phipps was saying, "Bill was not wearing his cap, why was he not wearing his cap?"
Lindsay White said Phipps became suicidal and so he removed the bolts from all the rifles in the camp.
As it was too dark to start walking out, the two men laid the body out - arms by sides - and tried to sleep for the night, beginning the walk out at 7am the next day. It took eight hours to walk to a farm house and raise the alarm.
On the way out, Phipps said he had shot from about 50m away and believed he had seen a deer. His friend had strayed into his shooting area.
Phipps told police he had just settled down to watch a game trail after walking for about two hours, and quickly sighted what he mistook for the head, neck and shoulders of a deer. He fired one shot, saw the victim fall and ran towards it thinking, "sweet ... I got it".
He told police he would never get the sight of his dead friend out of his mind.
"I cuddled Bill, apologised to him and closed his eyes."
Phipps then ran to the river and shouted until he attracted the attention of Lindsay White, offering to end his own life if he wanted, but was told "don't be stupid".
Lindsay White told him it had been a tragic accident and he did not hate him for it.
At the end of the inquest, Mr Roselli said it was well documented that what the eye saw may register as something else in the brain - people anticipating seeing a deer saw A deer when there was none.
He recommended the Firearms Safety Code be strengthened, to read: "all movement, colour, shape or sound should be classed as human, until absolutely proved otherwise," and suggested the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council could recommend the compulsory use of high visibility hats.
- NZPA
