Species-Specific Management (SSM)

European Wild Hog

To manage the European wild hog (Sus scrofa):

1. Open areas, or clearings, can be planted in: apple, blackberry, blueberry, chufa

   clover, corn, dwarf milo, fescue

   grapes, oats, huckleberry, orchard grass

   thorn apple, toothwart, turnip, velvet grass

   wheat, wild yam, yellow violet, wild sweet clover

2. Clearings should be maintained at least yearly. The types of plants suitable for a particular area vary from place to place.
3. Other trees and plants that provide a source of nutrition for wild hogs include: walnuts, bulbet fern, greenbrier, hawthorn hemlock, pitch pine, sweetgum, white pine hickories, oaks
4. Wild hogs use wallows to cool themselves off, as they have no sweat glands. Cool and wet shaded areas are prime spots for wallows, especially near the end of upper coves. In such spots, and along (and near) established hog trails, it is important to give hogs suitable rubbing trees. Pitch pines of 6 inches or less in diameter work best.
5. Pitch pines of small diameter are also favored by wild hogs for "tusking", or rubbing and scraping their permanent tusks.
6. Food plots (with grains or plants listed in #1 above) that are placed in distant locations give hogs not only added food, but incentive to stay away from farms and crops.
7. Concentrate acorn and hickory nut production efforts in areas that are not frozen for very long in winter. Thickets (e.g., rhododendron) for cover and beds should also be located in places where sunlight can enter. Competitors for this food are squirrels, deer, turkey, and bear.
8. Hunting should be implemented where wild hogs are established, because they reproduce quickly and can damage acres of land. A 25-50% harvest yearly will stabilize numbers, while 50% or higher reduction is recommended where the hog are over-abundant.
9. Wild hogs should be limited in number because of damage to timber seedlings, agricultural crops, competition with other animals for food, and the possibility of disease outbreaks. Some diseases can be spread to people and domestic animals, so harvested animals should be checked for infection.
10. Wild hog numbers can be monitored by observing frequently used wallows and rubbed trees. Wallow sizes often indicate the number of hogs using them; a small, 3 feet by 3 feet wallow reveals use by a single hog. The height of a rub may show the ages of wild hogs. A large hog will rub up to 36 inches high on a tree. Due to seasonal changes in wallow use, select a period of time each year to observe these sites.
11. Relative numbers can also be monitored by observing the low-lying and ground plants. If they are heavily fed upon, if leaves are bitten off and roots of trees are chewed at in many locations, it is likely that numbers are rising too high.
12. Follow game laws and harvest seasons. Voice any concerns about wild hogs to the state wildlife agency. Special permits may be available should problems arise.
13. If numbers of hogs are low, avoid harvesting females with immature young. The light, rusty or sandy-colored piglets will follow their mother for about 6 months.
14. Wild hogs especially like streams and creeks. These areas are necessary for the animals to cool off, plus they have plants and insects for feeding. If sources of water are not widely available, waterholes can be created and maintained effectively.
15. Large tracts of land under forest cover are required for wild hog management. Cooperate with other landowners to establish mutually acceptable practices. Develop a damage-reduction program and damage payment program. Because hogs are so mobile, moving up to 25 miles in a few years, this is crucial.
16. Wild hog meat should be well-cooked and never eaten rare (danger of parasites).
17. A clean, quick harvest is preferable on hunts. Wounded or cornered wild hogs are dangerous to hunters and dogs.
18. Consider leasing land rights for hunting and trapping during other seasons. This will keep other animal numbers to desired levels and deliver direct returns for habitat improvement measures.
19. Participate in hog hunting clubs and sporting dog associations. Emphasize the trophy tusk of old males.
20. Subscribe to pertinent magazines with articles on game and wild hog management, such as Wildlife in North Carolina.
21. Actively participate in or financially support research efforts in wild hog management.
22. Establish periodic contacts with state game officials and regional disease control agents (e.g., related to cholera). A few minutes spent on the phone or reading a bulletin could save precious livestock and reduce health risks to humans and wildlife.
23. Enforce the relevant hunting laws and report poaching.
24. Domestic hogs should be protected, as wild boars will seek to mate with sows (whether domestic or wild) in their general vicinity. Since wild hogs are very aggressive, domestic boars could be injured or killed in mate competition. Exclusionary devices can be constructed to effectively keep out wild hogs.
25. State wildlife officials should be contacted if wild hogs are being considered for introduction into an area where they do not presently occur. Interstate transport of wild hogs may be regulated.
26. Landowners should be aware of local threatened or endangered plants and animals -- wild hogs could pose a threat to state or federally protected vegetation or animals.
27. Wild boars can successfully breed with domestic hogs, and the offsprings of the mating grow fast, but such young cannot put on the weight nearly as well as full-blooded domestic livestock.
28. Be prepared for landowners who are encountering crop and property losses and maybe even aggressive wild hogs. Keep handy the phone numbers of local police, game wardens, and disease-control officials.

A contribution of Brian N. Clark (1992) and Henry K. Bluhm (1991), Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0321

This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision January 17, 2000.