State picks up bill for butchering, if hunters donate their game

by Perry Finelli, Minnesota Public Radio

St. Paul, Minn. — The gun deer hunting season begins Nov. 3 in Minnesota. The deer herd in the state is very large right now and the DNR is hoping a new program will encourage hunters to take more animals.

The venison donation program, in which hunters give deer meat to food shelves, has been around for three years. But this year, for the first time, the state is picking up the cost of butchering the animals.

MPR's Perry Finelli talked with Betty Wilkens of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, who has been active in getting the program started.