Short-term Home Range and Habitat Selection by Feral Hogs in Northern Texas

Abstract

Texas is estimated to harbor more than 2 million feral hogs, Sus scrofa. The increasing abundance of feral hogs throughout the United States is a testament to their ability to adapt to nearly any environment. We GPS-collared and tracked 16 feral hogs in the spring of 2015 and 2016 in the Texas Panhandle, United States. We determined home range and core area size using kernel density (KDE) and minimum convex polygon (MCP) estimators and selection of habitats by feral hogs in two field sites. Mean (±se) KDE home range and core area sizes were 9.73 ± 1.74 km2 and 1.31 ± 0.23 km2, respectively. Mean (±se) MCP home range and core area sizes were 15.13 ± 3.49 km2 and 3.14 ± 0.69 km2, respectively. Home range sizes were slightly larger but comparable to other home range sizes in Texas, and with home range and core area sizes larger for males than female. Feral hogs did not exhibit second-and-third order habitat selection at random (P < 0.005) in both field sites. Hogs selected for woodland and floodplain habitats over human developed areas. Feral hogs spent more time in agricultural habitats during crepuscular and nighttime periods and more time in natural habitats throughout the day. These results suggest management techniques in northern Texas need to be executed for the removal or deterrence of feral hogs in areas of cultivated crops, ideally before the planting period through the harvesting season.