Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

As white-tailed deer hunting season draws to a close, hunters with an extra deer or two can donate them to a good cause. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has partnered with the Food Bank of Iowa and meat lockers around the state to create the Help Us Stop Hunger (HUSH) program. Danny Crawford, owner of the Crawford Meat Plant in Wayland, has been a part of the program since its inception around 15 years ago. He says so far this year they have received over 100 deer donated from local hunters. The hunters are required to gut the deer themselves, but the meat plant will skin and de-bone the deer, then grind it into two-pound packages to be distributed to local food pantries.

Crawford believes HUSH is a great program and is proud to have been a part of it since the beginning. He says, “I think it does good. For people that are actually wanting to hunt it and don’t want the meat, they have an out to get rid of it. And (they’re) helping other people with giving them good, ground venison.” The Crawford Meat Plant will continue to accept deer for the program until January 17th, a week after the close of hunting season. Hunters who donate their deer to the HUSH program are not charged any fees by the meat locker. The DNR says since the program’s inception, they have provided meat from over 63,000 deer to those in need.