DALLAS, Pa. — It's the sign of the season, hunting season, that is, as meat is piled high at Wren's Taxidermy and Deer Processing in Dallas.
"We start taking them in the beginning of archery season, and we take them through the late season. Every year we get a little bit more. This year, Saturday and Sunday were very, very busy. So we have our work cut own for us," says Owner Lance Wren.
This time of year, Wren spends nearly 17 hours a day breaking down, chopping up, and processing nearly 800 deer.
"I've been doing it since I was 12 years old, and everyone in my family does it. I love the outdoors, and that's why I started doing this. The only problem is now I don't have time to hunt," he says.
Instead of hunting himself, he's filling the freezer of hunters all over northeastern Pennsylvania. Hunters like Drew Mamary of Wilkes-Barre.
"It was a nice hunt, it was early, and we had fun," Mamary explains about his first-day successes.
But this season, Wren is hoping hunters will fill the plates of families in need, too. He participates in the state's Hunters Sharing the Harvest venison donation program.
"If you go in the grocery store and see what the prices are, a lot of people are, it's tough for a lot of people. So the more you can donate, the more it'll help the community," says Wren.
According to the program, the average-sized deer provides about 200 servings of meat. All of the donations will go to local food banks for people throughout Pennsylvania, including Weinberg Regional Food Bank in Wilkes-Barre. Since 1991, HSH has distributed nearly 2 million pounds of donated venison
"It's nice to be able to, that you go out, you be successful and then you know someone else is going to be able to enjoy your success," says Mamary.
Wren says last year alone, his shop donated about 1000 pounds.
"We'd like to see that see that go up. We'd like to do more. But this year, the donations have been few and far between," said Wren.
He hopes that'll change with rifle season underway.
"67% of doe tags don't get filled in the state of Pennsylvania," explained Wren. "We do the hunter share the harvest, and hunters are always complaining that there are so many deer around. I don't know why guys don't shoot more and donate them."
"If it's not so cold, this old guy is going to go out and shoot another deer just to donate it," added Mamary.
While Wren still has a lot of chopping, slicing, and grinding to get to this hunting season, he says he'll always be happy to add another to his list, especially for good causes.
"You have about 10 or 11 more days left. If you get one, just show up with it. There's not enough time in a day to keep answering the calls," he added.
Wren says to donate, just drop your kill off at his shop in the back mountain and he takes care of the rest.
Wren is also hosting a Wild Game Dinner at the Cross Creek Community Church in Trucksville in February. He also looking for a deer donation for the event.
You can find other processors involved in Hunters Sharing their Harvest program, as well as how to make a monetary donation on the program's website.