Saturday, Mar. 29, 2008

Sportsmen's group to salvage game

By Kevin McCullen

They won’t be dining on elk tenderloins in red wine sauce, but the needy in the Tri-Cities soon will have game meat on the menu because of a local sportsmen’s group.

Volunteers from the Richland Rod & Gun Club plan to retrieve wild game hit by vehicles or killed illegally and process the salvageable meat for use by the Tri-City Union Gospel Mission.

The club recently received a letter from the regional director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife allowing it to salvage game animals, said Mike Estes, who spearheaded the project for the club.

“We know we have a group of needy people in the community, and we’re happy to do what we can to help,” Estes said.

Club members could venture to Prescott, Othello or even further away to retrieve road-killed deer primarily, or occasionally elk, he said. Similar salvage programs already exist in other regions of the state, including Spokane.

Nationally, the Hunters for the Hungry program encourages hunters to donate game meat to shelters or food banks that will accept it.

Deer or elk that were hit by vehicles in the Tri-Cities area in the past occasionally wound up at the Yakima Union Gospel Mission. When Sgt. Gene Beireis of Fish and Wildlife’s enforcement division transferred from Yakima to the Tri-Cities in mid-2006, he saw an unmet need.

“There was no outlet for anyone to take advantage of the animals seized for illegal activity or hit by a vehicle that were salvageable,” Beireis said.

He eventually approached the board of the Richland Rod & Gun Club, which is active in an array of local conservation projects, and found a receptive audience.

Estes passed around a sign-up sheet at a board meeting for potential volunteers, and had at least 15 members respond.

He also approached food banks in the area, but found they could not accept game meat because of health-related regulations.

But the Tri-City Union Gospel Mission welcomed the offering. The mission can accept the meat because it has the storage capacity, and the mission’s kitchen staff can inspect the meat before preparing it for meals.

On average, the mission serves 50,000 meals in a year and always is in need of red meat, said Donald J. Porter, executive director.

But clients won’t be eating roast venison or elk steaks because the mission must stretch out its meat supply.

“We eat a lot of chicken, turkey and hamburger, so when we do get (game meat) we’ll grind it up because it is usable in so many more ways,” Porter said.

Club members won’t be picking up every road-killed deer or elk they find. Beireis said a wildlife officer, state patrol trooper or sheriff’s deputy likely will be the “filter” in the recovery process and initiate a call to the club about a downed animal.

And not every animal will be salvageable, particularly when the weather turns hot.

“In summer, we are not going to pick up any suspect animal,” Estes said. “This time of year, if we can get to a location soon, we have a better chance of salvaging the meat.”

The club also plans to issue identification to its members who respond to calls, Estes said, and they will be given copies of the state authorization to retrieve a dead animal. Club members are not allowed to keep any of the meat for personal use, Estes said.

No one is certain how many deer or elk the club will process. Estes said the club will keep a tally and report it annually to Fish and Wildlife.

“It’s not going to be real high,” Beireis said. “We occasionally get an elk that is killed on the road out by Hanford, and we get a few animals we seize as part of an investigation, but it won’t be that many.

“It’s just good to know that when there is, that animal will be used to feed people who need it,” he said.

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