It would appear that none of you bothered to check out why butcher shops are now asking the hunter to pay a fee to process donated deer. They used to get paid at the end of the season from a 100k grant. Times being what they are that grant was not renewed this year so the butcher shops have to foot the bill for the processing. These are mostly small mom and pop operations with 3-4 employees who have to be paid regardless if they're cutting meat to sell or meat to be donated to feed the poor. This is from the web site Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry CHANGES TO THE PROGRAM FOR THE 2011-12 HUNTING SEASON 1.  AHFH will no longer be able to pay for the field dressing of deer to the processor.  The hunter will have to field dress and skin the deer prior to delivery, or be willing to pay the processor their current charges for field dressing and skinning.  2. AHFH and the participating processors will be asking the hunters to donate packages of meat out of their processed deer.  This will allow hunters that can’t donate an entire deer to participate by donating the venison burger that they do not want or can give away to the program.  No package is too large or too small.  The only requirement is that it is burger.  We anticipate this will be the largest source of growth for donations this year. 3. There are many new processors who have joined the program this year so be sure and check out the processor list for the most up to date list for the 2011-12 hunting season.  We now have over 60 participating processors so check your county and your area to see if there is one near you!  It is also wise to contact the processor prior to showing up to determine if they take whole deer, their fees for field dressing/skinning, their hours of operation, etc.

I always keep my own meat and know the proper way to dispose of the carcus, but for those of you who do not know, most of the places that hunters who didnt want to keep the deer for the meat could drop the deer off to be donated to feed the hungry now want to charge the hunter for the processing before they can donate it. This is a fact because a friend of mine used to donate all his deer but was notified a processing fee is required to be paid now. this is nuts since we pay for license, hunting supplies etc and now they want to charge us to DONATE the meat! Insane!

They have got to have the leftovers of the leftovers working at Fox16. With all the errors they make. Can they try and do a better job at reporting a story. This is a "horrific" story with hunters dumping deer. If they don't want it, call the Commission so the families that need the meat can get it.

Man what a typo...HUNTERS feeding the hungry...duh...Attention to detail fox...