Illinois Deer Donation Program Expands for 2023 Season

With community support, the Illinois Deer Donation Program’s 2022 season yielded 8,414 pounds of ground venison donated to 37 food pantries. The program, delivered through University of Illinois Extension, connects hunters, meat processors, and food pantries to support food security in east-central Illinois.

For the 2023 hunting season, which began October 1, Illinois Deer Donation Program will continue its efforts in Clay, Coles, Cumberland, DeWitt, Douglas, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper, Macon, Moultrie, Piatt, and Shelby counties – and will expand to serve Champaign, Clark, Crawford, and Edgar counties.

“Venison is a source of protein, which is often in limited supply at food pantries. We’re excited to continue the partnerships established last hunting season and expand to serve additional areas of east-central Illinois to support food security for individuals and families,” says Extension Educator, Michelle Fombelle.

There are three ways to support Illinois Deer Donation Program: go hunting, follow along on social media, and donate at uif.uillinois.edu/give/. Monetary donations reimburse the partnering meat processors.

Partnering meat processors are prepared to accept donated deer at this time. Because order volume increases throughout the season, hunters are encouraged to call processors in advance to confirm they have slots to accept their deer donation. Monetary donations fund the program and the processing slots for donated deer can become limited as the season continues. Hunters do not have to pay the processing fees. The program will gladly accept the generosity of any hunter that would like to donate a deer and pay for the processing themselves. Also, if a hunter would like to donate the remainder of their personal paid deer, the program will happily deliver it to a local food pantry.

The following meat processors will be accepting deer donations:

• Blair's Slaughtering & Processing, Inc. 2472 Vandalia Rd in Louisville

• Connelly Locker 114 W Cumberland St in Martinsville

• Crawford County Deer Processing 18066 E Walnut St in Palestine

• Hartrich Meats 326 W Embarras St. in Sainte Marie

• Howe Custom Deer Processing 271 N 2150 East Rd in Mode

• Morgan's Meat Market 1401 Dewitt Ave in Mattoon

• Moweaqua Packing Plant 601 N Main St in Moweaqua

• Oconee Chop Shop 109 US HWY 51 in Oconee

• Paris Frozen Foods Locker 305 Springfield Rd in Hillsboro

• River Bent Wild Game & Sausage Co 1161 County Road 2400E in St. Joseph

• Salt & Strings Butchery 133 N Church St in Louisville