Success StoryRobertson County Community Comes Together for the Greater Good



Robertson County Community Comes Together for the Greater Good

Author: Samantha Saunders

Planning Unit: Robertson County CES

Major Program: Wildlife Habitat and Damage Management Education

Plan of Work: Unrelated to a specified County Plan of Work

Outcome: Long-Term Outcome

In the fall of 2018, I was approached by eager volunteers about doing a deer harvest in the county. I knew that Bracken County hosted a program similar to what they were wanting to do, however it was too late in the year to get the program together. The plan was to do the program in November 2019. Those volunteers, the agriculture education teacher, and I got together for several planning meetings. The game warden met with us to discuss all of the logistics about the program and the things he recommended. With this program, the idea was to have an outlet for landowners and hunters to bring their harvested deer to, and the meat would be processed and passed out to local community members in need through 2 of our local food banks. It helps out in two aspects: by decreasing the deer population, and by helping those in need. The Robertson County Deer Harvest, would take place on November 16th & 17th, 2019 at the Robertson County Ag Barn. We had volunteers for every 4 hour shift, donated food for throughout the days, and those who donated deer. The deer that we collected were all harvested in Robertson County. The Robertson County Cooperative Extension Service partnered with the Robertson County FFA, Kern Food Distribution, University of Kentucky Meats Lab, Farm Bureau, Robertson County Fiscal Court, Robertson County Family Youth Resource Service Center, Licking Valley CAP, etc. in order to complete this program. There were numerous business that donated either money or door prizes to be handed out to those who volunteered or donated a deer. There were approximately 25 volunteers between the two days, and several of those people were volunteering both days. We had a total number of 32 deer brought in, that far exceeded all of our expectations! Of those, 25 were does and 7 were bucks. Each deer was field dressed prior to arrival, therefore they brought them in and we had a team that began processing them. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, asked that we keep the heads of those deer that were brought in. This was because of a test they were going to run, since they did not previously have much data from Robertson County since there is no processor in the county. From those deer, we were able to distribute 460 pounds of ground venison to our local food banks. That food serviced over 50 families of at least 2 individuals per household, but many had 3 or more people. With each package of meat, we passed out the new Wild Game recipe cards that SNAP-ED had provided us with. Those cards were also laid out for individuals who volunteered or donated deer. This was a tremendous program! I could not have asked for a better year, a better group of volunteers, or a better community to do this program in. Everyone was very appreciative of the meat, and the cause really brought the community together. We are looking forward to continuing this program in the future years!






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