Area hunters, meat lockers help fight hunger

Area deer hunters have the opportunity to work together with local meat lockers to feed the hungry thanks to the Help Us Stop Hunger (HUSH) program sponsored by the Iowa DNR.

According to the Food Bank of Iowa website the program is an effort to provide high protein meals to struggling Iowans while also managing the deer population in the state. Last season more than 3,000 deer were donated, which resulted in more than 600,000 meals for those in need.

Payton Greiner, owner of Packwood Locker and Meats, said his shop gets about a half dozen deer in yearly. He said once the hunter brings in the legally harvested deer with the appropriate tag, a card is filled out describing what kind of deer it is and returned to the DNR. After skinning and grinding down the animal, the meat is put in two-pound tubes and taken to local food banks.

He said in the past, it has always gone to Ottumwa to help families in Wapello County but this year the meat will be split and half will go to the food pantry in Jefferson County.

Danny Crawford, owner of Crawford Meat Plat in Wayland said the meat it gets in is also sent to Ottumwa, but the food bank reaches out to help families as far as Mt. Pleasant. He said his business has been involved in the program for about 15 years and has seen as many as 225 donations but is down to about 100 on average now. He said the process for donation is simple: field dress the deer, drop it off anytime during the season and they will take care of the rest.

Greiner said it's a great, unique way for hunters to give back to those in need simply by pursuing their passion.

'There's a lot of people out there who want to hunt deer and a lot of times they want to hunt more than they want to eat, so it kills two birds with one stone because it helps out a family that very well could have gone without that service,” he said.

In Washington County, Boyd's Sausage Company and the Brighton Meat Locker participate in the program. Brandon Statler, with Boyd's, said his company has participated for the last 11 years and on average gets in about 120 deer a year. He said sometimes customers will bring in a deer and take half the meat for themselves and donate the rest to the program which can tip the number to being a little more than average.

Judy Augustine with the Brighton Meat Locker said they see a few less deer, about 70-80 per year but have a lot of customers who donate what they do not want to eat to the program. She said the processed meat gets distributed to HACAP then distributed to families in need around the county. Augustine said she likes the program because although some hunters only want the antlers, there are many people who appreciate the donation.

'There's a lot of unemployed families out there that need the help and I'd rather see the deer hunter bring it in here and feed the needy rather than leave it out there,” she said.