Graphic showing how venison donation works: hunt a legal deer, drop it at a participating processor and food banks receive ground venison

How Donated Deer Feed Families

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Every fall, hunters across the country drop off deer at participating processors, and within weeks ground venison reaches food banks and kitchens.

Graphic showing how venison donation works: hunt a legal deer, drop it at a participating processor and food banks receive ground venison
How game meat donation programs work.

Lean protein food banks need

Food banks rarely receive fresh meat. Donated venison is lean, high in protein and welcomed by the families who receive it.

Usually free for hunters

Many programs pay the processing cost through donations and grants, so hunters can give a deer at no cost to themselves.

Hunter sitting behind a harvested desert deer with his rifle in the shade of mesquite trees
Every deer is a freezer full of lean, local meat.

How to take part

  • Find the program in your state through the wildlife agency
  • Locate a participating processor before the season
  • Deliver a legal, tagged and field-dressed deer
  • Ask about chronic wasting disease testing rules in your area

Learn more on the Donating Game Meat page.