Hunters for the Hungry

It is rare to ever catch a story about hunting in any mainstream media outlet, whether its television, newspapers, or even radio. When hunting does break into this territory however, it is almost always cast with a negative connotation, unless of course the great hunter (sarcasm) John Kerry takes to the woods during a presidential campaign. It seems that if hunting reaches the news reels it is due to a hunting accident, death, or claims that hunters are endangering animals. These pessimistic reports clearly undermine the overwhelming positives hunting produces. For instance, hunting is the most effective means for wildlife management, and hunters are the most active group of conservationists. Another story that I believe merits awareness is the amazing amounts of venison donated to the hungry of our nation each year.

Every hunting season hunters across the nation fill their freezers with deer meat, but they don’t stop there, they also help struggling Americans by providing them with this quality nutritious food. In my home state of Virginia alone, 405,340 pounds were contributed to the needy during the 2009 hunting season through the Hunters for the Hungry program. That is 1.6 million quarter pound servings of a 100 percent natural, low fat, high protein food source. The program requires hunters to drop deer off at processing locations, there the “professional processors skin, cut, wrap and freeze the meat.” Each deer carries an average cost of forty dollars to process. For a mature deer approximately fifty pounds can be harvested, working out to a cost of eighty cents per pound. The cost is covered completely through charity. It is not supported through any state funding. Once the meat is processed it is supplied at no cost to the needy of Virginia, through food banks and other nonprofit organizations. The Hunters for the Hungry program could produce more venison, but they lack sufficient funds to do so. The long term goal for the program “is to make 500,000 pounds of venison available to the hungry annually.” The potential is there for this program to reach and exceed these levels with proper financial support.

Virginia’s Hunters for the Hungry program was started in 1991 and represents the most successful of these programs, but hunters in other states are doing their part as well. Every state employs some form of a program for hunters to assist the needy, and hunters readily provide. Pennsylvania’s Hunters Sharing the Harvest program provided nearly 200,000 meals to the disadvantaged of their state this past season, and Tennessee hunters donated 71,348 pounds of venison. Numbers such as these can be found all across the United States. Yearly these programs are expanding and donations are increasing. We cannot depend on the mainstream media outlets to help these programs grow, instead we should do what we can to raise awareness and help provide these programs with what they need to mature.

New Article Coming Friday

I apologize for not posting in over a month. I have been very busy, and worse I have not had an opportunity to hunt. I will post a new article on Friday(2/19/10). I might also add another writer to the blog to help out. Please check back Friday, and I hope you enjoy the upcoming article.