Hunters in Pennsylvania set a new record for donating venison to the Sharing the Harvest Program in the 2022-23 deer hunting seasons. A total of 235,532 pounds of venison from 6,201 deer and four elk were donated, reflecting a nearly 25 percent increase over the previous record of 190,302 pounds from 4,896 deer donated during the 2020-21 hunting seasons.

Randy Ferguson, executive director of Pennsylvania’s venison-donation program, said, “Pennsylvania deer hunters continue to astound us with their generosity and unselfishness. When that hunter generosity is combined with the efforts of our participating processors, area coordinators and financial supporters around the state, we have an extremely effective mission. And this is what we’re seeing in these historic donation numbers.” 

Ferguson also noted, based on the American Heart Association’s recommended serving size of 3 ounces of lean red meat per serving, the 235,532 pounds of venison donated during the 2022-23 season provided approximately 1.25 million servings of lean, high-protein venison to the people in need. 

The Hunters Sharing the Harvest Program is a coordinated effort of nearly 100 participating deer processors who accept donated deer from hunters and process the deer into one, two and five - pound packages of ground venison for distribution to regional food banks and food pantries. 

Ferguson pointed out, in its 32 years of operation, Hunters Sharing the Harvest has delivered 2.2 million pounds of hunter-donated venison, providing more than 10 million servings to food insecure people.

Hunters interested in donating a deer need only to legally harvest, tag and field dress the deer and take it to a participating processor near them. The list of participating processors by county can be found at: bit.ly/3Pnz.3Xh. 

Hunters Sharing the Harvest Program is actively seeking participating processors to augment its efforts in counties throughout Pennsylvania. Participating processes are reimbursed for their services and are the cornerstone of the groups mission. 

A volunteer force of nearly 60 county coordinators ensures that processors have the resources they need and that the public is aware of the program and the ways they can support the program. A list of county coordinators is available at:  bit.ly/3NItuSO.