Canadian Fur Bearer Cycles and Cree-Ojibwa Hunting and Trapping Practices

Abstract

Hutchinson (1975) has recently suggested that the study of population cycles is one area of ecological inquiry where theory and data have not always interacted to produce satisfactory explanations. One difficulty may be that a major part of the data available, fur trade statistics, provides evidence of a different kind than has been, until recently, assumed. In this paper I have attempted to substantiate in qualified form a hypothesis presented by Weinstein (1977) and independently by Winterhalder (1977) pertinent to this difficulty. It states that cyclic or fluctuating pelt counts of boreal region species are partially a result of differential foraging by native trappers, and for many species are not directly indicative of population fluctuations. Three conditions necessary to this interpretation were established: (1) Hare were important in the diet of the Cree-Ojibwa, (2) they could be effectively and efficiently obtained when abundant, and (3) the quest for food-producing species, including hare, had p...