Hunters almost shoot cop

Photo / File

Hunters keen for some target practice came close to shooting a Hokitika policeman at a vacant property.

The police officer was checking that a house at Pukekura on the West Coast had not been broken into on Friday when two men decided the property was a good place to sight their rifles ahead of a heli-hunting trip to Haast.

The men, from Christchurch and Morrinsville, climbed over a sign-posted fence, mistaking the driveway for a forestry track.

As they set up a paper target, they were unaware that Constable Jason Martin's patrol car was just 20m further up the driveway - in the line of fire.

"They set themselves up ready to go, unaware I was already checking that the property had not been broken into," Mr Martin said.

"I must admit it gave me a bit of a fright when I drove round the corner to find a man standing, pointing a gun where my car had been just on the opposite side of the bushes."

The men were charged with being unlawfully on private property and had their firearms and firearms licenses seized.

They appeared in Greymouth District Court on Tuesday and were remanded to their local courts for possible diversion.