That was in the early days before they used deer processors, the deer carcasses went to the prison farm and were butchered by inmates. The yield was terrible and there was a lot of waste. The total pounds and yield went up substantially when they switched to deer processors. It helps small businesses and provides many more locations than the refer trailers. They only had the trailers available for a weekend or so in a given area.
I'm hopeful that this program expansion could provide some stability for new processors to start up. We're also trying to drive business to them during slow times. Running a cooler and paying staff to be present probably loses money during off peak days, hopefully extra deer in bow season or December could help offset this some.
ahhh...it looked different on the reread
It might help some but I don't see how it could possibly hurt the number of "permit deer shot". And - there are other good outcomes possible as well:
I believe so, yes. Hunters need to kill more deer in these areas. There's more than enough season and bag limit to do it, but not enough people are pulling the trigger. Providing an outlet for hunters to donate is about the only thing left to do to encourage harvest.
I know it is a few more minutes up the road, but Southern Tradition's (formally North's), in Roopville, has always been a part of this program and does a great processing job!
That will depend on the processor.
I see the amount of money for the program, is there a limit to how much a particular processor can receive, as long as there is money? Do they get paid at the time of pick up or end of season? And does the State pick the meat up regularly or only at the end of the season, Freezer space is limited at most processors.Hey Folks,
We are trying to expand Hunters for the Hungry, particularly in agricultural areas. We've been seeing a lot of agricultural damage and we'd rather hunters shoot some extra does in these areas and donate them than farmers having to kill them on permits. Please encourage any deer processors in areas with a fair amount of agriculture you know to sign up for taking donations and consider taking an extra doe to donate (preferably not during peak weekends when processors are likely to be full already). No one likes deer getting killed outside season on permits, let's try to solve this problem with hunting.
They are paying processors $2.50/lb processed meat that goes to needy families across the state. Any questions, fire away
do the number of buck tags in those areas need to be higher. Kind of even the harvest.
There is an agreed upon number of pounds that's established between GWF and the processor. The processors get paid once they donate the meat and send an invoice to GWF. They can't guarantee any payment beyond the contracted amount, but there can be some wiggle room if other processors don't meet their quota.
Not really, buck and doe harvest is pretty even despite the much larger doe limit. Given that females are the drivers of the population, that's where the increase needs to happen.
