A DALTON-IN-FURNESS based police dog handler was the first person to discover Derrick Bird dead, an inquest heard.
PC David Hollier and his dog Jasper were the first on the scene, and found Bird lying face down in Oak How Woods, near Boot.
PC Hollier was wearing a bulletproof vest and was not armed as Jasper tracked Bird's scent.
He was accompanied by another dog handler and five armed officers as police closed in on Bird.
He told the jury: "We couldn't have known that Derrick Bird was deceased. I was working on the basis that I was going to encounter an armed individual."
Bird was found with his .22 rifle underneath his body and a single gunshot wound to his forehead.
Bird's silencer was also found in the wood minutes before the killer was found.
The inquest also heard that two families who had been holidaying the day before the shootings in Bowness-on-Windermere and Ulpha, near Broughton-in-Furness, encountered Bird as police homed in on him in Boot.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here