PEOPLE (Recipients) willing to accept possession of wild game, primarily deer, should send their name, phone number and county of residence information to NCBA. Anyone wishing to have their name added to the registry should send their name, phone number (including area code) and their county of residence to this email address: NCBA1975@triad.rr.com. OR, they can mail this information to: NCBA Deer Donation Registry ; 7796 NC Hwy 68 N ; Stokesdale, NC 27357.

willing to deliver wildlife to people who are listed on the roster of the "Deer Donation Registry" should check the list periodically and contact those listed in various counties to see if there are new listings of people willing to accept deer or other legally killed wildlife. NOTE that is unlawful for anyone to sell wildlife carcasses or any parts thereof.

BUTCHERS wishing to have their business name and phone number added to the "Meat Processors/Butcher Shops" registry should also email their name, or business name along with phone numbers and county of residence to NCBA at: NCBA1975@triad.rr.com. OR, they can mail this information to: NCBA Deer Donation Registry ; 7796 NC Hwy 68 N ; Stokesdale, NC 27357.

| 7.29.2009 | See Meat Processor Registry|

It is a well known fact that venison and the meat of other wild game animals is one of the healthiest sources of food available. Hunters know this and scientific studies show that the meat of wild game, such as deer, elk, moose, caribou and other species of wild game have as much as six times less fat than domestic meats purchased from your local grocery stores. It is lean, clean red meat that many outdoorsmen and women use to supplement their families diets in these modern times. Some still rely solely on the meat of wild game to feed their families.

In North Carolina, as in many other states, we have a burgeoning population of whitetail deer in some areas of the state. All of North Carolina's 100 counties are populated by whitetail deer to some extent. The average hunter in N.C. only harvests (kills) about 1.3 deer per year. But, the legal bag limit is virtually unlimited since the NC Wildlife Resources Commission added "Bonus Antlerless Deer Tags" in 2007. There is no limit to how many "Bonus" tags a hunter can acquire or possess. Thus, there is really no limit to how many deer he/she can kill. The problem is that hunters have limited storage or freezer space to put the processed meat. When their freezers are full, they either stop hunting for the season, or if they do continue, they focus on shooting only a trophy buck or continue to allow many doe deer to walk away.

Bioligists will quickly tell you that in order to gain control of our exploding deer population and be able to manage it, we have to harvest more doe (female) deer. This wasn't the case a couple generations ago. Our deer population was still expanding to parts of the state where deer had not inhabited for over a century. Market hunting for deer and other wildlife almost exterminated our whitetail deer population in North America. The same happened to buffalo, pronghorn antelope and elk. We don't want this to happen again. We also don't want to harvest too many deer and reduce the population to low numbers that will discourage modern day hunters from continuing to hunt either! We need more hunters, but we still need a sufficient hunt-able population of deer that will attract new hunters into the sport and retain those hunters we already have. We also have to put forth some effort to establish a good "quality deer management" program that will continue to help us grow more trophy buck deer. This too will help retain and recruit more hunters into the sport of modern deer hunting. If hunting is going to survive, we need to provide not only a hunt-able population of deer, but we must do all we can to protect our population of quality buck deer. Programs that foster "Quality Deer Management" (QDM) also promote removing excess doe deer, so these efforts help achieve both goals at the same time. Other states have long been putting forth much effort in this direction. If wildlife officials in North Carolina would simply sit up and take notice of what is being done and accomplished in other states with these type programs, there is no reason why we cannot do the same thing here in our state.

REFERENCE the "Deer Donation Registry"... Here's how it works.. We will publish a roster of names and telephone numbers and sort them by their county of residence. We will get this list, or roster of names from people who learn about our program via the news media and other sources, and who also desire to acquire venison for their own personal use and need. These people could be hunters themselves, or non-hunters. They could be elderly people or young... anyone! In order to be listed in our registry, they will have to convey to us via email, or U.S. Mail, their "Name, telephone number and county of residence." We will simply publish this information on our webpage. Hunters can access this information, listed by county of residence. Hunters should call the person on the registry roster ahead of time and make arrangements to deliver the deer to them at a later date, after it is harvested. It is the responsibility of the "recipient" of the deer (or feral hog) carcass to skin, quarter and take care of processing the animal themselves, or paying a meat processing shop to do so. The only responsibility the hunter has is to field dress the animal and deliver it to the recipient at a pre-determined time and location. If the hunter wants to assist in skinning and quartering the animal, it is his/her choice to do so, but they may not accept any fee or donation for doing so. It is the recipients responsibility to pay someone to process and package the meat. Recipients should understand that they will be receiving a "fresh" kill that will require someone to skin, quarter and process the animal. They are also responsible for disposing of waste and unusable parts in a legal and proper manner.

YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS stays on the "Registry" until you tell us to remove it. Please advise if your phone number or county of residence changes.

NCBA will also begin compiling a list of meat processing/butcher shops across the state and list them by county to assist citizens in locating a place to get the deer processed.

For those who may want to process their own deer, there are scores of references on the internet telling "How-To" butcher and process deer. Simply search the words, "Butchering Deer" and a long list of resources and information will pop up on your monitor..

NOTE: "Transfer of Wildlife".. The law states that an individual may accept the "gift" of wildlife lawfully taken within North Carolina if taking possession does not cause the individual to exceed applicable possession limits. The individual must note and preserve in writing the name an address of the donor (hunter), and under what license requirements the wildlife was taken. It is unlawful to accept the gift of wildlife lawfully taken unless you possess, in writing, teh donor's name, address and hunting license number. We have prepared a form that will fulfill all the requirements of the law. Click HERE to view the form. You can also print it and make additional copies as needed. Both the "donor" (hunter) and the "recipient" of the wildlife should complete the form and retain a copy of it for their records.

| 7.29.2009 |