Hunters share game

New American, The, Jan 7, 2008 by Warren Mass

Many hunters love the sport that allows them to get out in the great outdoors, enjoy the fresh air, and match their wits against prey that is often very sly. And it also allows them to supplement their family's food budget. But now a new movement has arisen. According to the Christian Science Monitor, "a national 'hunters for the hungry' campaign ... is racking up record amounts of donated deer, wild hog, and squirrel meat to bolster soup-kitchen chilis during the coldest, leanest stretch of the year for poorer Americans."

The recent Monitor article featured an interview with hunter Victor Devine, a middle-school teacher who lives in northeast Georgia. The Devine family normally eats about 100 pounds of venison a year, but during each season Mr. Devine hunts an additional deer or two to help feed strangers. "A lot of hunters think it's wasteful to take three or four deer if they can't eat it all," Mr. Devine explained. The program enables hunters to donate surplus meat to help feed hungry people, while also culling overpopulated herds and helping to "get deer out of people's pea patches."

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Georgia's Hunters for the Hungry program calculates it will serve its one-millionth meal in November. Among other groups operating such programs are Safari Club, a pro-hunting organization that began donating unused game in the 1980s. Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry (FHFH), is a ministry based in Hagerstown, Maryland, that operates in 26 states, and collected 282,194 pounds of meat last fall. Last year, about 4,000 hunters contributed enough venison to cook more than one million meals.