A man who shot and killed his friend on a night-time hunting trip had earlier smoked cannabis

Open Justice reports Mark Kelvin Jefferson first told police Stuart Stobie had shot himself in the Timberlands Forest, west of Minginui, in March.

Three days later he confessed he'd accidentally shot him - and admitted smoking cannabis before heading out hunting.

At the High Court at Hamilton today, Justice Andrew Becroft says Jefferson hadn't held a firearm licence since 2008 and was illegally hunting in the dark.

He's sentenced him to three years in jail.