The Mountain Safety Council believes the Firearms Safety Code could be made clearer to say that if hunting companions become separated the hunt should stop.
A coroner, Wallace Bain, has released his findings into the fatal shooting of James Dodds by his friend, Henry Worsp, south of Rotorua last September.
He has recommended the code be changed to include the rule that once hunting companions are separated the hunt stops and can only be resumed once sight of each other is confirmed.
The council's acting programme manager for firearms and hunter safety, Tracy Wakeford, says the code already says never fire when companions are ahead of the rifle, especially when a shooter has lost sight of them.
She says in the past three years there have been six deaths involving deer hunting, three of which were cases of people shooting their hunting mates.
Dr Bain refers to his 2007 findings in the inquest into the hunting death of William Gillies, in which he recommended that neither hunter should fire unless they have visual contact with their companion.
He has also recommended that statutory charges available to authorities be urgently reviewed and hunters get more education about high-visibility clothing.
