Syracuse.com - Central New York hunters put venison and deer hides to good use

[HuntingNY-News]

Some donate their meat and it ends up at local food pantries. Others, donate the hides and the proceeds are used to help those at the Syracuse VA Hospital.

Waste not.

That’s the attitude of the Central New York deer hunters I know.

Many fill their freezers each fall with their harvests, or give the venison to family or friends.

Others donate the meat to the Venison Donation Coalition program, and it eventually gets distributed to local food pantries to help the needy.

Others drop off their deer hides at the Camillus Elks Club, which sells them and uses the proceeds to help out at the Syracuse Veterans Administration Hospital.

The hide money is used for such things as throwing pizza parties for the hospitalized vets, along with keeping their toiletry cabinet stocked.

Bob Maraio, who coordinates the deer hide collection program for the Elks, wanted me to thank everyone who dropped off a hide. He said the club took in 391 this past hunting season. He said the hides usually fetch about $5 to $6 each.

“This year, the hides came from all over Central New York – east to New Hartford, west to Auburn, north to Fulton and south to Delmar. Quite an area of coverage.”

Brian McManus, community relations coordinator of the Food Bank of Central New York, told me Friday hunters donated a total of 5,100 pounds of venison.

He said when it’s handed out to local food pantries, the venison is all ground up and packaged in tubes for easy use.

“Last year we received about 2,000 pounds,” he said.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog