"The top five counties for wild hog harvest per unit area were Sumter (4.51 hogs per square mile), Allendale (4.29 hogs per square mile), Calhoun (4.27 hogs per square mile), Richland (4.03 hogs per square mile) and Darlington (3.80 hogs per square mile)," Ruth said. "With respect to the river drainage system, top counties for wild hog harvest per unit area include Allendale, Hampton and Jasper in the lower Savannah River drainage and Calhoun, Richland and Sumter counties in the Congaree/ Wateree drainage."

According to Ruth, this data comes from the 2006 Deer Hunter Survey, which also asked hunters to provide information on their wild hog harvesting activities.

"Documenting the harvest of this species has been difficult to accomplish in South Carolina," Ruth said. "However, both wild hogs and coyotes are commonly taken incidental to deer hunting. On one hand, wild or feral hogs are often thought of as 'game' and there is a certain amount of sport associated with harvesting hogs. Wild hogs provide quality meat for the hunter and mature hogs can make a highly sought-after 'trophy'."

Ruth also noted that the down side to wild hogs is they directly compete with native species like deer and wild turkeys for habitat and food. Plus, he noted, hogs can do significant damage to the habitat and agriculture production through their rooting activities. He added that legislation passed during the 2005 session of the South Carolina General Assembly prohibits the release of hogs in the state.

While much of the prime hog hunting in South Carolina is on private lands, there are plenty of opportunities for hunting on public land as well. There are a significant number of wildlife management areas (WMAs) in the state that offer wild hog hunting. While too numerous to name them all here, plus different regulations and opportunities at different WMAs, you can look in the SCDNR rules and regulations for specific WMAs that offer hog hunting.

The top counties noted above by Ruth are loaded with hogs, some with greater than 10 animals per square mile around the major river drainages. However, there are few places in the state that don't have some hogs in the neighborhood. Keying on where to specifically find and hunt wild hogs, especially in this cold weather time of year, is the specialty of hunters like Ayers and Airey.

"Some hunters will chuckle when I say this, but pigs are going to be wherever you find them," Ayers said. "Let me expound on that a bit. In any given area, there are probably several different foraging patterns a wild pig may be using at any given time to find food. It depends on many natural conditions, such as weather, location of water, types of food sources and also the external impact of hunting pressure."

On a large tract of land with a diversity of terrain, they may be using a specific area one week, but something very different the next, Ayers said.

"But there are some common denominators we key on for hog hunting success," Ayers said. "One, pigs and water are going to be close together. An ideal spot is one where a river or creek has been high and the water is receding back into the channel. The areas that are still wet where the water has recently been standing are great attractants for wild hogs. These areas are full of worms and grubs they can root and easily get to.