Confident it was a deer, he fired, taking the life of a member of his hunting party, 21-year-old Otago man Jock David Grant Davies.
On his first appearance in the Invercargill District Court yesterday, Stevens, 39, pleaded guilty to carelessly using his rifle causing death in July.
The police summary said the party of eight, including Mr Davies’ father and two brothers, had been planning the seven-day hunting trip for about a year.
On July 4 they chartered a boat to Stewart Island, having been permitted to hunt on the South Lords block.
They set up camp at the South Lords hut that evening and dived for pāua, ate dinner, drank alcohol and planned for the next day.
The plan was to split into smaller groups to either hunt or fish.
The next day, after 9am, Stevens, an associate and Mr Davies took a dinghy up Lords River and found a suitable place to beach.
The 21-year-old was to head east, hunting until he reached the hut, and the other two were to hunt in the opposite, westward, direction.
Stevens later told police he had been hunting deer since he was 16, but this was his first time on Stewart Island and hunting white-tailed deer.
He said he was not used to stalking in such thick, challenging bush, and commented on how "gnarly" and "hard-going" the terrain was.
At the time, he discussed turning back with his hunting partner and finding somewhere easier to shoot, he said.
But the two continued walking for some time before stopping to rest on a fallen tree, each facing in opposite directions.
Stevens heard a shuffling noise approximately 20m away, which he said sounded like a kiwi scratching.
Then, he saw a "dark shadowy image" walk through the bush which he described as brown and bigger than a sheep but smaller than a red deer.
Confident it was a white-tailed deer, he quickly chambered a round and fired a single "telescopically-aimed" shot of his .308 calibre Tikka rifle, the summary said.
He then bush-bashed to where he believed the deer to be and discovered he had shot the victim, dressed in camouflage clothing.
Stevens later told police that the last thing he expected to see was Mr Davies.
He said it was a "dumb move" shooting through the bush without identifying his target, describing the tragedy as "a fail".
At 10.44am that day the Ashburton builder activated the emergency position-indicating radio beacons notifying the Rescue Co-ordination Centre.
A HeliOtago air ambulance was dispatched from Mosgiel about 11am, arriving at Stewart Island about 1pm, where Mr Davies was declared dead.
In court, counsel Grant Fletcher entered a guilty plea for his client and said the man was "more than willing" to engage in restorative justice.
The Otago Daily Times understands the family of the deceased was present in one side of the gallery, and a support person for Stevens on the other.
The 39-year-old was remanded at large on bail and due for sentencing in March.
Mr Davies was from a well-known Tapanui family and had survived two battles with cancer.
When the cancer recurred in 2018, the then 14-year-old stayed at Ronald McDonald House in Auckland for three months and received a bone marrow transplant.
