Posted Monday, November 23, 2009 9:15 p.m.

A few pieces of paper work...a couple quick questions...the entire process only takes a few minutes...but the effects could last a longer for a hungry family in Wisconsin.

" I figured somebody else could use the meat I don't have a lot of time to cut it up either."

Chris Ernst was out hunting today with his buddies...they didn't get a buck...but they did get this doe.

But the group of friends didn't want to keep it. So they brought it here to Fred's Village Meat Market in Waunakee...where they'll donate it.

Ernst says, " If somebody else can use it more than I can I think it's a good thing."

This is one of more than 130-places around the state where hunters can drop off deer for the Venison Donation Program.

Once the deer is dropped off--it's processed and then the ground meat is sent to food pantries all over the state--at no charge to the hunter.

" Been going real good--this year has been real good."

According to Fred Loy last year his shop processed about 7,000 pounds of meat.

And so far this year they're on pace to do more.

Loy says, " We're up right now. We're up about 30-deer. "

Here in Waunakee donations so far for the year are up. However the DNR doesn't expect that to last and they suspect that by the end of the year donations overall will be down.

Eric Lobner with the DNR says, " Overall we're expecting the harvest to be slightly down this year because obviously the number of permits that have been issued is slightly less as well as overall there are certain pockets of the state where the population is down."

How much they'll be down by the end of the year remains to be seen. But nice weather like what we had this past weekend is only going to help.