By Sean CW Korsgaard

Special to The Farmville Herald

Many hunters will be quick to tell you that they hunt deer not only for sport but for the meat. For a number of local charities and food pantries, they’re depending on it.

Hunters for the Hungry is a state charity based out of Bedford County that, as the name implies, takes deer donated by hunters across Virginia and has it processed into venison that is then distributed to people in need. Since its establishment in 1991, the group has delivered more than 23.2 million quarter pound servings of deer meat.

Last year, a bad deer season saw donation numbers drop from and 350,000 pounds to 238,000 pounds. Laura Newell-Furniss, director of Hunters for the Hungry, has expressed hope that things will turn around this year.

“We’ve been working with hunters in different parts of the state, and they’ve had mixed reports about deer numbers,” said Newell-Furniss. “We remain optimistic, though that things will improve, and our goal is to provide 325,000 pounds of meat this year, and that amount of venison would supply 1.3 million quarter-pound servings.”

There may be other factors at play in this year’s eventual donation numbers as well, as Samuel Hamlett, proprietor of Hamlett’s Meat Processing in Dillwyn and a longtime partner of Hunters for the Homeless, pointed out.

“It’s looking pretty thin this year, and the price of beef has gone up,” said Hamlett. “When beef gets more expensive, and they manage to bag a deer, a lot of times people end up keeping it for themselves.”

A hunter himself, Hamlett had positive things to say about working with Hunters for the Hungry.

“It’s a good program,” he said. “When I first started out, they called me asking if I’d process the deer meat for them, and we’ve been working together ever since.”

For many smaller or regional food pantries, including FACES in Farmville, the role Hunters for the Hungry plays in supplying large amounts of venison plays a key part in making sure many needy families have enough to eat during the holidays.

According to Patsy Scott, chairman of the Salvation Army in Lunenburg County, the deer meat goes a long way toward putting meat on the plate of area seniors.

“Our seniors get overlooked by so many other programs, but they just love deer meat,” said Scott. “It’s such a wonderful, popular program, and it is such a tremendous help in stretching out our supplies and donations over the holidays.”

Local hunters can become involved simply by taking their field-dressed deer to one of Hunters for the Hungry’s multiple participating processors or collection sites around the area. From there, one can drop the deer off at no cost to the hunter.

In addition, a raffle is being done this year, with each donated deer giving hunters a chance to win a number of prizes.

As Newell-Furniss points out, each donation helps.

“On average, you can get more than 200 pounds of venison per deer,” she said. “Every deer donated goes a long way towards feeding a lot of people.”

Those interested, can visit the Hunters for the Hungry website at www.h4hungry.org or call (800) 352-4868.