First off, let me say that I am NOT looking for donations - or trying to pat myself on the back. I just wanted to put this out as 'food for thought' and maybe start some people thinking about doing something like this on a smaller scale.
Last year I bounced the idea off of a couple friends, and they thought it was something that would be worth the effort. I put the word out to fellow bowhunters indicating I needed venison for a 'jerky for the troops' project. I had already found a packing company that would give me a reduced price on their jerky product. All in all, last season I took a little over 850 pounds of boned deer & elk meat to the processor. That in turn made 540 pounds of finished product. The jerky has been shipped to our troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan -- donated on behalf of the Nebraska Bowhunters Association and a local packing plant. One of our local high schools got involved year and held several fundraisers to help offset costs of processing and shipping. The responses I've received from the troops have been very humbling. My goal for this year is to ship at least 1,000 pounds of jerky.
This project has received quite a bit of publicity around here, and has been very positive publicity for bowhunting and hunting in general.
I would ask everyone to at least think about doing something like this on your own, if you have some extra deer, elk, moose, etc., make up a batch of jerky and send it to someone you know that is serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. Or team up with a buddy and make a larger batch. If you don't know anyone serving over there, contact your local National Guard unit or recruiter. They will have plenty of contact information.
Sorry for the long post, but wanted to get this out early in the season.
Craig
Topic: Jerky for the Troops (Read 456 times)
