Hunters for the Hungry

With hunting season just around the corner, many hunters will soon find that their freezers fill up with venison pretty quickly. Every year, as hunters clean out their deep freezes in preparation for a new hunting season, many pounds of meat are just thrown out. This year, be sure to think ahead so that all that extra venison will make it’s way to hungry families in south east Texas by bringing legally harvested deer to a local participating meat processor, and donate the meat to Hunters For The Hungry. The HFTH mission is to alleviate hunger and malnutrition in Texas, provide a way for hunters to help their communities, and promote stewardship of the environment.  Since 1990, Texans have donated 6.5 million servings of venison, with 700,000 donated last season alone. Eighty five meat processors participate in the program, and two of them are located in our own back yard. These local meat processing companies accept harvested and tagged deer for the program, and will donate the extra meat to local food pantries, soup kitchens, the Salvation Army, churches and local shelters. Paying a small processing fee, usually only about $30, gets the deer skinned, quartered, and packaged. After the meat is processed, the meat processors call local food assistance providers to pick up the meat and distribute it around South East Texas. Some locations prefer that only skinned deer are brought in, but will accept any deer. Although some hunters want to try and help out the meat processing stores by quartering and packaging the meat themselves, the meat cannot be accepted in this condition. Only field dressed whole deer can be donated to Hunters for the Hungry. Although this is a great program, it hasn’t taken root in surrounding areas just yet. Not many food assistance providers have signed up to receive venison, and not many local families are receiving the meat. Any food assistance provider program can contact TACAA at (800) 992-9767 ext. 506 to have their name added to the list of recipients to distribute meat. Texas Hunters for the Hungry is hoping that they will receive at least 800,000 servings of venison. To do your part, drop your extra deer off at Kountze High School or Jasper Quality Meats, so that they can process the meat and distribute it throughout Tyler and Jasper Counties.  To get more information about this program, or to register to become a participating Hunters for the Hungry processing location, visit www.tacaa.org. This hunting season, be sure to take time to think about fellow Texans in need and that’s Waldrep’s Word on it!