WASHINGTON TWP., Pa. — When Jeremy Frable got the call four years ago, asking whether his deer processing business would participate in a yearly venison donation program, he had a one-word answer.
“I said, ‘Absolutely,'’’ recalled Frable, part owner of Frable’s Deer Processing outside Slatington.
“We were already doing a donation process just on our own, if anybody wanted to donate to our local food bank. But once Randy called me up and said, ‘You want to get involved in Hunters Sharing the Harvest?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’
"That's, you know, just more. It'll get the word out there for more people to be able to donate to the people in need.”
For more than three decades, Hunters Sharing the Harvest has facilitated a venison donation program throughout Pennsylvania, creating a network of deer processors and hunger relief agencies.
The effort has expanded into the Lehigh Valley over the past few years, and is growing in popularity.
Last year was record-breaking, with 261,672 pounds of venison donated from 6,905 deer and six elk statewide during the 2023-24 hunting seasons.
That translates to 1 million individual servings of lean, high-protein venison.
“This is just such an important movement for people to be aware of," Hunters Sharing the Harvest Executive Director Randy Ferguson said.
"Whether you're a hunter or someone who may not hunt in particular, but you like to see interesting and unique ways to feed the hungry.
“And this program with hunters actually performing a social service, I think, is just a tremendous thing. It's so unique and it's important.
"It puts a very good face on the hunting public, which is a group of people that are generally very generous and want to help others.
"And for them to be willing to give up part of their harvest to feed people near them is just tremendously important.”
The harvest, how it’s shared
Hunting deer is popular across Pennsylvania, with state Game Commission officials estimating more than half a million hunters were in the woods on Nov. 30, this year’s opening day of the two-week firearms deer season.
“Our hunting culture, and our commitment to wildlife and conservation, is so strong, so deeply rooted, so passionate, that it’s impossible to separate it from who and what we are.”Steve Smith, executive director, PA Game Commission
“Growing up, I looked forward to the first day of deer season all year,” Game Commission Executive Director Steve Smith said in a news release prior to opening day.
“I’m hardly alone that way. For many of us, hunting, and deer hunting in particular, isn’t just a hobby. It’s a part of the fabric of our lives.
“Our hunting culture, and our commitment to wildlife and conservation, is so strong, so deeply rooted, so passionate, that it’s impossible to separate it from who and what we are.”
Across all of the 2023-24 deer seasons, hunters harvested an estimated 430,010 white-tailed deer, officials said.
For hunters interested in sharing their harvest, the process is simple and free. After tagging and field-dressing the deer, they take it to a participating processor.
“All the hunter has to do is fill out a donor receipt for us, just so we can capture their contact information and the type of harvest it was, and if it happened to utilize any specific special tags or anything like that,” Ferguson said.
“And then from there, that's it. The hunter has done their good.”
The packaging process
The processor takes all the usable venison and grinds it up into 1- or 2-pound packages, similar to ground beef at the grocery store.
Then it’s distributed to local food pantries or food banks, where it lands in the hands of those most in need.
“It's always going to stay very close to where that deer was harvested, or at least where the deer was processed,” Ferguson said.
However, before hunters go to a processor, it’s good to call ahead, he said.
“We always recommend, especially in the height of the rifle season, like we are now, to call ahead and just make sure those processors are currently accepting deer,” he said.
“Because sometimes they just get so backed up with deer that they have to put a sign out in the yard that says, ‘Not accepting deer for another 24 hours,’ or 48 hours, or something like that, until they can get caught up with the backlog.
“We recommend calling ahead, just to make sure you're familiar with the hours and the address, and to make sure that they're currently accepting deer.”
While firearms season continues through Saturday, there are more opportunities to participate.
Hunters can donate during the upcoming flintlock muzzleloader and archery seasons, which run from the end of December through most of January, depending on the region.
‘Keep it all local’
There are two processors in the Lehigh Valley — Frable’s and Hillside Smokehouse in Upper Mount Bethel Township.
During the 2023-24 season, Frable’s took in 31 deer, with about 1,150 pounds donated, according to Ferguson. Hillside took in five, with 265 pounds donated.
Combining both counties, the total venison donated translates to about 7,000 servings.
“All of our donations stay local in the Valley here, that's what we wanted. We didn't want our stuff going out to big cities or anything like that."Jeremy Frable, venison processor, Mount Bethel
The meat from Frable’s was donated to the Northern Lehigh Food Bank, while Hillside’s was given to the Slater Family Network Foundation based in Bangor.
“All of our donations stay local in the Valley here,” Frable said. “That's what we wanted. We didn't want our stuff going out to big cities or anything like that.
“We just want to keep it all local.”
Interestingly, the data also illustrates an upward trend in archery.
“Across the state, archery harvest numbers have really been rising,” Ferguson said. “It's really been kind of interesting to see it over the last few years.
"As recently as four or five seasons ago, archery harvest might have hovered around 10 percent, 15 percent of our overall donations.
“But these days it's, it's gotten more to where it's maybe 60 percent or so rifle donations and somewhere around 30 to 40 percent archery.”
In Northampton County, all five of the deer donated were harvested through archery, with nine of the Lehigh total attributed to archery.
While there are only two processors currently participating in the program in the Valley, Ferguson hopes to expand.
“It wouldn't surprise me next year if we have, possibly, at least one more processor in each of those two counties,” he said. “I'd really like to get a little bit better coverage in both of those areas, because you're in pretty high deer harvest areas there.
“We definitely want to make sure we have processors close to people that are harvesting.”
