Donate extra venison to ‘Hunt for the Hungry,’ food pantries

State program takes deer and processes, donates venison

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — If you have too much venison after the opening weekend of Wisconsin’s Gun- Deer hunt season, local food pantries can take some off your hands.

Wisconsin’s ‘Hunt for the Hungry’ program works with processors across the state to collect, process and donate deer to food pantries.

The WAFER Food Pantry collects a few hundred pounds of processed venison each year, and another 2,000 pounds go to La Crosse’s Hunger Task Force.

“Pantry families can use that for their spaghetti, for tacos, anything that you can use regular ground beef for, and venison is so much better for you,” said Hunger Task Force Executive Director Shelly Fortner.

To donate extra venison look for a processing station that takes part in the ‘Hunt for the Hungry’ program and they will take, process and donate the deer. You can also donate any venison already processed at a state-licensed processor directly to a food pantry.