Wyoming Hunters Help Fight Hunger Through Food from the Field

Wyoming hunters can put their fall harvest to work beyond their own dinner tables by donating wild game meat through Food from the Field, a statewide program that supports families facing food insecurity.

From 2020 through 2024, hunters donated 78,529 pounds of wild game meat through the program, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Those donations connect Wyoming’s hunting traditions with efforts to provide food to residents in need.

First Lady Jennie Gordon launched Food from the Field in 2020 under the Wyoming Hunger Initiative. The program brings together the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wyoming Department of Agriculture, participating meat processors and anti-hunger organizations to get donated game meat into the food bank system.

How to Donate Your Harvest

Hunters can take their harvested big game animal to a participating meat processor and choose to donate a few packages of meat or the entire animal. That flexibility allows hunters to stock their own freezers while sharing part of their harvest with others.

Donations toward processing costs are appreciated and help support the program, but hunters are not required to contribute toward processing fees.

All donated deer and elk undergo appropriate chronic wasting disease testing before their meat enters the food bank system.

“We are grateful to Wyoming’s hunters, whose willingness to share their harvest provides a sustainable solution to hunger in our community,” Game and Fish Interim Director Eric Wiltanger said. “Sharing all or part of your harvest, knowing it will directly feed a local family, is a win for everyone.”

For hunters across the Bighorn Basin and the rest of Wyoming, the program offers a practical way to help neighbors through a successful hunt. Even a partial donation adds to the supply of wild game meat available to families facing food insecurity.

Visit the Food from the Field website to learn more about donating your harvest and find participating meat processors.

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