Donate Your Extra Venison to Someone In Need

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) encourages hunters to donate Wisconsin-harvested deer through the DNR’s Deer Donation Program. The program supports Wisconsin residents in need by helping stock food pantry shelves with ground venison made from donated deer. Since the program began in 2000, hunters have donated over 98,000 deer, totalling nearly 4 million pounds of venison, to help Wisconsinites in need. A network of venison donation partners, including county land and water conservation departments, food pantries, charitable organizations, USDA-Wildlife Services and participating meat processors, all help administer and implement the program.

Locally you can also donate deer, at various locations, to help people looking for venison. Brock Rosenkranz is a Field to Fork Coordinator in Wisconsin.

Hunters interested in donating a Wisconsin-harvested deer to the Deer Donation Program should follow these steps: Field dress the deer; Register the deer through GameReg. When dropping it off, you will need the registration confirmation number; Test the deer for CWD before taking the deer to a processor if harvested from a CWD-affected county. A list of CWD sampling locations is available on the DNR’s Chronic Wasting Disease Sampling webpage; Contact a participating processor before dropping off the deer to ensure they have the capacity to accept it. More processors may be added later in the season; Bring the deer to the processor. If donating a deer being tested for CWD, inform the processor and provide the CWD barcode number. The processor will not distribute the deer until the results are known.

To find out how receive venison you can reach out to Brock Rosenkranz.

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Hunters and non-hunters may also support the Deer Donation Program through a monetary donation at any license sales location or online through their Go Wild account. Visit Wisconsin’s Deer Donation Program webpage to learn more about the program.