I got into a Idiscussion about 2 weeks ago with a fellow at Kentucky Harvest about hunter donated venison and Ky Hunters for the Hungry. He said that many of the local homeless shelters were really desperate for protein meals. His comments persuaded me to try to organize a last weekend deer hunt to donate some meat to the Kyharvest to go to local charities. I then spoke with Ralph Swallows at SE Christian Church, and SE Christian agreed to fund the processing fees for up to 40 deer. My next call was to Aaron Webb with "Hunting with a Hero", a military NFP, like Wounded Warriors, that tries to arrange hunting opportunities for soldiers that have served overseas and have to cope with fall-out like PTSD. What I didn't realize was that Aaron was currently deployed in Afghan. Despite the communication difficulties, he arranged to have 2 soldiers from Fort Knox, Captain Tim Smoke and Special Warrant Officer Rick Blevins hunt with me. I lined up a couple of former service members and some Wing Ding forum members who offered to help in the doe harvest. I think that all the hunters saw deer, although not all connected. We ended up with a total of 10 deer on the ground from Friday evening through Sunday morning. Only 7 of those deer were salvageable because coyotes got to 3 before we did. The total could have been a little higher still, but we had a couple of errant shots (including by yours truly) led to a couple of lost deer. Heck, one guy shot a deer at 8:30 am. He saw it fall about 100 yards away. He climbed down at 10 am, and a yote was already in there feasting. Here's pic of the loaded truck bed on the way to the processor: I shot this buck on Friday evening. I probably would have let him walk, but it was Friday evening, and I really wanted to put some deer on the ground for the homeless shelter folks. I was concerned that opportunities might be limited given the predicted high winds on Saturday. Unfortunately, the yotes had really done a number on him by the time we found him, and the processors can't use them. At the end of the day, a handful of hunters coming together for a weekend of hard hunting put enough meat on the table to provide approximately 1000 meals to folks that really need it.
Good deal and congrats. Sounds like you should get ahold of one of the guys on the trapping section and have them do some work on that farm.
Very cool BF. I too have a soft spot for the vets. Looks like a great way to end the season. Nice buck too. Not much of a harvest pic though. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket using Tapatalk2
It's a great program - we donate close to 50 deer a year to it, and they are always wanting more. I love it!!
Great cause and great weekend with a couple of great defenders of our freedoms, BF. My hat is off to you for the work involved in setting it all up.
Thanks for your time and effort in put all that together. Congrats to everybody that took a deer. Might need to keep those guys there for a few days and try to take some yotes!
Good for y'all! I gave meat to everyone who asked me for some this year, but next the HFH will be on the list. Only thing is, I thought they covered the processing... Sorry about the loss on the buck. He was a good looking deer and meat. Believe me, I know how schedules can inhibit hunting, but yesterday evening was fine deer hunting weather IMO. Glad y'all enjoyed the weekend! What is your plan for the coyotes?
Great job Ballard. I was honored to be a part of this weekend and get to spend some time with the Heroes and some good friends.
That was a great thing you did, it helped out two groups at once. As always, thanks for helping others. Oh, a good trapper will be your friend!
The guys seemed like they had a great time over the weekend, and I know they didn't leave hungry. I enjoyed meeting them. Thanks for sitting the whole thing up.
