Giving Back

Scholarship Recipient

Bethany Friesenhahn


Bethany Friesenhahn

Bethany Friesenhahn

Texas A&M University - Kingsville

Year Received: 2020

Research Specialist I / M.S. in Range and Wildlife Management

Monitoring Spatial Use, Resource Selection, and Crop Damage of Wild Pigs throughout an Agricultural Landscape

I am a wildlife researcher for CKWRI and I am pursuing my Master’s Degree in Range and Wildlife Management. I grew up in Poth, Texas around farming and ranching where wild pigs are a nuisance and can be very costly to landowners. I decided to pursue research with wild pigs because it was an opportunity to combine my passion for the outdoors, hunting, and agriculture. The focus of my research project is to better understand the ecology of wild pigs and how they negatively affect agriculture. The objective is monitor wild pig movements with the use of GPS collars to determine home ranges and resource selection throughout an agricultural landscape. I am also monitoring cornfields through use of drone and ground truthing to quantify pig damage and set up game cameras to estimate pig densities at different growth stages of corn. The drone flights allow us to monitor and quantify pig damage to corn at a larger scale. I am now wrapping up my second year of field work, so there is much analyzing yet to be done. I hope with my findings we will better understand wild pig movements to be more efficient in eliminating the wild pig problem and help landowners protect their resources.

Houston Safari Club Foundation (HSCF) is a non-profit organization, exempt from federal income tax, under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code. The charitable deduction for contributions to HSCF is the cash amount of the contribution, less the value of goods and services received, to the extent permitted by law. HSCF EIN 74-2177975. Please contact your tax advisor concerning deductibility of any payments as business deductions. HSCF is an independent organization, is not affiliated with Safari Club International (SCI) or its affiliates and is not a chapter or affiliate of any other organization.