Hunter's vigil over dead pal

Ewan Maxwell was a prominent member of the Queenstown community. Photo / Supplied

A hunter has told of an agonising night spent with the body of a dead friend in the South Island wilderness.

Roman Kafrda, 34, spent about 21 hours next to the body of hunting companion Ewan Richard Maxwell, 55, who had fallen 100m in mountainous terrain near Fox Glacier on January 7.

The Queenstown men had been hunting tahr in the remote Cook Valley since January 4.

"It was steep. I was about 10m ahead of him. I just heard him tumbling and looked back and he wasn't there. He was sliding, tumbling over the bluff," Kafrda said.

He activated his locator beacon and scrambled down the 100m to where Maxwell had come to rest.

Police have said Maxwell, a father of five, died from the injuries suffered in the fall.

"I gathered his stuff and dragged it back up and stayed with him overnight. I thought someone would come but they didn't," Kafrda said.

"I went to Ewan just to be with him. I tried to signal a few choppers passing a long way off. But that didn't work and I knew what I had to do."

The next morning, he set off to raise the alarm. It took him eight hours to cross 8km of the steepest terrain in the area. He was well prepared with locator beacons, GPS equipment and food.

Maxwell's body was recovered by rescue helicopter a week ago.

Originally from the Czech Republic, Kafrda had been good friends with Maxwell for about four years and they worked together at Queenstown's Print Central.

"I was quite close to him," he said. "We had spent lots of time together. We went tramping everywhere - Fiordland, Westland, around Queenstown. We had been around that area before.

"There was just such a big place in my heart for Ewan and spending time with his family now is helping me get through it. He was a great man. He had time for everyone. He would never let anyone down."

Maxwell's wife, Jan, said she would always be grateful to Kafrda. "Roman did an amazing job bringing him home to us," she said. "It was a huge call for him so I am thankful. He stayed with him and took care of him for us. He's part of our family now."

She said she had never worried about her husband's hunting trips.

He was taught outdoor pursuits, including hunting, by his father at a young age and never took risks.

"Sometimes you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time." She said Maxwell was a great husband, father and grandfather.

"He was a good listener. Everybody just loved him and he never had a bad word to say about anybody.

"Nothing couldn't be sorted once he put his arms around me."

Maxwell was a past president of the Rotary Club of Queenstown and coached Queenstown's senior women's hockey team.

He is survived by Jan, their children, Amy, 29, Danielle, 28, Rachel, 25, Tom, 22, and Sam, 15, and grandsons Reuben, 3, Angelo Dale, 1, and Jaykib, 2.

His children spoke and performed musical tributes to their father at his public memorial service in the Queenstown Memorial Hall yesterday.