Gun season for deer began this Saturday, and for those who enjoy the sport but not harvesting the meat, they can donate the deer to Kentucky Hunters for the Hungry.
How Kentucky Hunters for the Hungry works is that they encourage hunters who will not be keeping the deer they shoot for themselves to donate the deer to a pre-approved location for processing (the processing fee is paid for by way of donations). In Adair County, the processing locations are Hometown Butcher, Central KY Meats, Showalters Meats, White’s Custom Meats, and Green River Meats.
“It does not cost a hunter anything to donate. All they have to do is legally check in their deer, bring their confirmation number to the processor, and the deer has to be field dressed and that’s all,” said Terry Partin.
If anything, a hunter stands to gain from donating. Each hunter in Adair County donates a deer will receive a ticket in a raffle. The prize is a Ruger rifle donated by Hometown Butcher and Downey Gun and Pawn—the drawing for which will occur after the conclusion of the 2024-2025 hunting season in January. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife has set Adair County as a Zone 2 hunting area. This means a hunter can harvest no more than four deer, but if a hunter donates all four, that adds up to four tickets toward the gun.
After the donated deer is processed, Hunters for the Hungry then distribute the “ground venison to food pantries across the state that pass out and give it to people for the nutrition that they need,” according to volunteer with the organization, Richard Phelps.
Locally, the meat will be distributed to the Adair County Food Pantry. It will also go toward Adair County school students through the meatstick program that works with the school system.
“They are meat sticks similar to what you can buy in gas stations and so forth. They are basically different because they are aimed more at nutrition and they will be predominantly venison with some pork and they are smoked so they don’t have to be refrigerated. So, the school system (and) the family resource youth center people in each school can utilize these to go in backpacks, they can go home with children on weekends, and they also are available at school for children who need additional nutrition,” said Partin. “It’s a very worthy thing that we can do.”
Partin is right to want to help. According to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, around 17 percent of the commonwealth is classed as food-insecure. This includes 743,310 people, 222,380 of which are children.
“I think we can safely assume that if we have this great of a need statewide that it is definitely something that impacts Adair County greatly,” Partin said.
Last year, Kentucky Hunters for the Hungry supplied 20,000 meat sticks from over 3,000 deer.
“It is extremely important that, as hunters in Adair County, we donate to support that program. It is going to feed children that are in need of nutrition. It is something that is very well-received in the school system… The children have expressed their approval. They enjoy the meat sticks, they like the meat sticks, and it is serving a great purpose. In addition, we have a responsibility to supply ground venison to the Adair County Food Pantry and the Food Pantry provides the additional nutrition to those who are in need,” Partin said.
As Richard Phelps stated, “It’s good for everybody.”
By Kenley Godby
kenley@adairvoice.com
