Help us control the doe population & feed the hungry.

Let the thrill of your hunt help others!!

Access Illinois Outdoors has recognized another need in addition to matching landowners with hunters.  The Access Food project was created with a two fold purpose. The growing deer population is a concern to everyone in the area, from the farmer suffering from crop degradation to the motorist dodging deer on the roads.  To encourage more hunters to take a doe, Access Illinois Outdoors created a fund, Access Food, to pay for deer processing costs.  We want to encourage hunters, even if their own freezer is full, to take another antlerless deer and donate it to the program.  Many of the non resident hunters would be willing to shoot a doe, if they were not burdened with the processing fee and the distribution of the meat

This coincides with another need in the area which is the high volume of traffic at the local food pantries.   The local food pantries are feeding almost 1500 individuals a month, all of which need meat.  We have volunteers who pick up the deer from a donated cold storage unit and take them to a USDA inspected locker for processing.  Volunteers then pick up the processed meat and deliver it to the food pantries. 

At this time we only have limited funding for the deer processing fees which are $70 per deer.   We hope that  lodges and hunting related businesses are able to contribute and that agriculture related businesses see how helping to control the deer population could actually benefit their customers.  All contributions are tax deductible.   Every donation will be very much appreciated and will work towards controlling our deer population and feeding hungry people.

To make a donation or for more information, pleases contact the Access Illinois Outdoors office at 1256 C West Washington, P. O. Box 87, Pittsfield, IL, 62363, 217-285-2464 or 1-888-285-2464.