Hunting Use Research Articles

The Persistence of Aboriginal Land Use: Fish and Wildlife Harvest Areas in the Hudson and James Bay Lowland, Ontario

The question of the extent and importance of contemporary aboriginal land use in the Canadian North remains controversial, despite more than 20 studies undertaken since the mid-1970s to document Native land claims and to assess impacts of development projects. In planning a community and regional development strategy that takes into account traditional land use and economy, methodologies were developed for a computer-based, integrated land use and wildlife harvest study that could be applied over large geographic areas. Wildlife harvesting areas used in 1990 by the aboriginal people of the Mushkegowuk region, Hudson and James Bay Lowland, were documented by interviewing 925 hunters from eight communities (Moose Factory, Moosonee, New Post, Fort Albany, Kashechewan, Attawapiskat, Peawanuck and Fort Severn). Results show that geographically extensive land use for hunting and fishing persists in the Mushkegowuk region, some 250 000 sq km. However, the activity pattern of Omushkego (West Main) Cree harvesters has changed much over the decades; contemporary harvesting involves numerous short trips of a few days' duration instead of the traditional long trips. Although the First Nations control only 900 sq km (0.36% of the region) as Indian reserve land, they continue to use large parts of their traditional territory.Key words: land use, aboriginal territories, Hudson Bay and James Bay Lowland, Canadian subarctic, Cree, subsistence, wildlife, fisheries

The Bow and Spreadnet: Ecological Origins of Hunting Technology

Mbuti bands in eastern Zaire differ in their hunting use of the spreadnet and the bow, a variation previously attributed to historical contacts with different non‐Mbuti groups, population pressure, and differences in the floral diversity and abundance of the Ituri Forest. None of these factors, however, adequately explains a similar differentiation in the Sepik Basin of Papua New Guinea. Instead, the Sepik data indicate that the net and the bow may spread through historical contact and diffusion, but their adoption or rejection is ultimately determined by a conjunction of their technological properties and the horizontal and vertical densities of environmental vegetation. From this perspective, the essential determinants of Mbuti spreadnet and bow use may be spatial variations in the physiognomy of the Ituri.