The puelche people were hunter gatherers who started off collecting food but later on became nomadic hunters, thanks to the use of tools like the boleadoras – an implement consisting of 2 or 3 stone balls covered in leather and connected by ropes to a ring. They travelled as far as the eastern sector of the Andes in search of guanacos since they lived on a guanaco-based diet and used it for clothing and dwellings as did the other communities living in the Andean foothills.

The puelche people lived a similar life to that of the Tehuelche or Patagonian people, although they had a richer diet due to the large quantities of animals they had and the opportunity of collecting edible wild vegetables. What’s more, they lived near other agricultural communities like the Mapuche and Huilliche poeple, whom they used to raid after harvests, to steal their food.

After the arrival of the Spaniards they learnt how to use horses skillfully as part of their everyday life.