Waiting for a deer? – watch for the South Island kōkako too! | New Zealand Deerstalkers Association Inc

$10,000 up for grabs

Waiting for a deer? – watch for the South Island kōkako too!

From the South Island Kōkako Charitable Trust

We are convinced that people who are really in tune with the forest and who venture to places away from existing tracks and trails—deer hunters—know that South Island kōkako still exist. We believe deer hunters have seen and heard this bird. This article is a plea from the South Island Kōkako Charitable Trust (SIKCT) to all hunters, to let us know where you have seen or heard what you think are South Island kōkako.

The SIKCT is an official charitable trust made up of a group of volunteers who believe South Island kōkako exist. We are not affiliated with any conservation group or the Department of Conservation. Some volunteers have been on the quest to find this bird since the 1970s and some are hunters who regularly hunt and spend time in remote forests of South and Stewart Island. We are all convinced that the bird still exists and our group volunteer their time to find ways to get photographic proof. The trust’s only goal is to prove that the South Island kōkako is not extinct. Our search has attracted international attention, highlighting the significance of finding these birds.

The trust has a reward of $10,000 to go to anyone who can provide the proof we need. Many of you are aware of this as we have posters of the reward campaign in many backcountry huts. We endeavour to follow up every sighting that is credible and we have a database of encounter reports that we share on our interactive map. Have a look and you will see why we are still very enthusiastic. Despite all the hundreds of reports, we still don’t have the photograph we need.

Why do we want hunters to help us? Because hunters spend a lot of time in remote places, they spend a lot of time looking and a lot of time sitting and observing while in the forests. Most of our observations are from trampers, both local and from overseas. These people have seen or heard an unusual bird and usually these are chance encounters. And as you know, trampers spend most of their time walking, ‘head down and bum up’ as they say. Hunters, on the other hand, are always looking and we are convinced if trampers have encountered these birds, hunters definitely have.

Our hunter members are aware that, as hunters, they are very protective of their ‘secret possies’ and ‘hot spots’ and so may be reluctant to provide any information that may give these away. They are also aware that hunters fear, if a rare bird is reported in any of these key areas, then DOC or another conservation authority will either: close the area; poison the area; swamp the area with researchers, or all of these things.

The South Island Kōkako Charitable Trust is well aware of these fears. It is also aware that without information from hunters, it is unlikely that this bird will be found. The SIKCT would like to know how to bring hunters on board. We also want to know how we can work together to get this information and satisfy any fears the hunter has around providing this information. In other words, how can you help us, how can you provide information to us, and how should we treat your information in a way that ensures you feel comfortable about it.

The SIKCT wants to either work with individual hunters or hunter organisations to get sightings information and work together to get proof that precious South Island kōkako still exist... also, we want someone to claim the $10,000 reward! Could it be you?!

Find our website: www.southislandkokako.org
Get in touch: info@southislandkokako.org
Report an encounter: https://www.southislandkokako.org/encounters

Thank you for your valuable help, check out the info sheet below.