Charles R. Ruth

Impacts of feral hogs (Sus scrofa) on native plant and animal communities have increased as feral hogs have expanded in geographic range. Wildlife managers use a host of tactics to manage population growth of feral hogs, including recreational hunting with dogs. However, hunting with dogs can cause disturbance and behavioral changes to non-target species. We monitored 161 eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) over 147 days during 2014-2018 in South Carolina to evaluate turkey movement behaviors and range sizes before, during, and after spring feral hog-dog hunts. The...

Management techniques to improve wildlife populations often can affect non-target species indirectly. Supplemental feeding for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) has become a popular management technique to improve bobwhite recruitment and survival, but potential impacts on non-target species such as eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) are unknown. We deployed 111 global positioning systems on wild turkeys on the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Webb Wildlife Management Area Complex during 2014-2016 to evaluate if supplemental feeding for quail impacted...

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) activity patterns are predominately crepuscular. However, the general populace believes that deer activity is also influenced by lunar factors. This belief is demonstrated by the countless "solunar charts" claiming to provide peak periods of deer activity. While research has identified solar and lunar influences on behavioral patterns in some species, descriptions of solunar factors on white-tailed deer are rare. Our goal was to evaluate whether solunar charts can predict periods of increased activity in white-tailed deer. We used 38 adult male,...

Subjectivity of tooth wear and replacement (i.e., Severinghaus technique) for estimating ages of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is sometimes questioned. To further quantify Severinghaus's description of tooth wear, we used digital photographs and computer-assisted technologies to measure dentine and enamel widths on molars of 67 wild, known-aged deer from South Carolina. Accurate measurements of dentine: enamel ratios did not clearly separate 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5-year-old deer because of excessive variability within age classes. Therefore, we used K-nearest neighbor [KNN] analysis...