TRAGIC DEATH
DEER STALKER SHOT
P.A. GREYMOUTH, Dec. 23. Eli James Dove, aged 27, a carpenter, of Hokitika, died in the Westland Hospital this evening from a bullet wound accidentally received last Sunday evening in the bush, when, with a fellow stalker, Murray Allan, he was skinning a deer. The circumstances of the accident were related by Andrew Tinetti, a mill worker, who was at the time also out with a rifle, and when his dog prowled into the bush and he saw the undergrowth move. Tinetti fired, only to find on going forward that the bullet had entered Dove’s left side, penetrating to the right side above the hip. Tinetti ran eight miles to summon a doctor and an ambulance, and the sufferer was brought to hospital. -Press, 24/12/1948.
DEATH OF DEER STALKER
SHOT NEAR ARAHURA RIVER
CORONER’S RIDER ON CLOTHES WORN BY SHOOTERS
An inquest into the death of Eli Alexander Dove, who died in the Westland Hospital on December 23, from injuries received when he was shot while deerstalking on December 21, was held before the Coroner (Mr R. Paterson), at Hokitika recently.
M. A. Allan, who accompanied Dove, said that he and Dove were dressed in blue trousers and khaki shirts. He, himself, was wearing a black beret and Dove a khaki one.
While he and Dove were in a clearing after skinning a deer, a shot rang out nearby, and Dove spun around and fell to the ground. Realising that his companion was shot, he threw himself to the ground and called out, after which a man whom he identified as Andrew Antonio Tinetti arrived.
Allan also stated that, although the sun had not set, shadows cast by it would make visibility difficult for shooting.
Andrew Antonio Tinetti, a bushman, of Milltown, Lake Kanieri, stated that he went deerstalking on the evening of December 21 in the direction of the Arahura river. Near a clearing, where he had previously shot deer, his dog stopped and pointed with a foreleg. He immediately saw a movement, which to him resembled a deer, and at a range of approximately 30 yards he fired his .303 rifle at the moving object. He ran forward when he heard a call of “Break it down, you have shot my mate.” He found Dove lying on the ground with a wound in his side, and when Allan suggested going to Humphreys for assistance he thought it quicker to go to Lake Kanieri Post Office, five miles away. He left immediately and sent a message from there for medical attention and to the police.
Constable R. G. Busch, of Kanieri, said that at 9 p.m. on December 21 he received information from Hokitika about the accident, and that Dr. Kelvin and Sergeant Hansen, of Hokitika, were on their way to the scene of the accident
“I find that Dove died at the Westland Hospital on December 23 from shock, after internal injuries caused by a gun-shot wound received at Arahura riverbed on December 21.
The Coroner wished to commend those who assisted to bring Dove from a very difficult locality.
Coroner’s Rider “I would like some form of publicity to be given by the appropriate authorities, advising and instructing all shooters to make sure before they shoot that they can see the full outline of the animal, and not to shoot before they are absolutely sure that the object is not a human being,” said the Coroner, in a rider to his verdict.
“Attention should also be drawn by the authorities to the fact that many persons go deerstalking dressed in the wrong kind of clothing, such as khaki and similar colours, which, in the distance, resemble the colouring of deer and cause confusion,” he said.
“I feel sure that many accidents could be avoided if the authorities could give some form of publicity to instruct and educate shooters in these matters,” concluded the Coroner. -Perss, 2/2/1948.
Hokitika Cemetery.
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