November is National Wild Game Meat Donation Month. All across our nation, deer hunters are out in the fields and blinds to fill their freezers with wholesome, lean, wild venison. And those hunters who also donate part of their harvest are taking aim at food insecurity, which is a reality for many right now. 

Today, food insecurity is an immediate and growing problem, thanks to politics.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, provides food benefits -commonly referred to as food stamps-to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget.

However, due to the shutdown of the federal government, as of November 1, no benefits are being issued because of lack of funding, once again because of politics.

The downturn in the economy, in the wake of record inflation during the previous administration, has already put a strain on American families. A fault in SNAP funding only deepens the pain being felt across the country, including our friends and neighbors.

The strain it has put on food banks and charities working to support their struggling communities is staggering.

Now in its third year, National Wild Game Meat Donation Month (NWGMDM) is designed to rally the millions of hunters to donate wild game meat through a network of food processors, state programs, food banks, churches, and charities.

Our U.S. military has bailed us out of tight spots many times. Just the deer hunters from the four most popular deer hunting states in the nation would make up the largest military force in the world. There are over 11 million deer hunters in the U.S. And that doesn’t take in elk hunters, duck and turkey hunters, or small game hunters. 

There are an estimated 36 million deer in the U. S. today. With the numbers of deer hunters we have, the current numbers of deer, and the liberal deer seasons available to us, there is no reason for any U.S. citizen to go hungry this year.

If you are a hunter, now is the time to step up and help those in need by donating a portion or your harvest. NWGMDM is calling on America’s sportsmen and women to not only be hunters, but to become heroes with a much needed donation of wild game meat.

Hunters supporting those in need is not at all a new concept. As Karen Mehall Phillips of American Hunter and NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum writes, “Since the early 1990s, American hunters have done this through the NRA-backed national Hunters for the Hungry (HFH) movement, donating millions of pounds of nutritious surplus wild game meat to help those less fortunate each year.”

It wasn’t until 2023 when the message about donating went national with the creation of the Wild Game Meat Donation Month—a concept that originated back in 2014 in the research office at the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).Jim Curcuruto, who was then the head of research at NSSF, and now leads the Outdoor Stewards of Conservation Foundations, found that public opinion of hunters and hunting improved among non-hunters once they learned that hunters actually eat—and often share—the game they harvest.There are many more wild  game meat donation organizations, such as Hunting for the Hungry, but Missouri has a great program, Share the Harvest, which is administered by the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Conservation Federation of Missouri. In 1992, hunters in Missouri began a program to share the deer they harvested with those less fortunate. From that beginning developed a statewide system run by the Conservation Department (MDC) and the Conservation Federation of Missouri called Share The Harvest, a program that provides an easy way for hunters to donate venison to Missourians in need of red meat. Share The Harvest is a WIN WIN WIN program. Hunters win by doing their part to help people in need, cooperating processing plants win by getting positive feedback for their involvement and donations of locker space, and participating organizations win by having a ready-made service project for a good cause. Plus, the Department of Conservation has yet another tool to use in the management of Missouri’s valuable deer resource. Processing fees are covered entirely or in part by numerous local sponsors, along with statewide sponsors that include: MDC, Shelter Insurance, Bass Pro Shops, Gateway Chapter Safari Club International, Missouri Chapter National Wild Turkey Federation, and Missouri Food Banks Association. Many families and individuals have no dependable source of protein in their diets. Red meat can provide that important component. Deer is a valuable source of protein, and unlike most red meat, it is unusually low in fat. Through Share the Harvest, Missouri hunters can help provide this part of the daily diet. Businesses and individuals can also mail a check made out to “Share the Harvest,” to: Share the Harvest,728 W. Main St., Jefferson City, MO 65101. Bill Kirgan, of St. James, is the current president of the Conservation Federation of Missouri. He said, “Since its founding in 1935, the Conservation Federation of Missouri has been an incubator for programs protecting Missouri’s outdoors and encouraging outdoor activities. One of our most successful programs has been Share the Harvest in which hunters can donate venison to local food banks and have the majority of the processing costs paid by the program. Not only does this provide quality protein to those in need, it gives hunters incentive to take excess deer (other than trophy bucks) thereby balancing the herd.  It’s a win-win by feeding people while giving hunters incentive to spend more time outdoors.