Hunters for the Hungry a way to help Tennessee citizens in need
It’s payback time for Tennessee deer hunters, a time to give back to those in need.
Tennessee’s recent opening weekend of the gun season for deer (Nov. 17-18) was expected to be the biggest time of the year for the Tennessee Wildlife Federation’s Hunters for the Hungry (HFH) program. In fact, more than 17,000 deer were killed in Tennessee during the opening weekend.
Matt Simcox, who has been the program’s manager since it started in 2011, carried a small folder into a recent meeting in Memphis. Why carry a stack of typed statistics about the HFH when he’s got most of the information memorized?
“I often tell people that Hunters for the Hungry is the greatest program in the world,” Simcox said. “What this program has done is amazing. Our (deer) hunters have really stepped up. Everyone is a winner in this program.”
The program is a unique way to provide healthy, much-need protein to Tennessee’s citizens in need, while helping to manage the state’s deer herd thanks through a partnership with deer processors all over the state. It’s a simple process. Hunters take their deer to one of 83 processors in 65 counties and tell the processor they are donating the meat to the TWF’s Hunters for the Hungry program. All the processors are certified and inspected by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.
Since 1998, Hunters for the Hungry has provided more than 6 million meals to Tennesseans in need through several outlets, including local food banks and soup kitchens. In recent years, Simcox said the program has averaged about 600,000 meals annually.
“We have raised funds this year to cover the processing,” Simcox said. “Food banks tell us that this is the only protein some people will ever eat in a year. We might as well keep hunting because every animal that is donated is going to feed a lot of people.”
Once again, the program will include a Hunter Challenge where 20-25 high schools compete to see how many pounds of meat each school will donate to a processor, an idea originated by the TWF’s chairman of the board Dr. Jack Gayden.
Over the last five years students involved in the program have raised more than $95,000 and have volunteered more than 4,000 hours.
“Sometimes hunting is controversial,” Simcox said. “But feeding people is not.”
Christian Brothers High School earned the most points in Tennessee during the 2017-18 deer season. Students earned points by contributing 3,570 pounds of venison, volunteering for a collective 96 hours and raising $21,100. In addition to being regional champion, Memphis University School won the statewide School Top Harvester Award for securing more venison than any other school – 4,032 pounds.
Area deer processors involved in the program include Dave’s Deer Processing in Arlington, Dino’s Gourmet Sausage Company in Memphis and Mason’s processing in Covington.
For each deer donated during the 2018-19 season donors will be entered to win one of four Knight Rifle Mountaineer muzzleloaders with a nitride barrel finish. For more information on the TWF’s Hunters for the Hungry program go to twf.org.
Three West Tennessee counties finished in the top 10 for deer killed opening weekend – Carroll at 413, Fayette at 427 and Hardeman at 415. Through Wednesday, 91,226 deer have been killed since the deer season started with archery in late September.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency will stock about 90,000 rainbow trout as part of its Winter Trout Stocking program that began in late November and will continue through March.
WINTER TROUT:
Trout will be stocked locally on Tuesday at Shelby Farms in Memphis, Cameron Brown Lake in Germantown and Edmund-Orgill Park in Millington. On Thursday, trout will be stocked at Davies Plantation Park in Lakeland, Yale Road Park in Bartlett and Valentine Park Lake in Munford. A second stocking will be on Jan. 2 at the same lakes.
Logan Hancock of Monticello, Arkansas, and Lana Vanwinkle of Batesville, Arkansas, claimed titles in the men’s and women’s division at the recent World Championship of Duck Calling on Main Street in Stuttgart, Arkansas. Bill Cooksey of Bartlett was one of the judges.
TOP CALLERS: DUCK NUMBERS:
Opening day (Nov. 17) may have gone well for many Arkansas waterfowl hunters, but the word from around the state was that the hunting tailed off as the first split of the 60-day season went along, concluding last Sunday. Luke Naylor, the AGFC's waterfowl program coordinator, said the combination of habitat reduction over the 9-day season and fewer numbers of ducks who had already been shot at seemed to reduce hunting opportunities.
The good news is that weather trends and evidence from other areas of the Mississippi Flyway indicate that the middle of December should bring typical, good duck hunting to the state, he said. It should be wetter, Naylor said, and the second-week-in-December migrations usually boost those waterfowl numbers up. The second split opens Thursday (Dec. 6) and runs through Dec. 23 and reopens Dec. 26, continuing through Jan. 27.
Got an item or note? E-mail Larry Rea at lroutdoors@att.net or go to his web site at lroutdoors.com; listen to Larry Rea on Outdoors with Larry Rea on Saturday mornings from 6-7:30 on ESPN 790-AM and 1520-AM and 95.3 in Brownsville, Tenn., and 6:30-8 on News/Talk 101.5 in Jackson, Tenn.