At the end of every year, hundreds of Southeast Ohioans suit up in safety orange and hit the woods in search of a certain four-legged fall fare.
Rather than hoarding their game, hunters have donated about 18,200 pounds of deer meat to area food banks during the past three years, and with the peak of hunting season approaching, there is certainly more to come.
Before 2008, local food banks were scrounging for a source of meat other than fair-bought livestock, but since Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry established a chapter in Southeast Ohio, meat has been anything but scarce.
Last year, the group received 71 deer donations, each feeding about 200 people — and even that was a mere fraction of the 221 donations the year before.
“There are so many deer that were being wasted,” said Barbara Rountree, the regional coordinator for Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry and who also works for Hocking-Athens-Perry Community Action. “I can’t tell you how many people told me they just shot deer for crop damage and let the meat rot.”
With the deer population on the rise in recent years, Ohio Division of Natural Resources records show that Athens is becoming a nationwide hunting hotspot. Rather than trucking the perishable venison miles away, out-of-town hunters now have a place to dump it before heading home.
“It’s one of the best places to deer-hunt on the planet,” said Jeff Zigler, a 2008 Hocking College graduate who donated three deer to Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry last year. “But that’s more meat than any normal person can go through in a year, so why not donate it to a good cause?”
The sport brings in hundreds of tourists to Athens County every year. Of the 71 deer donated last year, Athens County residents claimed half. Out-of-state hunters donated about 16.
“I love it when the hunters come to town and our businesses benefit from it,” said Wendy Jakmas, president of the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce. “Hunting is not what people perceive it to be. It’s actually an expensive sport.”
Though the cost to hunt in Ohio is about $150 for non-Ohio residents, that is only a fraction of what it costs to hunt in other states. Zigler, who now lives in California, said the cost of hunting in his neck of the woods totals $600 for nonresidents.
In its four years, Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry has not yet been targeted by animal-rights groups and is, in fact, considered a ministry by its members. When the project’s headquarters launched in 1997, it was largely rooted in Christianity.
“I hope we never have to deal with that criticism,” Rountree said. “Personally, I could never pull the trigger on Bambi, but what do you think people ate before grocery stores?”
oy311909@ohiou.edu
