The Wild Boar in North Carolina by John Collins Big Game Program Coordinator North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Division of Wildlife Management Raleigh, North Carolina January, 1991 State of North Carolina James G. Martin, Governor

Table of Contents Classification Description History and Status Distribution Movements Food Habits Management Longevity Hunting Reproduction References

Classification
The scientific name of the wild boar is Sus scrofa. It belongs to the Class-Mammalia, Order-Artiodactyla, Suborder-Suiformes, Family-Suidae, Genus-Sus, Species-scrofa.

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Description [from Conley 1971]
The wild boar is bigger and heavier in the shoulders than in the hips. Longer hairs forming a partial mane grow along the spine of the neck. The mane is formed by split guard hairs called bristles, which may reach 5 inches in length. The ears are pointed and heavily haired. The tail is tipped with long hair. Well developed canine teeth that grow continually are found on both sexes. These canines or "tusks" can become very sharp and grow to a length as long as 4-3/4 inches. The color of adults varies from black to light gray to reddish brown. There is sometimes a white blaze on the head and/or the snout. At birth, the piglets are light brown with six brown and five black stripes on each side. These stripes are usually gone by the end of four months.

In the fall, adult males over 2 years old average 180 pounds, females average 155 pounds. Maximum measurements include the following:

Shoulder Height	34 inches
Hip Height	34 inches
Chest Girth	52 inches
Body Length	5.5 feet
Ear Length	5.5 inches
Skull Length	17 inches
Tusk Length	4.75 inches
Tail Length	10 inches

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History and Status
In 1908 the Whiting Manufacturing Company of England bought a large tract of land in the Snowbird Mountains in Graham County, North Carolina. Within this tract was a mountain known as Hooper's Bald. Mr. George Gordon Moore, an American advisor for the company, was allowed to establish a game reserve on company land on Hooper's Bald around 1909. In 1911, a 500 to 600-acre hog lot was constructed, with a split rail fence nine rails high. In April 1912, a shipment of 14 European wild hogs, including 11 sows and 3 boars, arrived and was released in the lot. They each weighed approximately 60 to 75 pounds. They were purchased from an agent in Berlin, Germany, who claimed that they came from the Ural Mountains of Russia. The hogs arrived in Murphy by train and were hauled to Hooper's Bald by ox­drawn wagon. One sow died en route to Hooper's Bald. From the beginning the lot was not hog proof, and apparently some of the hogs rooted out and escaped and returned at will. The majority remained in the lot for eight to 10 years and increased in numbers. In the early 1920s, when the lot contained approximately 60 to 100 hogs, a hunt with dogs was conducted. Only two hogs were killed, but many escaped the lot during the hunt. The escapees became established in the surrounding mountain terrain of Graham County, North Carolina and Monroe County, Tennessee. Today Hooper's Bald is owned by the U.S. Forest Service and is a part of the Nantahala National Forest.

The boar thrived in Graham County and spread into other counties as well as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In 1979 the boar was given the status of game animal by the N.C. Iegislature.

The first open season was held in the Cherokee National Forest in 1936 and in the Nantahala National Forest in 1937 (Frome 1966).

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Distribution
The majority of wild boar in North Carolina are located in Graham, Cherokee and Swain counties, with the greatest population in Graham County. A smaller population is located in Clay and Macon counties. Two additional groups that have been established by private stockings are located in Rutherford, Cleveland and Burke counties, as well as Caldwell, Wilkes and Watauga counties. See distribution map.

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Movements
Home ranges of wild boar and other animals are best determined by telemetry studies of the species. However, there are no known telemetry data available on wild boar. Conley (1971) reports on distances traveled between live capture sites during a study in the Tellico area of Tennessee. He reports that "average recorded movements were one-half mile or less for juveniles." Adult males and females "appear to range farther than juveniles." Two females traveled six miles between captures. One juvenile male moved 11.4 miles. Most boar remain within the drainage system of their birth unless driven out by man and dogs. Home ranges are probably considerably larger than this data indicates.

Matschke and Hardister (1966) reported on movements of wild trapped and transplanted wild boar in North Carolina and Tennessee. These boar were trapped in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, ear tagged and released at three locations in the old Santeetlah Wildlife Management Area in Graham County and at six locations in the Tellico Wildlife Management Area in Monroe County, Tennessee. The distance from trap site to release site ranged from approximately 13 to 27 air miles and averaged 18 miles. The distance traveled between release sites and recovery sites ranged from 2.5 to 4.6 miles, with an average of 3.2 miles.

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Food Habits
Wild boars will consume practically any type of fruit, nuts and vegetation, as well as many vertebrate and invertebrate animals. A food habits study conducted in Tennessee (Henry and Conley 1972) revealed that plants represented 89.4 percent by volume, animals represented 6.4 percent, and garbage represented 4.2 percent of their diet. During the 7 year study, acorns were the number one fall food item, both by volume and frequency of occurrence. Hickory nuts were second in volume and fourth in frequency of occurrence.

The following list was derived from a fall food habits study conducted in Tennessee and reported by Henry and Conley (1972). Data were gathered from stomach samples.

Food Item	Percent Volume
1. Acorns	64.8
2. Hickory nuts	17.4
3. Roots	3.3
4. Unidentified Vegetation	2.3
5. Grape Seed and Skins	1.4
6. Grasses	0.2
7. Lichens	Trace
8. Hemlock needles	Trace
9. Huckleberry leaves	Trace
10. Pine Needles	Trace
11. Ashe Seeds	Trace

The following list (Table I) was derived from the same study, but from field observations.

Table I

Food items utilized by European wild hogs based on field observations. Tellico Wildlife Management Area Study

Season

Common Name	Scientific Name	Parts Eaten	Utilized
Apple	Pyrus malus L.	fruit	fall
Blackberry	Rubus spp.	roots, fruit	spring­fall
Black Walnut	Juglans nigra L.	fruit	September
Blueberry	Vaccimum spp.	fruit	fall
Bluegrass	Poa spp.	Ieaves	spring­fall
Bulblet Fern	Cystoptens bulbifera L.	roots	winter
Christmas Fern	Polystichum acrc~stichoides Michx.	roots, shoots	May, winter
Chufa	Cypernius esculeraus L.	tubers	July­August
Clover	Triolium spp.	Ieaves	spring­fall
Corn	Zea Mays L.	seed	fall
Dwarf Milo	Sorghum vulgare Pers.	seed heads	August
Fescue	Festuca spp.	Ieaves	winter
Grapes	Vitus spp.	fruit	fall­winter
Greenbrier	Smilax spp.	roots	spring­summer
Hawthorn	Crataegus canadensis L.	fruit	July­September
Hemlock	Tsugacanandensis L.	roots (pidermis)	winter, April
Hickory	Carya spp.	fruit	fall
Huckleberry	Gaylussacia spp.	Fruit, roots	fall, spring
Oak	Quercus spp.	Fruit	fall­spring
Oats	Avena sativa L.	seed	fall
Orchard Grass	Dactrylis glomerata L.	Ieaves	spring­fall
Partridge Berry	Michella repens L.	fruit	winter
Pitch Pine	Pinus rigida Mill.	roots(epidermis)	April
Pokeweed	Phytolacca americana L.	rootstock	January­April
Silverbell	Halesia catolina L.	fruit	winter
Sweetgum	Liquidambar Styracipua L.	roots	winter
Thorne Apple	Datura spp.	Fruit	summer­fall
Toothwort	Dentaria spp.	roots	November
Turnip	Brassica Napus L.	roots	winter
Velvet Grass	Holcus lanatus L.	Ieaves	spring­fall
Wheat	Triticum aestivum L.	Ieaves	September
White Pine	PinurStrobus L.	roots (epidermis)	April
White Snakeroot	Eupatorium rugosumHoutt.	roots	summer
Wild Sweet Clover	MelilotusalbaDear.	Ieaves	May
Wild Yam	Disccorsa spp.	roots	summer
Wood Frog	Rana sylvatica LeConte	eggs	spring
Yellow Violet	Viola spp.	root tubers	summer

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Management
Management of wild boar consists of habitat manipulation and establishing seasons and bag limits. Since acorn production is essential to the reproduction and well-being of the boar, all forestry practices that are conducive to acorn production are considered beneficial to the wild boar, as they are for other acorn utilizing species, such as bear, deer, turkey, squirrel and raccoon. Since dog hunting of boar is so similar to dog hunting for black bear, both seasons are open concurrently.

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Longevity
The oldest male boar encountered during the Tellico study (Conley 1971) was 5 years old. The oldest female in the same study was 7 years old. The majority (59 percent) of hunter­harvested boar are considered adults, 30 weeks old or older. People who rear wild hogs report animals living as long as 12 years in captivity.

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Reproduction
Male wild boar reach sexual maturity at approximately nine months of age and females as young as seven months. The female usually produces one litter of one to 10 piglets (average 4.8) each year, with a gestation period of approximately 115 days (Conley 1971). Although wild hogs have the potential to produce two litters a year, there is no evidence that a wild sow has produced more than one surviving litter per year (Conley 1971). The sex ratio at birth is approximately 5050. At birth the piglets are light brown with longitudinal brown and black stripes, similar to the stripes on chipmunks. The reproductive rate is highly dependent on good mast crops, especially acorns.

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Hunting
Boar hunting is usually done by placing hunters on likely escape routes while dog handlers make an effort to jump a boar with the aid of strike dogs. When the strike dog locates a fresh trail, it is released. If a boar is jumped, additional dogs are released and the chase is on. Hopefully the dogs chase the boar within gun range of one or more standers.

Some hunters prefer to stalk boar by moving quietly through feeding areas attractive to boar. This, of course, requires much patience and the determination to do more looking than walking. To be successful, the hunter must detect the boar before the boar detects the hunter.

Other hunters prefer to take a stand in boar feeding areas and wait patiently until a boar is located on its approach.

Hunters harvest 100 to 200 boar each year in North Carolina. Approximately 75 percent of these are harvested in Graham County.

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References

Conley, Richard H.1971. Wildlife Research Report-European Hog Research.

Frome, Michael. 1966. Strangers in High Places.

Henry, V.G. and Conley, R.H.1972. Fall Food Habits of European Wild Boar in the Southern Appalachians. Journal Wildlife Management 36 (3).

Jones, Perry. 1972. The European Wild Boar in North Carolina. Pamphlet.27 pp.

Lavin, Jack D.1972. Graham County Centennial 1972.

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