116 

 regions with which they were familiar, including gardens, fallow fields, and present or former work 

 sites. No hunter reported using essentially the entire ejido as a catchment area. 



Use of dogs . The ability of dogs to locate and kill game can have a tremendous impact on the 

 type and amount of game harvested by subsistence hunters. Dog use, however, is quite variable among 

 subsistence hunters in die Neotropics. For example, the Ache Indians in Paraguay, did not use dogs 

 until recently (Hill and Hawkes, 1983). On die oUier hand, the Irapa-Yukpa in western Venezuela have 

 used highly trained dogs for many years (Paolisso and Sackett, 1985). In many indigenous groups, 

 however, including the Bayano Cuna Indians in Panama (Bennett, 1962), Yanomamo Indians in Brazil 

 (Saffirio and Scaglion, 1982), Tatuyo Indians in Colombia (Dufour, 1981), and settlers and colonists in 

 eastern Brazil (Smith, 1976), untrained dogs accompany hunters and locate and kill prey. 



At X-Hazil Sur, dogs accompanied hunters on 17% of the outings and assisted in taking at 

 least 127 game animals (22% of total). The coati was especially vulnerable to dogs. Only two Maya 

 hunters reported that they provided any special feeding or training to their dogs. In this regard, the use 

 and care of dogs by Maya hunters at X-Hazil Sur was about the same as that by most other groups of 

 subsistence hunters in the Neotropics. 



Comparison of Cerro Brujo and Ejido X-Hazil v Anexos Game Harvest 



A comparison between these two sites of the game taken indicates that hunters harvested 

 terrestrial mammals in different proportions. At Cerro Brujo, the proportion, by percent biomass, of 

 agoutis, pacas, armadillos, opossums, and rats harvested was substantially higher than at Ejido X-Hazil 

 y Anexos (Table 3-12). At Ejido X-Hazil y Anexos, the proportion of brocket deer and other (pocket 

 gophers and coatis) was substantially higher than the biomass proportions harvested at Cerro Brujo. 

 The percent biomass of collared peccaries, white-tailed deer, and white-lipped peccaries were about 

 equal at the two sites. 



