Deer Exchange Program

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The Deer Exchange is available Sept. 1 through March 1. Donors and recipients can search a database, with contact information, for interested parties in their area. The parties will contact each other and work out details of the transfer. While the venison cannot be sold, recipients may pay for the processing or butchering of the meat. Donors and recipients can register online for free.

The Deer Exchange is designed to accommodate the additional harvest of deer. Hunters who have filled their freezers may still bag a deer and have somewhere to take the meat.

Other benefits of the program are:

• supplying a source of protein to the hungry
• increasing communication between hunters and nonhunters
• increasing hunter recruitment, development and retention

The Game and Parks is not responsible for the quality of the deer meat or the failure of the donor or recipient to follow through with the transfer. However, the agency will provide the necessary transfer cards online.

Recipients will have the choice of accepting whole field dressed deer, skinned and boned deer, wrapped and frozen deer, or processed meat. Donors are responsible for properly field dressing and checking deer at a check station before transfer.

When transferring game animals, the hunter must provide the following information: name, phone number, permit number or seal number, estimated weight of meat (in pounds), species of animal, date taken, signature of donor, and name of recipient.

Nutritional benefits of venison:
According to nutritiondata.com, 100 grams of ground, pan-broiled venison has 187 calories, compared to 246 for the same portion of 80-percent lean pan-broiled ground beef. Venison has 26.5 grams or protein, compared to beefs 24, and 8.2 grams of total fat to beefs 15.9. Venison is low in sodium.