The death of a Dunedin hunter in rugged West Otago terrain was a terrible accident, a coroner has found.
Katrina "Kate" Anne Aynsley, 48, and her partner Gregory Fagg were hunting in the Blue Mountains Conservation Area on June 3, 2023, when Ms Aynsley died, possibly when her rifle discharged accidentally following a fall.
Coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale said no-one saw what happened to Ms Aynsley but police and Mountain Safety Council investigations — which both suggested Ms Aynsley probably slipped and fell — were helpful and set out possible trains of events.
"This was a terrible accident in the context of a hazardous sport undertaken in perilous terrain," she said.
Ms Aynsley worked as an administrator at Target Accounting in Dunedin. She had one son and was engaged to be married in February 2024 to her partner of four years, Mr Fagg.
She was an experienced hunter, a regular contributor to hunting magazines, and a host of women’s hunts for the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association.
The couple had won a ballot to enter and shoot on the Tramway Block of Department of Conservation land and were hunting separately, but in radio contact, when the accident happened.
The pair left Blue Mountain Lodge, arriving at the forest at 8am, both equipped with Marlin 30/30 rifles, GPS communication devices and were accompanied by their hunting dogs.
The block’s terrain was steep, covered in beech forest and, because of its undulating hills, had limited visibility.
Intending to shoot fallow deer, they split up to cover more ground when they heard a buck deer barking, then go silent.
Ms Aynsley radioed her partner and said: "The buck is on the other side of the creek. I’m just going to sit here and see what he does."
Twenty minutes later Mr Fagg heard a shot and, after multiple attempts to contact his partner via radio, returned to her last-known location 350m away.
He looked and called for her for 45 minutes before heading uphill, checking the skid site and road.
Then he went back down by a creek, where he called for Ms Aynsley’s dog, Mia, who eventually came and led him to Ms Aynsley’s body.
He made his way back to the road and contacted emergency services.
Coroner Borrowdale said police analysis of each of the couple’s GPS devices confirmed these movements.
Ms Aynsley was found face down, with her head pointing downhill, 10m above a creek on a damp and slippery slope.
Her rifle was 3m away, with three rounds of ammunition, the safety turned off and its scope cover was up.
In his postmortem examination, forensic pathologist Dr Victor Weedn found Ms Aynsley had a gunshot wound entering the underside of her chin.
He estimated Ms Aynsley’s rifle barrel had fired from a distance of approximately 7cm.
It was unlikely the wound was intentionally self-inflicted, as those were usually contact wounds, he said.
Police armourer Nicholas Wyatt examined the rifle and found it to be without fault, but that it could accidentally discharge with the safety off if there was a sharp blow to its hammer.
Detective Constable Shazmeen Khan said the terrain where Ms Aynsley was found was covered in broken branches and debris and was wet and slippery.
He said due to the steepness and slipperiness of the surface, he had to grab on to branches as he made his way to her body.
Coroner Borrowdale said she was persuaded by this evidence and an investigation by the Mountain Safety Council that the deceased was hunting in very difficult terrain.
Ms Aynsley was likely to have been preparing to shoot a deer and had removed the safety catch, which allowed for the rifle to be fired accidentally, as she fell or fumbled with the weapon, the coroner said.
