Urban Deer Hunt Provides Venison for Food Pantries

A deer hunt in the urban area of Morgantown, West Virginia has become a critical source of nourishment for local food pantries and community kitchens.

When the idea for an urban deer hunt was first proposed, the goal was to control the population, reduce car collisions and the destruction of people’s gardens and shrubs. Although people were initially skeptical of having a bow hunt within city limits, bowhunters have had no accidents while hunting more than 950 deer, resulting in about 9,500 pounds of ground venison, according to the C harleston Gazette-Mail. Some of the venison is used by the bowhunters and the rest is donated to organizations such as the Trinity Episcopal Church, Pantry Plus More, the Caritas House and the Ronald McDonald House.

Trinity Episcopal serves free lunches Monday through Friday and uses the venison twice a week as a source of protein, without having to purchase expensive meat products, kitchen manager Jim Chapman said. The donated meat lasts the entire year and is used in a variety of ways. “I just can’t state enough that we rely on that first hunt that provides us with so much venison,” Chapman told the C harleston Gazette-Mail. “It’s a truly wonderful thing that they provide for us.”

Morgantown’s Urban Archery Hunt runs from the first Saturday in September through Dec. 31 and the last two weeks of January. It’s comprised of 60 volunteers, all of whom are experienced bowhunters and completed the National Bowhunter Education Foundation course, as well as an archery proficiency test. Paul Crumrine, the hunt’s volunteer coordinator, hopes to grow the program and bring its benefits to surrounding communities.