Food from the Field turns Wyoming harvest into help for neighbors

How local and out-of-state hunters can easily donate game meat to local food banks

For some hunters, a successful deer, elk or antelope season means a freezer full of carefully wrapped meat and meals planned for months ahead.

For others, the reward is the hunt itself: time in Wyoming’s mountains and fields, the challenge of filling a tag and the experience shared with family or friends. They may want a few steaks or a backstrap, but not an entire animal. Out-of-state hunters, meanwhile, may face the expense and inconvenience of getting hundreds of pounds of meat home.

The Food from the Field Initiative offers a simple answer. Hunters can donate all or part of their harvested game, allowing it to be professionally processed and distributed to local food banks and hunger-relief organizations.

“It gives hunters a chance to give back to their communities,” said Debbie Kelly, a Wyoming Hunger Initiative regional director serving Park, Big Horn, Hot Springs and Washakie counties. “In this area, we get a lot of out-of-state hunters, and so they may only want, like, the backstrap or something like that. It gives them the option to donate it to a program that’s going to go to a food bank.”

The program is part of the Wyoming Hunger Initiative, founded by First Lady Jennie Gordon. Food from the Field began in 2020 and has grown into a statewide partnership involving the Hunger Initiative, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wyoming Department of Agriculture and participating meat processors.

Hunters may choose to donate a whole animal or retain favorite cuts for themselves and donate the rest. The resulting meat provides high-quality protein to families who visit local food pantries, senior centers and other hunger-relief organizations.

Kelly said the program is a natural fit for a state with a strong hunting tradition and a strong sense of community.

“Every little bit helps,” she said. “Every pound of ground meat that goes into a food bank is one less pound that they have to purchase from the store.”

That idea has produced meaningful results. From 2020 through 2024, hunters statewide donated 1,320 animals through Food from the Field, totaling 78,529 pounds of wild game. Kelly said that amount was estimated to provide roughly 314,000 meals.

Locally, hunters donated 585.5 pounds of game meat in the Northwest Wyoming region last year. Those donations included 10 antelope, two deer and four elk.

The local system depends on participating processors and people who understand the needs of the communities they serve. Wapiti Valley Meats is the closest participating processor for much of the Cody area, while Paintrock Processing in Hyattville helps serve communities farther east and south in the Big Horn Basin.

After meat is processed, Kelly picks it up and works to distribute it where it can do the most good.

She has personally delivered donated meat to food banks throughout the Big Horn Basin during the past several years.

The process is designed to be easy for hunters while protecting the safety of those who will receive the meat. Hunters who want to donate can tell a participating processor that all or part of their harvest is intended for Food from the Field. The processor handles the processing, while the Wyoming Hunger Initiative helps ensure the work is paid for.

Hunters are encouraged to make a financial contribution toward processing costs if they are able. Some pay the entire amount. Others may contribute $50 or another amount that works for them. When necessary, the Wyoming Hunger Initiative covers the remaining cost so the processor is compensated.

“If they choose not to, Wyoming Hunger Initiative picks that up,” Kelly said. “The processors are getting paid for their work.”

That is particularly helpful for hunters traveling from outside Wyoming. Kelly estimated that six out-of-state hunters donated through her region last year. Information about Food from the Field is included with hunting licenses, and processors can share information with customers who bring in an animal.

The program does have one important requirement. Donated deer, elk and moose must receive a chronic wasting disease, or CWD, test before the meat can enter the food-bank system. Hunters can arrange for testing through Game and Fish, or processors can help collect the appropriate sample if the head is available.

“If you tell them that it’s going to be donated to Food from the Field, they’ll get those glands down to the lab and get them processed as soon as possible,” Kelly said. “The turnaround is approximately a week.”

The testing requirement means the Initiative cannot accept an animal if the head was left in the field and no sample can be collected. Kelly said that standard has been part of Food from the Field from the beginning.

“We are going to do this the right way and not take any chances,’” she said. “We’re trying to dot all the Is and cross all the Ts.”

The program is also looking for more participating processors. Kelly said processors must be USDA- or state-certified, but she hopes additional businesses in communities such as Worland, Lovell, Powell and Meeteetse may consider joining.

More processors would mean more convenient donation options for hunters and more locally sourced protein for food banks.

“There are a lot of hunters that go over and hunt that Meeteetse area,” Kelly said. “If they would come on as a processor, that would be awesome.”

Food from the Field is only one part of the wider Wyoming Hunger Initiative, which also provides infrastructure grants that can help food-relief organizations purchase freezers, carts and other equipment needed to serve people efficiently.

With Gov. Mark Gordon leaving office in January, some residents have wondered whether the Hunger Initiative will continue. Kelly said the answer is yes.

The organization became its own 501(c)(3) nonprofit on Oct. 1, 2025, separate from the governor’s residence. Jennie Gordon is expected to remain involved through a board role.

“We don’t want it to go anywhere, because it is such a wonderful thing and there is such momentum behind it,” Kelly said. “The plan is to keep it going for as long and as hard as we can.”

For hunters, participation can be as simple as one conversation at a processor’s counter. For a family visiting a food pantry, the result may be meat on the table that week.

Hunters who are interested in donating can find participating processors and program details at nohungerwyo.org/field.