Generous hunters during and after the upcoming Wisconsin deer hunt can help the hungry across the state.
The DNR's Deer Donation Program is now in it's 14th season.
Biologist Dan Hirchert coordinates the program. The effort was begun with cooperation from meat processors in the region. 70 counties participate in the program. He says hunters donate a legally harvested deer through the meat processors to go to local agencies like food pantries....
".....you can take the deer you'd like to donate to one of those processors, fill out a form with your customer ID number...drop off the deer and they will take it and do the rest. It's pretty painless and easy for everyone to maneuver around....".
Hirchert says the program is anticipated by the pantries...
"...there is always quite a demand. Each year when we talk to the pantries they're saying, 'boy, I wish we had more'.....so we're encouraging people if they find themselves in the process of having an extra deer, we certainly would appreciate it if they donated it(to the Deer Donation Program)...."
Hunters have donated over 85,000 deer which were processed into over 3.8 million pounds of ground venison since 2000.
A complete list of processors is on the DNR website if you put in their search engine,Deer Donation Program.
