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

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A hypothesis which 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, is substantiated. Three conditions necessary to this interpretation were established: hare were important in the diet of the Cree-Ojibwa; they could be effectively and efficiently obtained when abundant; and the quest for food-producing species, including hare, had priority to the native trapper because pelts could not generally be exchanged for food. Ethnohistorical evidence provides direct accounts for the postulated relationship. An optimal foraging model elaborates the hypothesis. This theory provides an appropriate framework for investigating this topic, and possibly also a key for retrieving population data from fur trade harvest statistics. The differential foraging hypothesis is consistent with a number of observed properties of pelt-count cycles, including the apparent similarity in all respects except amplitude, between pelt-counts and actual population fluctuations in lynx and hare. The hypothesis is important for the statistical analysis of pelt-count cycles, and it raises questions about the reality of population cycles which are inferred predominantly or solely from fur record data. Despite this, there is ample evidence demonstrating population cycles for hare and lynx, cycles which presumably have correlative food-chain effects on other species, including humans.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: