DoC says attacks on hunters may be linked

Two attacks on hunters in the Ureweras in the last month are being linked by authorities.

A 20-year-old farm worker was ambushed and mugged while he was hunting in Te Urewera National Park on the East Coast of the North Island late last week.

The Department of Conservation (DoC) said this attack appeared to be connected to an attack on two hunters in the area last month.

Josh Holmes said he was hunting pigs about 6pm 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 gun.

"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."

In May, two hunters were confronted by seven Mongrel Mob members armed with knives who demanded their meat and guns.

DoC Gisborne and Opotiki manager Andy Bassett said the two attacks appeared to be linked and involved local people.

"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.

The two incidents were the first he had heard of in his 35 year career.

- NZPA