106 



Hunter group size . The number of hunters participating in a hunting outing varies somewhat 

 according to the type of hunt and the cultural background of the people, but hunter group size can be 

 generalized across the Neotropics. At X-Hazil Sur, small-sized groups of hunters were common, while 

 large groups were infrequent. About 85% of the 419 outings were conducted by groups containing one 

 or two hunters, who divided the game among themselves. This followed the general pattern at X-Hazil 

 Sur of adult men working alone or with a single partner and sharing part of the harvest or earnings. 

 Large hunting groups at X-Hazil Sur usually were organized at the community level to obtain game for 

 a specific religious occasion. On these outings, participants offered information about recent game 

 sightings or tracks to others in the group, and the hunter making the kill generally donated the game to 

 the feast organizers. These results indicated that hunter group size at X-Hazil Sur closely followed the 

 pattern of few large groups and numerous small groups exhibited by other subsistence hunters in the 

 Neotropics. 



The average number of game animals harvested per outing, at X-Hazil Sur, regardless of 

 hunter group size, was relatively low (1.00 - 1.81 animals/outing). This indicated that the harvest of 

 one or two game animals per outing was acceptable to hunters. 



Among the highly traditional Yekuana Indians in Venezuela (Sponsel, 1986), most hunting 

 outings were conducted by one or two hunters. Group hunts were organized only when tracks of large- 

 sized prey (e.g., deer and tapir) were located. Among the traditional Waorani Indians in Ecuador 

 (Yost and Kelley, 1983), 63% of the outings were conducted by individuals, while groups of three or 

 more hunters conducted only 10% of the outings. In northern Brazil (Saffirio and Scaglion, 1982), 

 hunting group size varied between Yanomami Indian groups. For traditional Yanomami hunters, 

 individual hunters conducted 78% of the outings, groups of two conducted 21% of the outings, and 

 three or more hunters conducted only 1% of the outings. For acculturated Yanomami hunters, 

 however, individual hunters conducted 9% of the outings and groups of two conducted 73% of the 

 outings, while groups of three or more conducted 18% of the outings. Saffirio and Scaglion (1982) 

 attributed these differences among the Yanomamo in part to the scarcity of game along the highway in 



