By Fred Bonner

Columnist

 

With the new spring comes the greening of newly sprouting grasses, and with this increased fresh vegetation will come a crop of whitetail deer. While some welcome the appearance of these deer, others, such as urban dwellers, despise the deer for the damage they cause to freshly planted gardens or expensive landscaping. As a whole, North Carolina is simply having a problem with too many whitetail deer in certain areas.

Some municipalities, desperate for relief from these animals, actually pay a great deal of money to hire professional archers to come into the cities and quietly kill these excess deer, seeing to it that these animals are removed from the towns. Hundreds, if not thousands, of these unwanted deer are killed every year.

Likewise, farmers in rural areas of the state legally shoot large numbers of whitetail deer that are eating their crops and leave the deer carcasses in the fields to rot.

Deer hunters, who easily fill their six legal deer tags every year, find they literally have more venison than they need.

For years now, a nationwide program called “Hunters for the Hungry” had been accepting the excess deer that were taken and using this fresh venison to feed people in need. Or, they simply supply this meat to people who don’t hunt but enjoy eating venison.

A press release from the N.C. Bowhunters Association states that, “If you signed up for our Deer Donation Registry about five years ago, we ask you to go to our webpage and register again. You can register online now by simply typing in a few bits of information. The old registry is still there, but now, hunters can search for deer recipients by typing in their zip code, and your name maypop up.”

“You can also improve your chance of receiving deer meat donations by emailing our BCRS Chairman, Phil Hooper, at bcrs@ncbowhunter.com. He will explain to you how you can do this. It will not cost you anything but the time to make a few phone calls.

“If you, or someone you know, has damage to your garden, flowers or shrubs, our trained, insured and certified Bowhunters will share or give venison to you, or a charity of your choice.

“If you own or have access to a piece of property you can bow hunt on, the NCBA will help you by removing some of the unwanted deer. It does not need to be a large plot of land. Many times a 1-2 acre lot that backs up to a wood lot or right-of-way will have many deer that pass through the property.

“It is a well-known fact that venison and the meat of other wild game is one of the healthiest sources of food available. Hunters know this and scientific studies show that the meat of wild game such as deer, has less fat, much more omega-3, and much less omega-6 than domestic meats purchased from your local grocery store. It is truly lean, clean red meat that many outdoorsmen and women use to supplement their families’ diets in these modern times. Indeed, some rely solely on the meat of wild game to feed their families.

“Due to liberal harvest limits in North Carolina, hunters can and often do harvest more deer than their family needs. In such cases the hunter must find a person or family willing to accept a harvested deer. As a public service, the NCBA maintains a list of people willing to accept harvested deer, as well as a list of butchers who process deer.

“If you own land and would like the NCBA to harvest deer from it, please visit our BCRS page to learn more. You are entitled to keep all or part of the deer harvested from your land.”