KOHAT: The hunting season of chakor has started in the mountains astride Darra Adamkhel here.

The revered national bird chakor (Alectoris chukar) is available in two breeds of local called Watani and Kabuli. The latter is smuggled from Afghanistan and comparatively expensive. The Kabuli breed is in demand for its beautiful loud voice, height and big rounded head.

The bird is valued because Pirs and the people believe that it keeps the demons and affect of bad amulets away from a person, shop or a house.

Shahid, an official of wildlife office, said that rocky, steep and dry areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan were the natural habitat of chakor. The bird has red legs, brown beak and breast and dark feathers. It is difficult for hunters to catch for its vertical flight and sudden disappearance in bushes, the best hiding place for it matching ground colour.

The smuggling of Kabuli (Afghani) variety is also in full swing and three to four pairs are brought to the birds market daily through Torkham border. But with the passage of time Konks are now being hatched in farms. They are fatty and mingle with the owner at an early stage, said Mohammad Nawaz who owns a shop in the birds market.

The hunters seize Watani (local) ones by freeing a female pet in the mountains as bait which starts calling and attracts the males. When they come to the ground a net trap is ready which is put on them.

The chicks have hatched and these days it is easy to capture the females with its six to eight siblings. They are sold for very handsome price. The female is kept for netting. Away from the mother hardly one or two chicks survive and others perish due to diseases and killing by house cats. In the wild too the chicks and even older ones accompanying them are eaten by fox and jackals found abundant in the Kohat mountains, he added.

The captured birds change many hands and are sold to wholesale dealer for Rs1,000 a chukar konk. It is bought by a retailer, only Watani, for Rs1,500. As there are lovers of Konk because it needs immense care and time to train it for making calls the shopkeepers have to wait for days to find one. For the Pakistani or Watani type the bird lovers could fetch Rs1,500 for it.

Haji Gul Agha, who has the largest business in the market and travels every week to Afghanistan to bring in Konks, said that he had just brought two pairs and sold them to a shopkeeper at a reasonable profit. He said that two to three dozens of pairs were always available in Karkhano market in Peshawar, but it was hard to bring them here by hiding them from the wildlife staff.

In case of both Watani and Kabuli if the bird starts making voices their prices could shoot up to as high as Rs25,000. Some people have adopted it as a business and after training wild Konks sell them for big profits. In Kohat, the Watani Konks are mostly captured by Afghan refugees living in Ghamkol area near the Darra Adamkhel mountains. Though capturing or killing chakor is strictly prohibited, the business goes on.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2017