An Auckland mother says it's unbelievable an experienced hunter could shoot her son dead in the bush at close range.
A Wellington man, Christopher Dummer, pleaded guilty in the Wellington District Court on Friday to the careless use of a firearm causing death.
Cameron McDonald died after being shot in the head in the Aorangi Forest Park near Martinborough at Easter.
Dummer has been bailed and will be sentenced next month.
Mr McDonald's mother, Cyndy McDonald, says she's still can't understand how Dummer could have mistaken her son for a deer.
"He's a man of 26 years' hunting experience," she says. "He was 16.3 metres away from my son with a scope. My son was in a bright orange fluoro beanie - and he was shot in the head! Totally unbelievable [that] a man of his experience could believe that my son Cameron was a deer."
Ms McDonald says the law should be changed to require hunters to properly identify their target.
