By Valerie A. Sumida and David B. Andersen Excerpted from Alaska Department of Fish and Game Technical Paper No. 179, December 1990

HUNTING OF MAMMALS

Residents of Fort Yukon utilized a variety of mammals including moose, caribou, brown bear, black bear, sheep, snowshoe hare, porcupine, and squirrel. The harvest and use of furbearers are discussed in a subsequent section of this chapter. During the survey year a few Fort Yukon households also reported harvest of deer and sheep from other parts of the state.

Traditionally, the hunting of large mammals provided the Gwich'in with considerable quantities of food as well as raw materials for clothing, tools, weapons, ornaments, and ritual objects and this activity had great sociocultural and ideological importance (Slobodin 1981:516-517). The significance of small mammals such as snowshoe hare, beaver, muskrat, squirrel, porcupine was also reflected in the reliance on these resources as a source of food (Slobodin 1981:516).