Food pantries are busier than ever, and during the holidays, those who have the means are usually happy to help keep them stocked with items to donate.
But hunters have their own ways to help, and Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry, a group in the Hagerstown, Maryland, area, is asking for help this holiday season through its Hunt Down Hunger campaign.
“A lot of hunters don’t realize this, but in about 40 different states, they have the opportunity to donate a deer — a legally harvested and tagged and field-dressed deer — to a participating butcher shop,” said Josh Wilson, the group’s executive director.
“It will be processed, then the meat packaged and distributed to a food bank or food pantry in that community. They don’t have to pay for it.”
That’s because organizations such as Wilson’s, and Hunters for the Hungry in Virginia, will help cover those costs. But since the processing of one deer can run $65 or more, even those who don’t hunt can donate money to help those organizations cover that expense.
“The average deer is going to yield around 40 pounds of nutritious meat,” said Wilson. “It’s kind of like lean ground beef; it’s high in protein. If you divide that out into quarter-pound servings in tacos or spaghetti sauce or Sloppy Joe sandwiches, you’re looking at about 160 meal servings from each deer.”
For hunters, Wilson added, donating is easy.
“Once the deer is checked-in and field-dressed, you can take it to one of those participating butchers, tell them you’d like to donate it to the program, and they should take it from there,” said Wilson. “The meat will make it to a food bank or soup kitchen in need.”
A map of different butchers that will take donated deer can be found online. And if you’re hunting in Virginia, you can find a list of processers by county.
