Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – Hoffman’s Meat Market in Detroit Lakes is ready for another deer hunting season and they will also be continuing the generous tradition of processing donated deer from hunters free of charge and giving hundreds of pounds of venison to lakes area food pantries.
Cole Gravelle, a manager at Hoffman’s, said it’s just a good donation program that can really help lakes area residents.
“We’ve been doing it for probably three or four years,” said Gravelle. “And it just kinda helps out the community. We donate the meat to the food pantries and it’s a good donation program.”
Hoffman’s Meat Market will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday for deer drop offs and, Gravelle said, if a hunter wants to donate a deer, they just need to fill out a little paperwork and make sure the animal is field dressed and clean.
“It just has to be field dressed and keep the meat clean,” he said. “Nothing contaminated. Nothing rotten. Otherwise, we can’t accept it. It has to be in good condition. And they can just bring it here and they can leave the hide on, and they just got to fill out a little paperwork and that’s about it.”
Gravelle said in years past the meat market usually receives between 10-20 donated deer, which can yield at least a couple hundred pound of meat for the area food shelves.
He also said Hoffman’s Meat Market will only be focusing on deer processing over the next week.
“We get everything nice and stocked up in the front case so we don’t have to really worry about it throughout the week,” said Gravelle. “And then it’s just deer for a week straight. The first week is the busiest and we’re just straight cutting in the back. Taking in deer, skinning deer, and then cutting them all up.”
He added, over the entire deer hunting season, Hoffman’s Meat Market will process between 200 to 300 deer, depending on the luck of area hunters.
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