Passport to Texas

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It’s the holiday season, a time when many of us look for ways to reach out to those less fortunate. If you’re a hunter, the easiest way is by donating a deer to Hunters for the Hungry.

09—Once it’s [the deer is] donated, the meat is used by food pantries, food banks, and other food assistance providers that serve their local communities.

Anitra Hendricks oversees the program. Meat processors across the state are participating in the program. Hunters just need to bring them their legally tagged and field-dressed deer.

14—There is a reduced processing fee for those who donate to the program. They pay the fee, they do receive a receipt for a possible tax deduction. The meat processor will grind the meat, package it, and then from there it goes to the food assistance provider.

Find a list of participating processors on the Hunters for the Hungry website. Anitra says she is always on the lookout for more processors.

08— The have to be willing to do some minimal book-keeping as far as tracking donations and reporting that to us at the end of the season.

It’s a small inconvenience for the good it provides to hungry children, elderly and families during the holidays.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish restoration program supports our series and celebrates 75 years of funding diverse conservation projects throughout Texas…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Hunting: Help Feed Hungry Texans Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Regular deer season continues through January 6th in the north and January 20th in the south. And with an estimated 3 to 4 million white tailed deer in Texas, hunting is necessary to manage their population. If your freezer is already full, but you still have a tag you want to use, consider donating your next deer to Hunters for the Hungry.

08—Hunters for the hungry is a statewide venison donation program that allows hunters to donate their extra venison.

Anitra Hendricks oversees the program, and says charitable food assistance providers receive the donated venison as two pound packages of ground meat. Last season Texas hunters donated more than 153-thousand pounds of venison to the program.

04—So [that comes to] just a little over 600-thusand quarter pound servings.

The average trimmed weight of a donated deer is about 40 pounds of usable meat. By that account, Texas hunters donated just over 38-hundred animals. Their generosity fed children, elderly, and families in need.

11—What we have heard from the agencies is that in many cases, the venison that they receive through Hunters for the Hungry, is the only meat –fresh meat—that they may receive on a limited basis.

More about Hunters for the hungry and how to donate to the program on tomorrow’s show.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish restoration program supports our series and celebrates 75 years of funding diverse conservation projects throughout Texas… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Holly Heyser, image from www.flickriver.com

Hunting: Respect for Wild Game Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Journalist, Holly Heyser, didn’t grow up in a hunting family. She says she eventually took up the sport to spend more time with her boyfriend who is a hunter, author and chef.

13— I got sick of being alone on weekends when he was out duck hunting all day long. He would get up at two in the morning and be out forever….well…it didn’t take that for me to join him. What it took was for him to cooking a lot of ducks, and wild ducks, especially where we live in the Sacramento Valley. Amazing. Really great food.

Holly says she’s gained new respect for the meat she consumes, and not just wild game, but domesticated animals, as well.

33— Since I started hunting, I am so much less wasteful of meat. Even if I’m at a restaurant, if there’s a burger on my plate, I will not leave one single bite of meat on my plate, because I know an animal died for that. And when it’s animals you hunt, especially…we invest a lot of time. We can spend 12 hours and a lot of money on gas, to go and maybe get two ducks one day. That’s a precious gift, and you don’t waste it. So it’s really made me understand the value of the food we eat. And, I appreciate it a lot more than I ever used to. And the fact that it’s wild food and it’s absolutely delicious is icing on the cake.

Wild game is free range, organic, sustainable, and nutritious. And if you’re a hunter, you can donate deer to hunters for the hungry to feed those less fortunate.

Sign up for the Hunt Texas e-newsletter on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, and learn about hunting for and preparing wild game.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Hank Shaw (left), image from www.corksoutdoors.com/blog

Hunt | Gather | Cook: Eating Wild Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hank Shaw knows where his food comes from because he forages, hunts and fishes for the majority of it—skills he learned from his mother growing up on the east coast.

13— It’s always been part of our lives. Digging clams in the Atlantic, picking berries, and all that kind of stuff. It’s an awareness that there’s food all around us. I’ve always had it. And that’s really helped spur a lifelong passion.

He records his passion for wild food on his popular blog Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook, which inspired his book Hunt, Gather, Cook, published by Rodale Press. He says the deepest level of food satisfaction one can achieve is only possible when it’s wild sourced.

18— Think about it: on a very basic level, anybody who’s ever fished, you catch a fish and then you eat it in a frying pan on a camping trip. It tastes so much better than one that you buy at a store. And it is that satisfaction of having worked for your food. It’s difficult to explain if you’ve never done it, but once you do it, it become addicting and you never want to stop.

Hank Shaw cooks and eats everything he forages, hunts and fishes, and shares the experience and what he’s learned on his blog and in his book.

09—I want to do justice to the things that I bring home. And I want to help people who are also hunting and fishing and foraging to cook their food better—give them new ideas.

Sign up for the Hunt Texas e-newsletter on the TPW website, and learn about hunting for and preparing wild game.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Chef John Besh, Image: Cheryl Gerber for The New York Times

Hunting: Heritage of Hunting (and Eating) Game Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s deer season in North and South Texas, and hunters are headed to the field with the hope of bringing healthy meat home for the table. Chef John Besh, who has a PBS Cooking Series, My New Orleans, grew up in hunting and fishing, activities he says helped him develop respect for life.

13— You see something running or swimming one moment, and then the next moment it’s in the frying pan. You don’t waste as much of it. You don’t look at it as lightly as you do as meat wrapped in cellophane on the grocery shelf.

If you like knowing where your food comes from, Chef Besh says you do when you hunt and fish.

12— If you’re a carnivore, it’s the purest form—to take it from the field to the plate. It’s something that I do on a personal level quite a bit. I have four sons, and they’re growing up with the tradition as well.

Chef Besh apprenticed in southern Germany, where each fall the restaurant served wild game brought in by local hunters and farmers, and inspected and approved by the health department.

16—I so loved that, and so appreciated that that added just yet another layer of understanding of how to treat game and the importance of this tradition. So you were field to plate before field to plate was cool. I don’t know if it’s cool yet [laughter].

Sign up for the Hunt Texas e-newsletter on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, and learn about hunting for and preparing wild game.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.