pay to donate deer?

[Hula_Grub]

So, I was fortunate enough to get a doe today. Before the season I had made up my mind to donate an animal if I got the chance thru the venison donation program. I made myself familiar with the program and just re-read the "Guide to donating hunter-harvested deer." It specifically says that:

"• There are no costs to the hunter for donating

the deer."

I cut and pasted that statement directly from the DNR's HSOforum.

I was charged $10 for carcass disposal. I won't name the place as I believe I might be in violation of forum policy, but I wonder what I should do. I'd like to see this program succeed. Should I tell the DNR/Dept. of Agriculture that at least one place is charging hunters to donate deer? Confront them?

Thoughts? Thanks!

[mrklean]

I guess i havent read them to clearly but if i shoot a doe i can donate the whole thing without any extra charges?

[Neighbor_guy]

"... Anything free, better be worth paying for..."

[Bear55]

Email the DNR and see what they say, the place may have ripped you off for an extra 10 spot.

[tednugefan]

i just donated a doe on saturday and i didnt get charged anything, sounds like they tryin to make a little extra cash

[paceman]

yep it sounds like bit of a rip off to me. Last year I donated a few with no charge at all. This year up in my area no butcher is involved with the program. I made a bunch of calls, but everyone I talked to was fed up with all the restrictions and regulations involved so they all said no thanks. That is to bad as there are plenty of deer around and the food shelves do need the meat.

[Scott M]

The DNR wants to know about that kind of stuff ASAP. I would send something to [email protected] right away and they will send it to the proper people.

[Hula_Grub]

Thanks all.

My reason for complaining isn't to get them in trouble. The reason I'd even hesitate to complain is because the DNR can easily cross-reference my name with where I donated the deer. My goal would be to encourage as many people to participate in this program as possible and I think that the hidden charge would work against that.

I think if they need the extra $10, they should get the DNR to raise the rate the butcher is paid, or just accept the fact that they're only going to get $60 to cut up a deer after they pay their carcass disposal fee.

At any rate, I didn't ask for, nor was I offered any receipt for my $10 fee.

I'm off to the DNR site now...

[Meat-Run]

I posted this quetion on the Deer forum but do know were I can get a link to the list of drop off stations?

thanks,

MR

[so haaad]

Hula Grub, I think I know the place as I saw a $10 charge for donated deer in a place north of St. Paul about 20 minutes.

[Hula_Grub]

I'm sure we're talking about the same place, so haaad. Had I seen the sign I would have kept going. There's a processor in the city of St. Paul about 3 minutes from my house that accepts them also.

Meat-Run, to find the list of processors, search "hunter harvested deer" on the MN DNR site. The results will take you to the program's page which has a link to the Dept. of Agriculture's site that lists the processors. The list has shrunk due to the new requirements to keep the lead out.

I did e-mail the DNR and they asked for the name of the processor. They said they'd pass it along to the Dept. of Agriculture.

[Meat-Run]

thanks hula-grub.

mr

[paul pachowicz]

why be reluctant to give your name or the name of the processor? If the guy is rippin donors off then he needs to be spanked.