Police have launched a criminal investigation after a 25-year-old hunter was shot dead by a member of another hunting party.
Police yesterday named the man as Adam David Hill, a Western Southland dairy farmer.
He is survived by his partner and two young children.
Mr Hill was shot about 11.30am on Sunday while hunting with friends in the Longwood Forest, about 50km west of Invercargill.
He died at the scene.
He was shot in the chest by a high-powered rifle belonging to a member of another hunting party, also from Western Southland, Detective Sergeant Mark McCloy, of Invercargill, said.
''His friends are pretty distraught.''
The groups were unknown to each other, he said.
Emergency services were called to the remote but popular hunting area at 1.30pm after one of Mr Hill's friends raised the alarm.
A medic from Te Anau, along with police, were winched into the area by helicopter and recovered the body of the hunter.
Det Sgt McCloy said police were treating the matter as a criminal investigation and charges were possible.
An investigation would determine the range at which the man had been shot. It was unclear whether Mr Hill had been wearing high-visibility clothing.
Police were yet to interview all members of both parties.
In a statement, Mr Hill's family thanked the community for their support but requested privacy.
A postmortem was conducted in Invercargill yesterday.
Det Sgt McCloy said the incident was a timely reminder for hunters to ''identify your target''.
''If in doubt, do not fire.''
