Understanding Determinants of Hunting Trip Productivity in an Arctic Community

Angus W Naylor,Peter Collings,James D Ford,Tristan Pearce,David Fawcett,Sherilee L Harper

doi:10.3389/fsufs.2021.688350

Abstract

We examine factors underlying hunting productivity among Inuit in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories, Canada. Specifically, we focus on the role of gasoline use as the main variable of interest—commonly cited as a crucial determinant of hunting participation. Over the course of 12 months, 10 hunters recorded their on-the-land activities using a GPS tracking system, participatory mapping sessions, and bi-weekly interviews. A multivariable linear regression model (MvLRM) was applied to assess whether factors such as consumables used (i.e. heating fuel, gasoline, oil, food), distances traveled, or the number of companions on a trip were associated with the mass of edible foods returned to the community. Results indicate that, despite being positively associated with hunting trip productivity when assessed through a univariable linear regression model, gasoline is not a statistically significant determinant of standalone trip yield when adjusting for other variables in a multivariable linear regression. Instead, factors relating to seasonality, number of companions, and days on the land emerged as more significant and substantive drivers of productivity while out on the land. The findings do not suggest that access to, or the availability of, gasoline does not affect whether a hunting trip commences or is planned, nor that an increase in the amount of gasoline available to a hunter might increase the frequency of trips (and therefore annual productivity). Rather, this work demonstrates that the volume of gasoline used by harvesters on standalone hunting trips represent a poor a priori predictor of the edible weight that harvesters are likely to return to the community.

Highlights

Subsistence practices and their ideological foundations have retained critical importance to Inuit in Arctic Canada, despite the profound social, ecological, and economic changes of the past half century (Ready, 2019; Wenzel, 2019)
Once a hunting trip commences, how might the time of year at which it takes place, the amount of gasoline used by harvesters, the number of harvesters in a group, or the duration over which hunters are on the land affect trip success?
We do not explore how access to gasoline affects whether a hunting trip is planned or commences, nor whether gasoline access increases the frequency of trips; rather, we quantitatively examine whether the volume of gasoline used by harvesters on standalone hunting trips is associated with the edible weight that hunting parties harvest

Summary

Introduction

Subsistence practices and their ideological foundations have retained critical importance to Inuit in Arctic Canada, despite the profound social, ecological, and economic changes of the past half century (Ready, 2019; Wenzel, 2019). Inuit Hunting Productivity, Ulukhaktok, NT indispensable to the function of “mixed cash-subsistence” economies that typify many Arctic communities and are crucial to Northern food security (Usher, 1976; Wolfe, 1984; Ready and Power, 2018). Previous research identifying determinants of hunting productivity in the Arctic in the context of mixed economies has focused on the characteristics of hunters as individuals and the ways these might influence hunting success and participation. Despite hunters infrequently traveling or hunting alone, little scholarship has assessed how the activities of harvesters as a collective group and the specific characteristics of their hunting trips (e.g., number of hunters in a group, volume of supplies used), might affect their productivity. Once a hunting trip commences, how might the time of year at which it takes place, the amount of gasoline used by harvesters, the number of harvesters in a group, or the duration over which hunters are on the land affect trip success?

Methods

Results

Conclusion