Ranchers and sportsmen work together to feed the hungry

Elk, deer, beef, even a moose donated this year

For about the last year, health and human services director Renee Brown has seen the need for Supplemental Food Assistance, formerly Food Stamps, remain almost three times what it was just two years ago, at consistently $100,000 a month or more.

At the same time, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife, thousands more elk roam the mountains and meadows of Gunnison County than the range, or ranchers, can accommodate. The elk herds have come into conflict with the herds of beef cattle trying to live off the same land.
In what might have appeared to be two independent problems, local sportsman Allen Moores saw an opportunity too obvious to miss; last year the idea for Ranchers and Sportsmen Together for the Hungry (RSTH) was born. This year the new non-profit served its first meals.
Moores and the other members of the RSTH board of directors—Marlene Crosby, Katherine Haase, Allen Roper of the Stockgrowers’ Association and Gunnison sportsman Les White—have worked hard to get the program off the ground and to get support, whether financial or in-kind donations, from the towns and county.
One individual even donated part of his harvest for the year and gave money to have another animal processed.
“The outcome was above my expectations for the first year. I think it’s turned out to be real positive and if everything continues to go well I think we can expand in the future,” Moores says. “But we’re still way short of what we’d like to have. If we could get five more elk I’d be a happy camper.”
Ranchers in the Gunnison Valley have been happy to help and Moores said that the Gunnison County Stockgrowers’ Association has given the fledgling organization more support than any other group.
And so far, RSH has had a number of animals donated to the cause including several deer, three elk, a cow that came in from a rancher, and a moose, which was donated by the Division of Wildlife after a hunter apparently mistook the animal for an elk.
In fact, Randy Boston, who has been processing the donated animals for RSH at Burfield’s in Gunnison, says the division has donated a few animals on behalf of hunters who took the species of big game this season, with the bill for processing going to the offending party.
“[The hunters] have taken care of [the costs] and the division gives them a citation. It’s a good deal for everybody. We give [RSH] a special rate on [the processing],” Boston said. “When guys aren’t working there are mouths to feed and this is a good way to help.”
Hunters who bring in cow elk pay the entire bill, while those who bring bull elk or deer pay only half of the processing costs. Then Moores or one of the other volunteers picks up the game for distribution to food pantries in Crested Butte and Gunnison as well as several area churches that are participating in the give-aways.
On the first Thursday of November, Doug Duryea, who runs the food bank with his wife Heidi, gave away each of the 43 packages of beef, elk, venison and moose that Sportsmen for the Hungry donated to the Oh Be Joyful Food Bank in Crested Butte. He said just about everyone who took food that night got a package of the donated meat.
“People were really happy and grateful and we got rid of quite a bit,” Duryea says.
Moores has also heard from people who are grateful for the extra food in a hard time. He says, “I got a call from one lady who was very nice and she had called the DOW and was getting fish and she heard about the program. She’s over 60. She says ‘I’m disabled and living on $700 a month.’ I said, ‘I know just the place you can go.’ The food pantry was closed and so I sent her down to the Catholic parish. It was amazing how thankful she was.”
People living on fixed incomes and others living on reduced incomes have kept Moores and his team of volunteers, along with Renee Brown and the county’s health and human services staff busy. And according to Brown, the need has grown to occupy a lot of her staff’s time.
“My assumption is that the availability of nutritious, locally grown food is a real problem,” Brown says, adding that programs like RSH are a great way to mitigate the need. “We refer people to the food bank all the time.”
RSH won’t be able to accept any frozen game. People who drop off animals in their natural state will be charged a $25 skinning fee.
But for the food banks and RSH to continue providing meat to those in need through the holiday season, the take from the fourth rifle-hunting season, which ended November 21, will have to be substantial and the amount of donations will have to follow suit. To donate, contact Les White at 641-1982 or Bob Harris at 641-2790. They will inspect the game and certify it before it goes to be processed.