Dialogue: Be a sport and identify your target before pulling trigger

By ROSALEEN MACBRAYNE

The cardinal rule for hunters is: "Identify your target."

There's nothing new in that, yet almost every year during the "roar," hunters themselves become the mark, mistaken for deer.

Too often they are shot by sporting mates who must live forever with the anguish of a moment's carelessness.

Such was the tragic case in the central North Island's Ahimanawa Ranges on April 1 when 54-year-old Taupo man Jon Lynch fell prey to a bullet from a friend's powerful rifle.

At the beginning of a five-day, first-of-the-season hunting trip with two close buddies, Lynch was shot in the neck from a distance of about 60 metres.

A holder of numerous Deerstalkers Association trophies, he had been hunting the northern Kaimanawa area between Taupo and Napier for 25 years and safety had always been a high priority.

Graham Walker, 48, was also an experienced - and reportedly a meticulous - outdoorsman. Over 30 years he had shot more than 100 deer.

Now he stands convicted of a charge of careless use of a firearm causing Jon Lynch's death, and awaits sentencing in the Taupo District Court later this month.

A devastated Walker has handed in his rifle and firearms licence to police since the accident and vowed never to hunt again.

It is an all-too-familiar tale in our good-keen-man culture.

Although more emphasis on firearm safety education has reduced the annual average to one fatality, four people were shot in hunting accidents last year. That is on a par with the awful statistics of two decades ago.

How can things still go so badly wrong? Maybe a clue is the number of hunters who insist on wearing full camouflage gear. One wonders who they are trying to hide from - the deer or each other?

Deer are supposed to be colour-blind, so clothing which blends with the surroundings rather defeats the purpose. Hunters are instead disguising themselves from other hunters - a recipe for disaster in the bush if extreme care is not taken to determine exactly what you are firing at.

Emergency services personnel, cyclists and roading workers don fluorescent clothing for protection from danger. And hunters and trampers have increasingly taken to wearing colours that make them less likely to be mistaken for an animal.

It is a trend that should be encouraged further. A hunting expedition is not a dress-up war game.

The Mountain Safety Council says anyone planning to go bush during the roaring season should adopt the motto, "Be safe, be seen." It is good advice.

Most people behave sensibly but there are a few who lose their senses of judgment when they see motion in the distance. Hunters should never shoot at movement only, and should be looking carefully enough to be sure which part of an animal they are aiming at.

The disappointment of missing an opportunity for a trophy bears no comparison to the grief of mistakenly felling a human being.

Firearms need only be loaded when shooting, not when being carried or put away. When not in use, they should be kept secure.

Don't forget to equip yourself with a firearms licence and the right permit if you are going hunting.

Pretty basic stuff, but it needs reinforcing - as does the old adage: "Better safe than sorry."