Generous sportsmen have donated 5,800 deer to Georgia's "Hunters for the Hungry" program since 1993, but Augusta-area hunters rarely get to participate.
The reason: Organizers of the statewide project say transportation obstacles won't permit a local drop off site that can serve Atlanta-area food banks.
A local group, however, is moving forward with its own program - CSRA Hunters Taking Aim on Hunger - which is collecting venison to send to a food bank in Appling this fall.
Columbia County Cares, which provides food and assistance to about 300 needy families each month, received 250 pounds of processed venison from the group at the end of the 2004-05 deer season.
This year, organizers hope to collect 1,000 pounds or more and will have donation sites open at four locations Nov. 29-Dec. 1, and again from Dec. 28-Jan. 1, said Crawford McConnell, one of the group's organizers.
"We've gotten a few generous processors who will let us use their places as drop-off spots," he said. "On those days, people can drop off the deer, and if they want to pay the $15 for skinning and gutting, we will take care of the processing."
If the hunter doesn't wish to pay the $15 fee, the group will still cover it, he said.
Drop-off locations will be:
Angel's Taxidermy & Deer Processing, Martinez.
Payton's Deer Processing, Winfield Hills Road near the entrance to Mistletoe State Park.
Outback Deer Processing, County Line Road, Harlem.
Whiteoak Hunting Preserve, Whiteoak Road, Appling.
Anyone wishing to make a monetary donation to the group can make checks payable to Hunters Taking Aim on Hunger and send it to c/o Harlem United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 39, 115 Milledgeville Road, Harlem, Ga., 30814.
The organization was established by White Oak Preserve, Ducks Unlimited and Harlem Methodist Church.
For more information, contact McConnell at (706) 564-7679.
FEWER MISHAPS: So far this season, Georgia's Wildlife Resources Division has investigated 16 hunting accidents that included two deaths.
A "mistaken for game" fatality occurred in Bryan County on Oct. 29, when Randall Payne, of Savannah, was shot and killed by a hunting companion, 44-year-old Charles Head, of Pooler, Ga.
According to a WRD incident report, Head was returning to his truck at dusk and saw movement. He fired a bolt-action Springfield model .30-06.
The bullet passed through Payne's arm and into his chest, killing him. No charges have been filed but the incident remains under investigation.
On Oct. 28, an elderly Florida hunter died of an apparent heart attack while hunting in Early County.
The remainder of the accidents are non-fatal incidents involving tree stands, with injuries that include lacerations, broken arms and legs and crushed ribs.
With the busiest portion of Georgia's fall and winter hunting seasons still to come, accidents appear light so far this season.
During the 2003-04 season there were 17 serious accidents that yielded four deaths - one of which eventually was attributed to natural causes.
During 2003-04, just one fatality - involving a fall from a tree stand - was reported.
Georgia has about 300,000 active hunters.
SNAKE BOOK WINS AWARD: A locally written guide to some of nature's most misunderstood creatures was honored recently as a 2005 winner in the National Outdoor Book Award program
Snakes of the Southeast, a color reference book covering 22 species found in this region, was written by Savannah River Ecology Lab herpetologist Whit Gibbons and Mike Dorcas, a former SREL scientist, who is now a Davidson College professor.
The book, published earlier this year by University of Georgia Press, was the guidebook category winner in the annual competition held in Pocatello, Idaho, and sponsored by Idaho State University and the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education.
"Snakes of the Southeast is an eye-catching new nature guidebook melding good descriptive writing, a dapper design and strikingly crisp photographs," the judges wrote. "It's all there in one very nicely wrapped package."
The book is priced at $22.95. For more information, go to www.ugapress.org.
Reach Rob Pavey at 868-1222, ext. 119 or rob.pavey@augustachronicle.com.
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