Hunters for the Hungry Program Underway

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

Cooling fall temperatures have whitetail deer on the move, giving deer hunters the perfect opportunity to participate in the annual Georgia Hunters For The Hungry program.

Hunters for the Hungry is a partnership between the Georgia Wildlife Federation, Wildlife Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and the Georgia Food Bank Association to provide sportsmen a way to donate harvested deer to Georgia’s food banks.

Sam Stowe is Sportsmen Program Director for the Georgia Wildlife Federation.

Stowe said they are once again asking hunters to participate.

Any hunter that wants to share his harvest can carry his field-dressed deer to one of our processors,” said Sam Stowe, Sportsmen Program Director for the Georgia Wildlife Federation. “We have a list of participating processors online at www.gwf.org or at the www.gohuntgeorgia.com Web site.”

He said, from there, the deer will be processed and then donated to an area food bank.

The processor will grind the deer and when he gets some 200lbs of meat processed he can call either a local food bank and they will come pick it up or he can call the Georgia Food Bank Association and they will come pick it up,” Stowe said.

The deer meat is then distributed by a food bank.

In our area, the Northeast Georgia Food Bank in Athens picks up the meat and then distributes it to local food banks.

Stowe said the deer processor will then be paid by the Georgia Wildlife Federation for the processing.

Here in Northeast Georgia, hunters will take their field dressed deer to Apple Valley Meat Processing in Jefferson.

However, Stowe said they are always looking for more processors to get involved in this worthy cause.

Apple Valley is formerly Sealy’s Deer Processing, but if you know other processors up that way who might like to be part of the Hunters for the Hungry program, we would be interested in hearing from them, too,” Stowe said.

Stowe can be contacted by calling 770-787-7887 or email [email protected].

The Georgia Hunters for the Hungry program has been providing high quality protein to hungry Georgians since 1993.

Since the inception, hunters have donated over 325,000 pounds of ground venison for distribution to the needy.