One word, several nations
The title uses “the Tribe” as if there were one, but the Apache peoples are several nations whose seasonal lives differed with their homelands. What can be said in general is that most Apache groups did not stay in one place all year. They moved between environments as foods ripened and game moved, and that pattern is often called Apache seasonal land use. The descriptions below draw on ethnographic records of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and are broad summaries; specifics varied by group, family and year.
The Western Apache round
The best-documented example is the Western Apache seasonal round, recorded in detail by Grenville Goodwin from Apache informants in the early twentieth century. Western Apache country includes mountains, mesas and river valleys in what is now Arizona, with large differences in elevation and rainfall.
In outline, many families planted corn in spring at small field sites near streams, then left for other work while the crops grew. In spring and early summer, parties traveled to lower, warmer country to gather agave (often called mescal), and some groups with access to the Sonoran Desert gathered saguaro fruit in early summer. When the Southwest monsoon seasons brought summer rain, plants and fields responded, and families returned to tend or harvest crops. In autumn they gathered acorns, pinyon nuts and juniper berries at higher elevations, and hunting for deer was important in autumn and winter. Winter camps were commonly placed in more sheltered locations.
Groups differed. Some had more reliable farmland than others, and those with less land relied more on gathering and trade.
Gathering as the backbone of the year
Agave was especially important to several Apache peoples. The hearts of the plant were cooked in earthen pits, a process now described as mescal roasting, and the cooked food could be dried and stored. The Mescalero take their commonly used name from this food. Other major foods included mesquite pods in the south, cactus fruits, yucca fruit, wild seeds, berries and the nuts of oak and pinyon. Timing mattered: a harvest missed by a few weeks could mean a poor season, so knowing when and where each plant ripened was a core skill passed between generations.
Acorn and pinon gathering, in particular, depended on the year. Nut crops in pinyon and oak vary widely from year to year and place to place, so families needed to know which areas had a good crop and adjust their route.
Hunting and the larger animals
Apache hunting centered on deer in many regions, along with smaller game such as rabbits, and in some areas elk, pronghorn, mountain sheep and, for groups with access to the plains, bison. The Jicarilla Apache people are often described in two broad divisions in historical sources, one more tied to mountain and river valleys with farming and one more oriented toward the plains and bison, though the lines were not rigid. The Lipan and Plains Apache lived in more plains-oriented settings in Texas and the southern Plains, where bison and, later, horses shaped the yearly cycle. The Chiricahua and Mescalero homelands in southern Arizona, southern New Mexico and nearby parts of Mexico and Texas offered desert grasslands and mountain ranges that supported a heavy reliance on gathering and hunting, with less farming than among some Western Apache groups.
Dwellings, storage and movement
Seasonal movement shaped how people lived. Families used light, locally built shelters such as the brush-covered wickiup camps described in early accounts, and sometimes more substantial structures where they stayed longer. Stored foods, such as dried mescal, seeds or dried fruit, were placed in caches or carried, which allowed some flexibility during poor seasons. The movement was not wandering without direction: families returned to known places, with knowledge of which water sources and resources lay along the way.
Change under pressure
This round was disrupted from the 1700s and 1800s onward as Spanish, Mexican and American settlement, military campaigns and the creation of reservations restricted travel and access. Cutting people off from their gathering grounds, farmland and hunting areas affected nutrition and daily life, and the range of movement shrank. Today some communities continue seasonal gathering, such as harvesting acorns or agave, while the details of past rounds are known through ethnographies, oral accounts and the memories of community members.
Readers who want current information on gathering, permits and access should consult the relevant nation’s own official website rather than rely on older written descriptions.