I think that this is a great program, In MO we have something very similar, the only thing that keeps me from donating is the $35 you have to pay along with your donation. Now dont get me wrong $35 bucks isn't going to break the bank but if I spent $7 on a bonus tag and my entire saturday hunting then when I go to give my donation I want to drop off the deer and leave without being gorged for another 35 bucks. Maybe i'm just a broke college kid, or maybe i'm an ignorant jerk, but I think the state could fork up a few more dollers and pay the processing fee for us.

Hey Barnold

I was just reading about the program on the Missouri Conservation site. There aren't ANY processors in our county, or even in local counties! But one thing I did read is that the person taking the deer in to the processor pays the entire processing fee, and if they sign a voucher will get a $35 reduction in processing. I don't know how much processing costs in Missouri, but my FIL got a buck in Nebraska and it was over $200 to have it processed!! So a $35 "reduction" to give all the meat away....geez, you are still paying $165 for processing a deer that you aren't getting anything out of. If we had an 'overabundance' of deer in our area, I would consider this program, but gosh, it looks like a penalty to the hunter to donate the meat!! Why can't they have good programs like this, but have processors who will process it for whatever amount the STATE pays them, and have the state pay more than just $35.00! That's crazy! To me, getting deer means meat on the table. If I could afford $165 to process a deer for someone else, shoot, I could go to the grocery store and buy meat and put in the freezer. Our hunting is our meals. And unfortunately isn't something we could pay to give away. Too bad. Probably alot of other hunters are like us. Not rich enough to pay to give it away, and don't have so many deer they could 'afford' not to have meat on the table for their own family.

You took the words out of my mouth!
Thats exactly how I feel, Around where I live you can get away with $65-80 to process a deer but still its not cheap, like you said
"it looks like a penalty to the hunter to donate the meat!!"
If i had 65-80 bucks I'd just go buy beef!
whatever, thats our government for ya!