Missouri’s Department of Conservation reminds deer hunters to donate extra venison

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - The Missouri Department of Conservation reminds deer hunters of the Share the Harvest program.

The initiative helps hunters donate extra venison to those in need. Hunters must take their deer to an approved meat processor and let the workers know how much meat they’d like to give. If interested, check with your processor to see if they participate.

It’s also a good idea to ask them what the processing fee is when preparing venison for Share the Harvest.

“The price actually may vary,” said Missouri Department of Conservation Agent Francis Skalicky. “You may have to pay for the whole cost of processing, but at a lot of places, there are partnering businesses and partnering agencies that may kick in some of the money that offsets that price of processing the deer.”

Conservation Department workers say since the Share the Harvest began in 1992, more than 5 million pounds of venison have been donated to those in need. The program is administered by the MDC and the Conservation Federation of Missouri.

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