Hunters: Spread the bounty of your success through MDC’s St. Louis area Share the Harvest

St. LOUIS, Mo.— Hunting has always been about providing.  As a hunter, imagine how your success in the field might be able to provide essential nutrition for others in need. 

Inflation is putting the squeeze on families now more than ever. Thanks to the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Share the Harvest Program, hunters can help.

The Share the Harvest Program provides food to the hungry through deer meat donated by hunters.  Hunters can choose to donate portions or the entire deer they harvest.  They simply bring their deer to an approved meat processor to process the venison, usually into ground meat, where it is then packaged for distribution. 

Share the Harvest is a statewide partnership between MDC, the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM), cooperating meat processors, and hunters.  The St. Louis area is fortunate to have another key partner in the program, Operation Food Search (OFS).  Thanks to contributions by OFS, St. Louis area hunters donating their entire deer through Share the Harvest can do so with little to no processing fees.

The Overland-based non-profit hunger relief organization feeds 200,000 people in need each month through over 200 outlets in the metro area.  According to OFS, fresh protein like venison is one of the most popular items and the number one in demand.

Meat processors typically charge around $100 to process a deer into ready-to-prepare meat.  CFM has funding to cover $95 for hunters donating whole deer statewide.  Operation Food Search now contributes an additional $40 per deer.  Cooperating processors in St. Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson counties agree to limit their deer processing fees so there is little to no net charge for donating hunters.  All members in the partnership work together to help alleviate the costs for hunters who donate their entire deer.

“Operation Food Search is helping reduce costs for hunters who want to donate whole deer to Share the Harvest, so it’s easier for them to participate,” said MDC Conservation Agent Corporal Jeff Breuer.

The following is a list of meat processors in the St. Louis Region that parent with OFS to offer minimal to no cost processing for hunters donating for processing a whole deer, grouped by county.

St. Louis:

• Kenrick’s Meats and Catering, South St. Louis County
• John’s Butcher Shoppe, Overland

St. Charles County:

• Josephville Meat Processing, Wentzville

Jefferson County:

• John’s Butcher Shoppe, Festus

Breuer reminds hunters that deer harvested from Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Management Zone counties can be donated only to processors participating in the Share the Harvest CWD Testing Program.

For more details on the Share the Harvest program and a list of these processors, visit mdc.mo.g6ov/share.