At what point do you donate the meat?

[TaperPin]

I just read an old thread of someone planning on getting multiple cow elk across the country, and it had me wondering at what point do you simply have it processed and donated to a needy family, rather than transport it home?

 

[fisherman983]

Never for me. I'll buy an extra freezer if I have to. Make more jerky and speciality meats and sausages. Trade game meat for favors or give to friends.
Extra meat never hurts, never know when you have a bad season and don't put much in. Extra now is a reserve for later when you need it.

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[mt terry d]

IMO When it’s more than you and your friends can eat. In our area lockers sometimes give away year old packaged game to make room and no one wants it. Granted, you don’t know how it was killed or handled but if I were truly “needy” I’d grab it in a heartbeat. Like John Colter said when asked if he ever ate human when with the Blackfoot “ I don’t know but meat is meat”

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Never for me. I'll buy an extra freezer if I have to. Make more jerky and speciality meats and sausages. Trade game meat for favors or give to friends.
Extra meat never hurts, never know when you have a bad season and don't put much in. Extra now is a reserve for later when you need it.

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I do the same. I use to trade for fish but then I started hitting the ocean again so I no longer do that. I will take the older cuts and turn them into jerky and summer sausage. I do have some neighbors who love wild game but no longer hunt for various reason so I will give them some from time to time.

 

[sierracharlie338]

Several years ago I went on a cull hunt here in Texas where we had to kill “x” number of deer for heard management on a private ranch. At the end of it we had a literal trailer load of deer that had been field dressed and frozen in a walk in cooler. The day we left a texas parks and wildlife person took all the deer, minus what we kept, and drove them straight to a processor where the meat was processed and then donated to Hunters for the Hungry (I think that was the name).

 

[rclouse79]

When you have no more space in existing freezers and no space to put new freezers. That is a nice problem to have that I have no experience with.

 

[Tod osier]

I just read an old thread of someone planning on getting multiple cow elk across the country, and it had me wondering at what point do you simply have it processed and donated to a needy family, rather than transport it home?

I am careful not to end up in a situation where I have way too much. I kill what I need for my immediate family taking care to never run out of the stuff we use and I share a very small amount of specialty items with people. I know that most people are going to waste more meat than my wife and I do, I would not give bulk meat to most people. We are exceptionally careful to time out our usage so we don't end up with old meat.

Giving away meat to not have to deal with it is the wrong way to go for me and in my view it is a waste of the shared resource when tags are limited. In many areas, shooting another animal to give away takes away someone's opportunity to get that animal. I'm conscious of that.

In my current home state I could (both with tags and opportunity) produce a literally unlimited amount of meat, but I choose to shoot only what I can use before it is too old.

 

[TaperPin]

Never for me. I'll buy an extra freezer if I have to. Make more jerky and speciality meats and sausages. Trade game meat for favors or give to friends.
Extra meat never hurts, never know when you have a bad season and don't put much in. Extra now is a reserve for later when you need it.

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I’ve always made entire antelope into jerky and given most away to friends and family. My sister loves mule deer much more than I do so those go to her. Who doesn’t like elk?

I don’t know about moose hunting in Alaska - the cost saving of donating the meat to needy families is significant, not that that is the primary reason, but it goes to a good cause.

 

[TaperPin]

Several years ago I went on a cull hunt here in Texas where we had to kill “x” number of deer for heard management on a private ranch. At the end of it we had a literal trailer load of deer that had been field dressed and frozen in a walk in cooler. The day we left a texas parks and wildlife person took all the deer, minus what we kept, and drove them straight to a processor where the meat was processed and then donated to Hunters for the Hungry (I think that was the name).

As I get older and naturally eat less, and can afford to hunt more, it’s almost selfish to keep more than you need.

We hunt. If it provides for those we don’t know, I’m ok with that.

Not hunting because of a full freezer might not be in my dna.

 

[BillR0118]

I just read an old thread of someone planning on getting multiple cow elk across the country, and it had me wondering at what point do you simply have it processed and donated to a needy family, rather than transport it home?

People hunt and kill more than what they can eat for a number of reasons. Sometimes we can't give it all away. Plan ahead if you are going to donate it. Professional processing is a must for many organizations that accept your generous donation.

 

[Fowl Play]

I am friends with a wealthy family who are down to earth good people. They like to hunt and that’s all they spend money on. They own roughly 15,000 acres of property and only let friends and family hunt it (besides 4-5 youth and wounded warrior hunts they put on each year). Between friends and family they will easily take close to 180 whitetail does alone off that property (maybe 10 people total) to maintain the management program they are in. They have a huge walk in cooler and a pretty wild processing facility on site. They donate most of it to hunters helping the homeless programs.

 

[long hunter]

I have often wondered about this type of hunter, I can see thinning for management, but why would you kill more than you could possibly use, give away of trade, perhaps to sit around and brag yea I killed X number of deer, elk or skunks. Perhaps its a greed thing.( I know a few hunters that fit this bill and they don't need to hunt to eat) I would bet no one on the site needs to hunt to eat, and let's face it harvesting wild game is an expensive hobby. Hunters, Farmers feeding the hungry programs is a good thing, but the programs should not be used as an excuse to kill more than one person or family can use. This year I killed a good antelope in Wyoming, passed on two mule deer (not what I was looking for) and will hunt my states whitetail rifle season, if fortunate enough I will kill one whitetail buck (if it's the right one) and be satisfied.

 

[LoggerDan]

I live up north, and during the winter I cannot work. I stay off unemployment. I try to be smart. Food is expensive. So I feel not bad at all at all the moose deer and bear and salmon and halibut I catch. I grind through it all. I often feed a lot of folks because it makes me feel good to see folks eating good food

 

[Boarmaster]

Never for me. I'll buy an extra freezer if I have to. Make more jerky and speciality meats and sausages. Trade game meat for favors or give to friends.
Extra meat never hurts, never know when you have a bad season and don't put much in. Extra now is a reserve for later when you need it.

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This. I have a dehydrator on my list this year. Its one thing I lack in my processing equipment. Getting it in easily useable product as well as variety is key if you have a lot of game meat.

 

[TaperPin]

This. I have a dehydrator on my list this year. Its one thing I lack in my processing equipment. Getting it in easily useable product as well as variety is key if you have a lot of game meat.

You didn’t even mention the word jerky, but it made my mouth water. Lol

Get one as large as you can fit - I’ve never known anyone to ever say their dehydrator is too big.

 

[Boarmaster]

You didn’t even mention the word jerky, but it made my mouth water. Lol

Get one as large as you can fit - I’ve never known anyone to ever say their dehydrator is too big.

I would agree. I learned my lesson on not buying big on my stuffer. I started with a 5 lb’r. Ya what pain.
I bought a bigger one after one season.

 

[Fowl Play]

I have often wondered about this type of hunter, I can see thinning for management, but why would you kill more than you could possibly use, give away of trade, perhaps to sit around and brag yea I killed X number of deer, elk or skunks. Perhaps it’s a greed thing.( I know a few hunters that fit this bill and they don't need to hunt to eat) I would bet no one on the site needs to hunt to eat, and let's face it harvesting wild game is an expensive hobby. Hunters, Farmers feeding the hungry programs is a good thing, but the programs should not be used as an excuse to kill more than one person or family can use. This year I killed a good antelope in Wyoming, passed on two mule deer (not what I was looking for) and will hunt my states whitetail rifle season, if fortunate enough I will kill one whitetail buck (if it's the right one) and be satisfied.

For the unique case I posted about. It’s a retired hunter who basically has created something to do to keep him busy. He hates traveling and lives in Florida. So basically farms soybeans and corn as if he was in Iowa but purely for deer. So he gets quality hunting right in his backyard (it’s not high fence but he still shoots several 160-170” deer off his property every year). It’s a full time job and he loves it. It’s probably not what I would do if I had that kind of money, but I can’t say what he is doing is wrong. At least he gives back to the community.

 

[molliesmaster]

I'd like to believe that eventually everyone grows out of the blood-lust phase of hunting and moves on to deeper views of the terms of what a successful hunt is.

I think there are appropriate times and opportunities to gift or donate meat. And I think there are people that are using donations as a way to justify killing one more animal, because they can.

 

[S-3 ranch]

I personally only need 2 deer for personal consumption, but for the last 30+ years I have gladly made donations to the local food banks, be it deer , fish , nilgai, cabrito aoudad , when I had my outfitting company most clients would only take what they could put into a medium sized cooler, the rest was donated
2 lbs of meat and pasta will feed about 20-25 hungry people according to the food bank staffing

 

[grog24]

I personally only need 2 deer for personal consumption, but for the last 30+ years I have gladly made donations to the local food banks, be it deer , fish , nilgai, cabrito aoudad , when I had my outfitting company most clients would only take what they could put into a medium sized cooler, the rest was donated
2 lbs of meat and pasta will feed about 20-25 hungry people according to the food bank staffing

I've seen a bunch donated as well. Especially on the MLD's in TX I've helped on w/ their quotas. (I see you're from Sisterdale. I'm in Boerne!)