Photo courtesy of Hunters Sharing the Harvest Here’s a hunter who helped meet the nutritional needs of many by donating this adult fawn.
When I was a child cutting my predatory teeth on venison chops, hunting prices for deer were not as generous as they are today, but we killed one or two deer each year and had no problem eating them. Our butcher shop was a family-run, assembly-line operation, from skinning to cutting and grinding to packaging. Mom preserved some of the venison and left it to age for several months in jars filled with broth.
Back then, people lived closer to the land than most people do today. They depended on the meat they harvested as well as fresh garden produce. My older brother Dan and I tilled, planted and weeded our family’s large garden. Mom ran the pressure cooker so we had home-grown vegetables all winter long. Our meat and potato meals consisted of venison and what Dad called “Potatoes”, together with beans, peas or carrots from mom’s cannery.
Because there are now many antlerless deer hunting licenses, many hunters harvest two, three, or even four deer per year—more than enough for today’s smaller families. Deer still need to be killed or they will overrun their habitat and harm the species that share it, but who will eat all that meat?
Fortunately, venison doesn’t have to go to waste. Organizations in New York and Pennsylvania are geared up to distribute healthy, low-fat, high-protein, hormone-free venison to people who need it and who might not otherwise get much protein in their diet.
In Pennsylvania, it is called “Hunters Sharing the Harvest.” Randy Ferguson, CEO of HSH, reports: “The average deer yields 35 to 40 pounds of meat. Last year we received 261,672 pounds of meat donated from 6,905 deer and six elk. That’s about 1.3 million 3-ounce portions.” All the meat feeds countless people through thousands of local charities, including food banks, missions, homeless shelters, churches and individual families. The HSH website, www.sharedeer.org, explains how the program works and how anyone can participate.
In New York, the Western & Central New York Pantry Project (part of the Venison Donation Coalition) brings meat to people who need it. Its mission is to “to transform a renewable natural resource into nutritious food for the less fortunate and needy.”
The organization’s website, www.venisondonation.com, provides a complete history and background information on how New York’s program works, as well as the locations of licensed commercial game processors that receive hunters’ legally harvested game.
In both states, hunters can donate deer for free, but dollars are still needed, and anyone who cares about feeding people can donate. Both organizations were founded in the 1990s, so they have a long history and experience that makes donating venison easy. The meals provided through these programs total several million.
The venison is ground and packaged so that it can be easily used in a variety of dishes without the need for special recipes. Grinding the meat also saves butchers time and no one gets a better cut than the next.
Non-hunters – You can help just as much as hunters. Non-hunters can help alleviate hunger for families and children in need by going to www.sharedeer.org or www.venisondonation.com and making a monetary donation to cover processing costs. Both are 501(c)(3) programs with very low overhead, so your money will go a long way thanks to many dedicated volunteers.
Hunters – plan to donate one of your deer before the hunting season begins. Planning early will help avoid last-minute questions. “Who do I call?” And “Where do I take my deer?” Information about deer donations can be found on the websites of both organizations.
Hunters feel a sense of satisfaction when they make venison a vital source of food for their families. It’s actually not much different than giving away your leftover tomatoes. Plus, supporting a charitable cause and helping someone else eat local produce and live closer to the land is an added incentive to your hunt and will certainly add extra value to your annual hunt.
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When “The Everyday Hunter” doesn’t hunt, he thinks about hunting, talks about hunting, dreams about hunting, writes about hunting, or wishes he was hunting. If you want to tell Steve exactly where your favorite hunting spot is, contact him through his website www.EverydayHunter.com. He writes for top outdoor magazines and won national “Pinnacle Award” for writing outdoors.
