Warning: Graphic images are in the following video of Max Verschuuren describing the moment he was accidentally shot by a friend on Saturday night.
A wounded hunter has described the moment he was accidentally shot by a friend on Saturday night - a feeling he likened to having a "hot, sharp metal rod" smashed across his back.
Max Verschuuren could only scream "f**k off... you've shot me, I'm shot, I'm shot" after his hunting party mistook his head-mounted light for a deer's eyes while the group of four adults and two youngsters were out spotlighting in the Nukuhou area of Whakatane on Saturday night.
Speaking to the Herald from his bed at Whakatane Hospital, the 21-year-old Dannevirke farmworker has also described the moment he had to make a midnight phone call to his father - a firearms instructor - and tell him the news.
The incident unfolded after the group pulled their ute up alongside a clearing, where they had spotted a deer up a nearby slip.
Mr Verschuuren, taking his turn to shoot, lined the deer up with his rifle and then shot it, before the animal rolled down the hill.
Wearing a dim headlight, Mr Verschuuren, along with a friend carrying a hand-held spotlight, set out across a river and toward the hill to find the deer.
While the others at the ute kept the vehicle-mounted spotlight shining on the hill, Mr Verschuuren clambered up the steep slope then yelled back to the group for directions to the deer.
"Then they yelled out, wait there bro, but they must have still thought I was down at the river... and I guess they'd seen the bright light on my head and thought it was the reflection of the deer's eye in the spotlight."
He stood halfway up the slope for 30 seconds, waiting for more directions, and then began taking his boots off to empty the stones and dirt from them.
"Then next minute, I heard a bang and it felt like someone just stood behind me with a hot, sharp metal rod and just smashed it across my back," he said.
"The next thing I was thinking was, holy s**t, I've been shot."
At that point, he screamed at his friends not to shoot again.
He recalled feeling a stream of warm liquid running down his back, and soaking through the singlet, t-shirt, jersey and jacket he was wearing.
Had he not been bending over at the moment the bullet from the 270. rifle struck him, he believed the shot would have struck him through the chest or stomach.
"I just screamed, f**k off, you've shot me, I'm shot, I'm shot, and I just kind of fell down the hill and got back to my mate down at the bottom."
His friend carried him across the river, as the rest of the group began running toward him.
"They were just all freaked out... one of my mates came running straight down the scrub and got to the other side waiting for me, while the other boys, I could just hear them yelling and screaming.
"None of us really knew how bad it was and I didn't want to know either, otherwise I would have gone into shock."
His friends stripped the clothing from his upper body, then drove him from the scene in the ute before raising the alarm.
Mr Verschuuren said because of the nature of the call-out, armed police had to ensure it was safe before ambulance officers could treat him.
"I was just keeping my cool and I think I handled it quite well."
At Whakatane Hospital, doctors were able to clean his wound then apply stitches.
At midnight, he phoned his father, Cambridge-based firearms instructor Martin Verschuuren, to tell him what had happened.
"He thought I was just ringing up on the piss again, but I told I'd been shot, and he said, you're kidding, and I said, no, I never said I was joking... and that kind of shocked him a bit."
Mr Verschuuren posted photos of his wound on social media. Photo / supplied
Mr Verschuuren acknowledged the incident had come dangerously close to becoming a tragedy - and he noted the parallels to the killing of Hutt Valley teacher Rosemary Ives near Turangi in 2010, after hunter Andrew Mears misidentified her headlamp for a deer while illegally spotlighting with friends.
"You just never think it would happen to you... s**t no."
He wanted the shooting to serve as a reminder to other hunters to know their surroundings and identify their targets before firing.
"Just remember the seven rules of the Firearms Code - the main one being identifying your target beyond all doubt - and just watch out for your mates.... even if there was a deer there above and we were standing on the river, there shouldn't have been anyone shooting."
The friend who had shot him was feeling "real cut-up" about the incident - he hadn't slept since and had visited him several times in hospital, he said.
"He's just a normal, smart, mature guy. I said to the police I didn't want to press charges but they said it's not up to me at the end of the day, it's up to the justice system."
In a statement, police described the incident as a reminder to "all hunters about the importance of following the seven cardinal rules of the Arms Code, and also a reminder that no hunting trophy is worth having to live with the consequences of killing a mate".
"Not following this basic advice could lead to the loss of a firearms licence and criminal charges. "Even worse, a failure to adhere to the rules could result in your living with the knowledge that you killed or serious injured a friend or fellow hunter."
The Seven Rules of the Firearms Code Rule 1: Treat every firearm as loaded Rule 2: Always point firearms in a safe direction Rule 3: Load a firearm only when ready to fire Rule 4: Identify your target beyond all doubt Rule 5: Check your firing zone Rule 6: Store firearms and ammunition safely Rule 7: Avoid alcohol and drugs when handling firearms
