The return of deer season means that local food pantries can expect a new supply of frozen venison in the near future.

That’s because of the statewide Hunters Sharing the Harvest program. Since 1991, the program has connected hunters and butcher shops with local food pantries, providing more than 1 million pounds of venison over that span.

A deer can produce enough venison for 200 meals, according to Hunters Share the Harvest. That’s a lot for any hunter.

If a hunter is interested in donating, they can find a participating deer processor at sharedeer.org.

The processors in turn provide frozen ground venison to local food banks.

Food pantries like Shepherd House, which serves people around Carbon County, make the donated venison available to anyone who receives food supplies.

“The people who do receive it from the pantries, they certainly appreciate it,” said Shepherd House Executive Director Stanley Haupt.

A local coordinator will contact Shepherd House when donated venison is available. From there, it’s taken to Shepherd House’s Lansford location, which has enough freezer space to store the venison before it’s ready to be distributed.

Locally, shops like Haydt’s Meat Market have been participating from the very beginning.

“Some people just like to hunt for sport, and don’t care to keep the meat,” Haydt’s Joyce Borger said.

Haydt’s sees several hunters participate in the program each year. Just during archery season, they had six deer donated to the program.

They send their donated venison to a variety of food bank programs, like West End Food Pantry, Pleasant Valley Ecumenical Network, and the VALOR Clinic Foundation, a veterans’ sanctuary in Polk Township.

“They get quite a bit, one deer will usually do about 50-60 pounds of hamburger. That’s quite a bit of meat,” Borger said.

At the end of the year, they send a bill to Hunters Sharing the Harvest for the processing cost, and they’re reimbursed for their services at no cost to the hunter.

Rich Eidem of Eidem’s Family Deer Processing said his customers donated more than 3,000 pounds to the program last year.

That includes illegally killed deer that are confiscated by the game commission and donated.

“Last year, I had a lot of hunters that were very generous, and they would just give the deer,” he said.

This year, Eidem said he has noticed that participation among his customers is slower, but it could still pick up over the two remaining weeks of the deer-rifle season. And local butcher shops will be ready to assist.

“It feels very good to give back,” Eidem said.