A trio of wild red deer stags make their way across mountainous terrain in Canterbury's High Country. Hunting has been banned under lockdown. (file photo)

A ban on hunting under Covid-19 alert level 3 has been described as an "error" by the finance minister, as the Government comes under pressure to allow the activity.

Hunting had been deemed risky and was banned under the lockdown, and according to Government advice issued on Thursday, the outdoor activity would remain banned.

But it appears Government ministers are now reconsidering such a ban.

New Zealand remains in a four-week lockdown for at least another five days, and on Thursday Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern detailed what a climb down from Covid-19 alert level 4 to level 3 might look like.

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At a Friday press conference, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the ban on hunting under level 3 was an "error".

GERALD TELFORD/STUFF Deer at Lake Hawea. (file photo)

"There isn't a ban on hunting. What there is, is a piece of work that's underway at the moment to assess whether or not it can safely go ahead level three. I believe the website may have had an error on it yesterday, that said that hunting was banned," he said.

Robertson said the Government was working on the basis that, to keep people as safe as possible, only low-risk activities were permitted.

"Clearly hunting, for fairly obvious reasons, has some high risks attached to it. But if it can be done safely that's what we're now assessing, and that will be finished as we come into early next week."

FIONA GOODALL/STUFF NZ First MP Shane Jones said he had been "plastered" by people in the Far North wanting to fish and hunt, a call he supported

In the hours after Robertson fronted the press, hunting was still listed as a banned activity on the Government's Covid-19 website.

NZ First MP Shane Jones said he had been "plastered" by people in the Far North wanting to fish and hunt, a call he supported.

"I have no formal responsibility, other than as a Cabinet minister when we look at the options, but as a NZ First MP I realise that these calls [to ban hunting] have been made by the medical boffins," he told Stuff.

Often people in rural and Māori communities would live off the land, Jones said, and "metropolitian-based health decisions" may wrongly calculate the risk posed by hunting and fishing in provincial New Zealand.

"I understand the anxieties of the hunting community, I myself have been like a Captain Cooker boar prowling my boundary fence looking for a hole to tentatively escape."

The Government has been lobbied to allow hunting by the New Zealand Deerstalkers' Association, which in a statement said hunting was relatively "safe" when compared to the number of injuries caused by mountain biking, which would be permitted.

ACT MP David Seymour, taking the side of the hunters, said in a statement it was "illogical" to ban hunting but permit statistically riskier activities such as swimming.

"Hunting is a safe activity. Any risks can be minimised if hunters go with people in their bubble, don't take learners, take time-limited trips, leave notices of intentions, and take forms of emergency contact with them," he said.

The type of recreation permitted under lockdown had initially caused confusion, with mixed messages from government officials leaving people unsure whether they could drive to the beach or a nearby park.

The new level 3 restrictions announced Thursday specified that low-risk activities will be permitted as long as they are non-motorised, meaning there will be no boating but swimming and surfing would again be allowed.

A day hike or mountain bike would be permitted if it was within a person's region and an easy trail.

Ardern and her Cabinet will decide on Monday whether New Zealand will leave lockdown at midnight the following Wednesday, April 22, or whether the most restrictive measure will be extended.