Hunters’ Deer Help Feed Hungry Folks

Georgia Hunters for the Hungry (HFH) was founded in 1993 to help bridge a gap between hunters and needy folks.

It works like this: A hunter shoots a deer. If that hunter doesn’t want or need the meat or is simply feeling generous, it can be donated at a participating deer processing facility. From there, the critter is butchered and turned into venison, which goes to a local food bank. The food bank then distributes the meat to needy residents.

It’s not the only program of its kind; a Web search for “hunters for the hungry” will return many results across the USA.

Hunters with small families may end up taking more deer than they can personally use, usually due to management practices that call for the shooting of a certain number of does as well as bucks.

Other hunters may simply have plenty of food and money to provide for themselves and wish to bless someone less fortunate. Meat is always in demand at the food bank, and the donated venison certainly helps out.

Georgia’s HFH program faltered in 2011 and 2012, when deteriorating economic conditions led to loss of sponsors. Current sponsors include Walmart, Bi-lo, Central GA EMC, and Snapping Shoals EMC.

The program reportedly currently reaches 145 Georgia counties and hopes to cover all 159 counties in 2015.

If you’d like to participate, do an online search or contact local wildlife management officials to learn where you can donate a deer to help out some needy folks.

This is what real charity is all about: private citizens helping out voluntarily.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.