We recently posted a story from NPR about venison, also known as wild deer meat.
The story talked about the laws against selling deer meat unless it's been raised on a farm. That means that if you are a hunter and you end up with more deer meat than your family can use in a season, you can't sell it. However, you can give venison away, and you can share it with a food pantry or a soup kitchen, if it is processed in a commercial facility. The processing can be expensive though.
And that's where an organization called Hoosiers Feeding the Hungry comes in. They raise funds to help offset the cost of processing so that farmers and hunters with meat to donate don't need to foot the bill for processing.
They can also step in when wildlife management implements a deer cull. This winter, the City of Bloomington conducted a deer herd reduction at the Griffy Lake Nature Preserve. The cull was an attempt to manage the deer population and reduce damage to many plant species in in the nature preserve.
The issue has been highly controversial in the community, but it felt like a silver lining to learn that the venison was being processed locally, thanks to HFTH, and donated to the Hoosier Hills Food Bank.
I stopped into Mother Hubbard's Cupboard (The Hub), a food pantry served by the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, to see how folks responded to venison as an option. Listen to the podcast to hear from Hub volunteers and staff.
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Note: Other states have organizations similar to Hoosiers Feeding the Hungry. You can search for one in your area through the national organization Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry (FHFH).
