Over 1.4 million people in Michigan are still not sure the status of their SNAP benefits because of the longest standing federal government shutdown in history.
Since Nov. 1, those families haven’t had a clear answer about food assistance and won’t until Congress figures out how to work together. Until then, there are hungry kids, empty pantries, and a lot of people across the state wondering how they’re going to make it to Thanksgiving.
Michigan has a ready solution. It’s walking around in every swamp, woodlot, and field in the state. We’ve got over 2 million deer. Too many deer, actually.
The DNR has been begging hunters to shoot more does for years. One donated deer provides well over 100 meals through food banks. The infrastructure already exists to process and distribute venison to families who need it.
There’s just one problem: The state charges us for the privilege of solving their deer problem.
Five Democratic lawmakers just introduced House Resolution 202, asking the Natural Resources Commission to move firearm season up to help with the food crisis. But that’s the wrong approach. Moving up gun season just extends a season that’s already quite long.
Here’s a better idea: Make doe tags free if you donate the meat.
Think about it. Michigan has a deer overpopulation problem, which means crop damage and more car accidents.
Hunters Feeding Michigan has been running for years. Hunters donate whole deer to licensed processors, who turn them into ground venison and send it to food banks across the state. It works. But right now, a hunter has to pay for a license, pay for a doe tag, pay for processing, and then donate the meat. That’s a lot of money out of pocket.
As far as numbers go, Michigan’s deer herd can handle the extra harvest. We already have way too many. The DNR has been trying to bring population numbers down for years through increased antlerless permits, but it hasn’t had quite the hoped-for effect.
Maybe, for just this year, it’s time to make all doe tags used to donate a deer completely free. You shoot a doe, donate it to Hunters Feeding Michigan, and the state waives the tag fee. Better yet, reimburse the processing costs too.
Suddenly, you’ve got more hunters targeting does, more venison going to food banks, and the state gets the population control they’ve been pushing for anyway. It’s a win across the board.
Some might say this politicizes wildlife management. Maybe that’s true.
But Michigan still has too many deer. Using that surplus to feed people during a food shortage, while achieving management goals, is just common sense. SNAP has failed millions of people. So let us hunt. And stop charging us to help.
Tom Zandstra is a passionate outdoorsman and CEO of The Fair Chase. Follow him on X @TheFairChase1.
