A hunter was disappointed to find dead white-tailed deer with 1080 bait in their stomachs in an area where deer repellent was used during a recent aerial poison drop.
The 1080 drop was part of a Department of Conservation (Doc) and Zero Invasive Predators (Zip) operation to kill feral cats endangering the southern dotterel/pukunui population on Stewart Island/Rakiura.
In phase one of the operation, completed last week, poisoned bait was dropped on a 6500ha trial area.
Bait with deer repellent was dropped in the hunting blocks within the trial area.
Stewart Island resident Mike Douglass said he spent four days walking about the Rakeahua Valley to see the results of the poisoning.
He walked in areas where bait with and without deer repellent was laid on July 6.
What he had discovered on his 13km walk in each zone was only a "snapshot" of the whole area where bait had been laid, Mr Douglass said.
He found a dead spiker deer and two does in the hunting block.
"They were all about 50 kilos in weight."
Two deer looked like they had lain down and died but the other had foam in its nose and bloodshot eyes.
When he opened up the deer stomachs he found a whole pellet and also clumps of what looked like broken up bait.
There was no way of knowing if the bait contained deer repellent or not, he said.
Another unknown was how many deer there were in the area to figure out what proportion had died. He took samples from the stomach and back leg of each deer, which would be analysed by Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research.
While he expected some deer would eat the bait despite the repellent, it was still disappointing to find them dead, he said.
"That’s one of the reasons I like living here and if there were no deer at all that would be a loss to me."
He also found dead possums, rats and one tomtit and had sent samples away for testing.
"We didn’t find any dead cats."
He had formerly worked for Doc and was familiar with the area, he said.
"It’s probably worth noting that the bird life was what I remember it being like."
Zip operations director Duncan Kay said the operation was a chance to measure the effectiveness of deer repellent in reducing the impact of 1080 on white-tailed deer on the island.
"It is acknowledged that deer repellent is unlikely to prevent all deer deaths."
Once the information had been analysed it would be used in future operations on the island and be shared with the community, Mr Kay said.
