Understanding Determinants of Hunting Trip Productivity in an Arctic Community

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.