I documented the distribution of meat following hunting trips among indigenous Nicaraguan horticulturalists.  Upon acquiring game, the hunter has a few options: (1) keep portions for his household, (2) give portions to other households, and/or (3) sell portions to other households.  The outcome variable is a count variable -- the number of portions allocated to each of those three options.

Most of the hunting trips result in a modest harvest, perhaps 5 kg or so.  The hunter will usually keep a couple of portions and either give or sell another portion or two.  By contrast, the rare larger harvests (i.e., ~200 kg) are distributed much more widely.  The hunter will keep several portions -- enough to last a few days -- but that leaves a lot of meat to be given and sold.

In addition to the size of the harvest, predictor variables include characteristics of the hunter (and his household), such as household wealth and the purported genetic relatedness to the members of the community as a whole.

Because individual hunters contribute multiple hunting trips to the sample, a mixed-effects model seems appropriate.  I'm just not sure what kinds of options there are for count data with a multinomial outcome.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.



      
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