Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program:
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Wild hogs are an invasive species found widely across North America, and the proliferation of wild hogs has increased the damage these animals cause to natural, agricultural, and developed landscapes. South Carolina has seen a recent and dramatic increase in the distribution and abundance of wild hogs. We do not know how they are using mixed-use landscapes in the upstate region. We will develop a habitat use model to investigate how wild hogs are moving through the landscape and using different areas. The model will integrate wild hog GPS tracking and demographic data with environmental and habitat data. The results will inform management actions for targeted wild hog mitigation in this region. The project is a collaboration and includes Clemson University and the Clemson University Experimental Forest, the SC USGS CFWRU, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and a team of undergraduate and graduate students with the Creative Inquiries program at Clemson.