JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is announcing the expansion of a program that lets deer hunters share their venison with people in need of a meal.
Missouri's firearms deer season opens this weekend.
Last year, nearly 4,700 Missouri hunters donated almost 263,000 pounds of venison to be processed and distributed to people in need of meat through Share the Harvest. But in recent years, the program has had to cap the amount of deer it can accept from hunters because of limited finances.
Nixon said Thursday the program will receive $200,000 in tax credits over the next three years.
Those additional resources will generate enough private contributions to expand the number of participating deer processors, and increase the amount of meat processed and distributed.
Participating meat processors are listed on the Missouri Web site, www.mo.gov.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
