• E-mail

Archery deer season opens Saturday, and so does the general deer season for ranches that hold Managed Lands Deer Permits. Success rates are relatively low for archery hunters, but October is theoretically a big month for MLDP hunters who use their extended season to remove excess does and so-called management bucks before the breeding begins.

This year, Texas Parks and Wildlife figures to issue MLDPs for about 120,000 whitetails. That's roughly 25 percent of the 500,000 or so Texas deer that will be taken by the time the last hunting season closes in February.

You can figure on getting about 40 pounds of boned venison from an average whitetail doe that weighs 100 pounds live. Bucks weigh more, sometimes a lot more. The deer killed by Texas hunters this season will produce a mountain of venison that could weigh considerably more than 20 million pounds.

That's good news for deer hunters who enjoy venison, the healthiest of red meat. Venison has very little fat and no additives. There are deer hunters who simply don't like the sometimes gamey taste of venison, however, and others who won't eat it very often.

That's one reason hunters don't kill as many deer as they should. They don't know what to do with all that meat. I recommend smoked sausage (venison mixed with wild or domestic pork) or venison and jalapeno cheese salami.

Otherwise, just give the meat to someone who's not such a picky eater. One way to do that is through Hunters for the Hungry, a program that's been in Texas since 1990. HFH last season took in 178,000 pounds of venison that was ground and frozen in one-pound packages to yield more than 700,000 servings of meat for individuals and families in need.

The meat is distributed through provider agencies linked with the Texas Association of Community Action Agencies, Inc. When you drop a deer off at an HFH participating processor, you'll have to pay a processing fee that usually runs about $30.

Details are at the TACAA Web site, or call 1-800-992-9767.

The Dallas Safari Club has a list of 11 cooperating processors spread in deer hunting areas from Laredo to Midland. Donate your deer through a participating processor and DSC pays the processing fee. Last season, DSC paid for 172 deer.

The list of DSC processors is on the organization Web site, or call 972-980-9800.

John Hilgers is the Texas director for Farmers and Hunters for the Hungry, an organization established 10 years ago in Maryland. Hilgers said FHFH is using private donations to build a wild game processing plant in Johnson City. Once the facility is completed (projected to be in December), hunters can donate their deer through that program without paying a processing fee.

Hilgers is targeting the state's MLDP ranches and plans to provide them with portable refrigeration trailers that can be set up on the ranch for convenience' sake.

"The ranchers will be able to pick up the trailers at our processing plant or we can have someone deliver the trailer, then retrieve it when it's full," Hilgers said. "I've seen statistics that indicate one in five Texas children goes to bed hungry each night, and that's unacceptable."

Hilgers said FHFH may build as many as five processing plants in Texas. For details, visit FHFH's Web site or call Hilgers at 512-350-4011.