( From the Washington Post )
VIRGINIA
Surplus Deer Going to Feed the Hungry
A booming deer population on Virginia's Eastern Shore is benefiting food bank pantries that otherwise receive little donated meat. A group called Hunters for the Hungry donated 14,000 pounds of venison this season, a key food source for the poor.
"It's very important to us," said Jean Davis, director of the Food Bank in Tasley. "It's very nutritional, very little fat. We had 8,000 pounds, and it's all gone but for a few packs."
Art Saunders, who heads the local chapter of the Virginia Deer Hunters Association, started Hunters for the Hungry three years ago. He modeled the program on a state initiative, which donated 182,603 pounds of venison to charities last season.
"Hunters don't begrudge the deer. They're glad to give it," Saunders said. "It's meeting a need. It's scriptural for us to take care of each other."
Virginia game warden Mike Caison estimates that Accomack and Northampton counties have 12,500 deer.