Today’s feel-good deer story comes from Ohio where the DNR and the Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry group have teamed up to encourage hunters to shoot more does this fall.

The state has provided a $100,000 subsidy grant to FHFH to help pay the processing fee on donated venison.  The grant money is being provided in two $50,000 allotments that are to be matched with funds generated or collected by FHFH.
 
"By providing hunters with an affordable outlet for donating extra venison, the division hopes to ultimately encourage hunters to kill more does,” stated James Marshall, assistant chief of the Division of Wildlife.
 
Finding ways to kill more does will help wildlife managers keep Ohio's deer population management plan on track. Deer hunters can again buy additional antlerless deer permits at reduced prices for the 2008-09 deer-hunting season. Cost of the antlerless deer permit remains at $15.  
 
Now over a decade old, FHFH has grown to include 120 local coordinators in 26 different states. Annual meat donation totals have topped 300,000 pounds-enough to provide meat for over 1.2 million meals-and are expected to increase even further in the coming years.