Dunedin septuagenarian has returned from the bush armed with what he believes is a vital piece of evidence that proves moose are still roaming Fiordland.
Retired signwriter Alan Peat, who has been looking for moose in Fiordland since 1972, finished his latest 80-day stint around Wet Jacket Arm earlier this month.
"I get on fairly well with myself ... when I start talking to the trees and they start talking back it is time to go."
What set his latest trip apart was the discovery of a tuft of hair found on the west side of the Henry Burn on January 4.
"It is pretty rough country. I was up to my knees in mud and spotted up on a bank this tree, with a branch snapped as long as my arm," he told the Otago Daily Times last week.
Closer inspection revealed the bark of a mahoe tree - more than 2.2m off the ground - had been stripped.
"It was the hair that caught my eye."
Mr Peat said he removed around 50 dark brown hairs up to 10cm in length from the tree, and had given them to "moose man" Ken Tustin, of Bull Creek.
Asked what he would do if the hairs were confirmed as coming from a moose, Mr Peat replied - "I will keep looking".
He said he was not interested in the $100,000 reward offered by clothing retailer Hallensteins for anyone who took a photograph of a wild moose, one of which has not been taken in this country since 1952.
Ten Canadian moose - six females and four males - were released at Supper Cove, Dusky Sound, Fiordland, on April 6, 1910.
The latest suspected moose specimens were sent to a Hamilton company, which would pass them on to specialists in Ontario, Canada, Mr Tustin said.
Mr Tustin remained optimistic about the latest find, but said his hopes had been dashed before.
"But hats off to him for dedication," he said.
