Visitors to the southern parts of Coromandel Forest Park and landowners with adjacent properties are being urged to report deer sightings as an eradication operation gets underway.
Coromandel has traditionally been deer-free and is not a recreational deer hunting area. However, aerial surveillance conducted by DOC in 2025 revealed a deer herd – prompting a new work programme to remove the animals from the southern tract of the Coromandel Forest Park.
DOC's Hauraki-Waikato-Taranaki Regional Director Tinaka Mearns says the surveillance confirmed a staff suspicion deer were in the forest park – and acting decisively to remove them is essential.
"Deer damage native forests by feeding on forest plants, trees, and seedlings. This has a flow on impact to resilience of the forest and land stability."
"For some time, DOC and its partners have strived to keep Coromandel deer-free. We aim to maintain the wild-deer-free area to reduce pressure on native plants and habitats."
In Coromandel, deer presence is a particular concern as the animals are a suspected vector for kauri disease. Coromandel has thousands of taonga kauri, and the disease is already present in some locations – so stopping its spread is vital.
Work to remove the deer will start this month, with communication to adjacent landowners, Tinaka says.
"For wild deer management operations to be effective we need to work across both public and private land.
"Landowners will be notified prior to the start of hunting operations. We'll also ensure we obtain a written permission from landowners to carry out our deer management operations on their properties.
The first phase of work will include further surveillance work by experienced contract hunters.
"The surveillance will determine the presence and distribution of the deer, and will be followed by targeted hunting to remove the animals."
Landowners can help by immediately reporting any fallow and red deer they encounter on their properties as soon as possible so we can arrange for a quick hunter response.
People going about usual activities such as farming or pig hunting can also shoot any deer they see in Coromandel Forest Park or on adjacent land (with permission), if safe to do so. DOC would welcome information on these types of deer encounters or removal.
The general public and visitors naturing in the forest park can help by reporting deer sightings in the southern area of the Coromandel Forest Park to 0800 DOC HOT.
The work starting this month will also ascertain if the deer have established a breeding population, and what ongoing resource will be needed for eradication.
"With the ongoing commitment of resource, and the support of landowners and the wider public, we believe we can remove this deer herd from Coromandel," Tinaka says.
"This work is important to prevent long-term ecological damage and reduce future management costs to keep Coromandel deer-free."
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