By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

TOLEDO, Ohio — What can be done with the rising deer population? Feed it to the hungry, of course. That’s been the strategy of Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry (FHFH) for the past 10 years.

Now, thanks to a $100,000 subsidy grant, FHFH can help offset the processing costs associated with donating venison to a food bank. This should, in turn, get more farmers donating to food pantries across the state.

The grant money is being provided in two $50,000 allotments that are to be matched with funds generated or collected by FHFH. Allen Dunlap, head of FHFH’s Northwest Ohio chapter, said the subsidy grant is a blessing because it “will encourage hunters to contribute to a good cause without having personal expenses associated with dressing the deer.

“Processing a deer can cost a hunter $50,” he said. “Money from the grant will offset this fee and encourage many hunters to willingly donate the venison to food pantries.”

Dunlap was one of the pioneers of the FHFH effort in Ohio.
“My twin brother and I started the first FHFH chapter here in Lucas County,” he said. “The program now has 17 chapters across the state. It’s great to see how hunters can give back to the needy in this way.

“Even the homeless get help, thanks to FHFH. A key is providing these people with red meat, which is normally a high expense for many of these shelters.”

FHFH began in Maryland in 1997, after founder Rick Wilson encountered a woman along a Virginia highway looking for help loading a road-kill deer into her car to feed her children.
Inspired to give hunters the opportunity to feed the hungry, Wilson formed a program that would raise money to pay the butchering bills for hunters who donate deer.

FHFH has grown to include 120 local coordinators across 26 states. Annual meat donation totals have topped 300,000 pounds, enough to provide meat for more than 1.2 million meals.

In addition, keeping the deer population down is good news for motorists in Ohio. Last year there were more than 8,000 deer-related auto accidents.

Sonny Lewis, a renowned hunting and fishing expert from Warren County in Ohio, said hunters often get a bad rap, seen only as animal killers.

“What most don’t realize is that hunters harvest deer and help keep their populations down,” he said. “They should look at hunters as conservationists because farmers in Warren and other counties in Ohio are being overrun by these deer. They’re ruining their crops.

“Most hunters harvest a deal for themselves and their family, but some are donating their kill to food banks with the attitude that they didn’t just kill a deer, they fed 100 people. Any way you look at it, there’s benefits when it comes to deer hunting.”

Venison they donate to food banks must be processed by a state-inspected and insured meat processor participating in FHFH. For more information, contact Dunlap at 419-466-4143 or Dave Risley at the Division of Wildlife, at 614-265-6330.