Two hunters and a farmer investigating the sound of a rifle shot found a poacher hiding, cuddled up to a dead deer near Bruce Bay early yesterday.
Constable Rob Manera said two locals heard shots go off near a farm at Jacobs River, about 4am. They drove to the farm house, roused the farmer from his bed.
They located a suspiciously parked vehicle and spoke to its driver, who offered a "weak explanation", Mr Manera said.
Suspecting a second person nearby, the trio drove across the farm paddock toward the bush edge and found a second man "cuddled up to a dead deer" in the long grass.
He made a quick apology, scrambled over the fence and ran off down the road. In the morning, police spoke to a Christchurch man, 49, and a Queenstown man, 44, at their hunting camp at Lake Paringa.
