99 



When asked why certain wildlife species were harvested and others not harvested, hunters at ^ 



X-Hazil Sur replied with a variety of responses, including: "too big" (e.g., tapir), "too small" (e.g., 

 squirrel), "the meat doesn't taste good" (e.g., tayra and opossum), and "its not right to kill a harmless 

 animal" (e.g., armadillo and monkeys). Taboos did not appear to explain any of these statements, and y^i/ 

 responses varied among hunters. 



The availability of canned meat and domestic animals also will affect the number and variety 

 of animals taken by hunters in at least two ways. One, hunters can depend on purchased meat to 

 compensate for outings when no game is taken. This probably will reduce the number and variety of 

 game taken as the hunter will not necessarily go hungry that day. Two, hunters can evaluate the cost 

 and desirability of killing a wild animal versus purchasing meat. This also should reduce the number 

 and variety of game taken by giving the hunter the choice on not taking relatively small or poor-tasting 

 species. Given the availability of canned meat and domestic animals, and recognizing the low number 

 of kills per hunter (ca. 7 per hunter during 17 months), subsistence hunting at X-Hazil Sur was quite 

 opportunistic. 



Sex and age class of game species . Information about the sex and age classes of game is 

 important in evaluating hunter game preferences, the structure of local game populations, and the 

 likelihood that one specific sex or age group might be more vulnerable than another group to hunters. 

 These elements are important in evaluating game use by subsistence hunters. 



At X-Hazil Sur, the proportions of male and female birds and mammals harvested by hunters 

 differed. For mammals, more females were taken by hunters than males for all species except the 

 brocket deer, while for birds, more males were taken by hunters than females for three of the four 

 species (equal numbers of males and females taken for the ocellated turkey). Hunters at X-Hazil Sur 

 attributed this to additional nutritional demands on female mammals while suckling their young and the 

 consequent greater use of gardens to obtain food, not on any selection for females by hunters. Maya 

 hunters also indicated that when feeding in gardens, females accompanied by their young were less 

 vigilant than normal. This was especially true for female coatis and white-tailed deer, two species 



