Venison is lean, organic and tasty. In a state overrun by deer, why don’t we see this local meat on more menus, and where can you go to get some?

• It is illegal to sell venison commercially in New Jersey.
• Hunters Helping the Hungry helps distribute donated venison to organizations in need.
• So far, more than 2.5 million meals have been donated by Hunters Helping the Hungry – that’s 25,000 pounds a season.

There are lots of interesting ways to quantify just how many deer we have in New Jersey.

Simply: There are about 115,000 deer in the state.

Practically: There are over 15,000 deer-related car accidents every year in the state.

Anecdotally: Almost everyone I know has a story about hitting a deer and some have a deer head mounted somewhere in their house.

I think they’re beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but we have so many they’re sending in sharpshooters to national parks in New Jersey to cull the deer.

Oddly, in this age of locavorism, we don’t see venison on a lot of restaurant menus. And when you do, that venison is likely from New Zealand or Texas.

That’s because it’s illegal to sell wild deer meat for retail in New Jersey. And, to be clear, that’s for a very valid reason: back when it was legal to sell game meat, we nearly wiped out the American bison and the beaver. It’s a slippery slope.

It is, however, legal to donate venison and conduct wild game fundraising dinners. Now, as we come to the end of deer-hunting season in New Jersey, fresh venison is making the rounds at food pantries and special restaurant dinners.

Game dinners in New Jersey

For more than 30 years, Black Forest Inn in Stanhope has been holding game dinners, typically in coordination with local hunting groups, with venison as a star protein. Chef/Owner Heinrich Aichem says the appetite for deer meat is growing.

“We have a huge clientele. Our game dinners, we do four every year and each one is over 200 people,” he says. “These game dinners are growing steadily every year.”

Black Forest Inn hosts several game dinners throughout late winter and early spring benefiting various groups. Its first dinner in 2025 featured venison served in myriad ways: pâtê and prosciutto, chili and rouladen, ground into kielbasa and cheddar brats, and a shoulder roast.

Aichem says there are spices specific to venison that amplify its earthy, grassy and nutty flavors when making, say, venison chili or sausage.

“Bay leaf, thyme, marjoram are all the herbs essential to enhancing these stews,” he says. “When you’re making sausage, it’s mace, coriander, nutmeg… the spices normally you’d see in German bratwurst.” 

Aichem says for game dinners he’ll get in about 50 deer and butcher them into whole muscle cuts or reserve some for grinding, depending on what’s on the menu. He says you can notice the difference in local venison versus meat shipped in from afar. 

“Texas venison is a little straw-like,” he says. “It’s not as tender as some of the deer that comes from here, from Pennsylvania or New Jersey. Our mountain deer, we’ve got huge vegetation; when they just have sage brush to grow up on, that venison is not always as wonderful.”

The Black Forest Inn will host the Chester Game Association on Feb. 23 for its 15th annual game dinner, and it will also host a game dinner for the New Jersey Outdoor Alliance on March 2. Then (if you can wait a bit), the Virginia Hotel will host its annual game dinner on Nov. 20. 

Venison for the masses

Failing a game dinner, or a generous hunter friend with no more room in their freezer to store venison, the only other place you’re liable to see deer meat is at your neighborhood food pantry.

In 1997, New Jersey passed a law that enables hunters to donate meat to food banks and shelters. That effort led a couple of hunters to create Hunters Helping the Hungry (HHH), a nonprofit that works with hunters to take their deer to a certified butcher and distribute that meat to organizations serving those in need. 

Today, HHH has donated more than 2.5 million meals, estimates Les Giese, who co-founded the organization; that breaks down to about 25,000 pounds of venison a season, or 700 deer, culled by the organization’s 500 or so members.

“We have seven butchers across the state, and we need more butchers,” Giese says of how deer gets from field to pantry. “The hunter organization has to take the deer to one of those state-inspected butchers, and from there, the butcher will process it and then they’ll call up the appropriate food bank and the food bank will pick up the processed meat.”

HHH works with the North Jersey social support group Norwescap to locate distribution points. 

“When we talk to our agencies, [venison] tends to be very popular. Our agencies and the clients they serve are familiar with it. Some of them are hunters themselves,” says Norwescap’s Shannon Williams. “It’s such a lean protein, it’s a healthy protein. Particularly in our counties because people are familiar with it, it moves well.” 

Williams says the meat they distribute from local hunters serves a critical role in getting fresh, healthful protein to those in need. 

“There’s a huge demand for meats and protein items and fresh produce, so it fills a need for that,” Williams says. “The food banks have been state-funded so we’ve been able to purchase some other proteins and things that we weren’t able to in the past and having that venison has always filled the need for protein we didn’t have access to otherwise.” 

Giese agrees with Aichem’s judgment on the quality of local venison versus those culled or farmed in other locales. Over the years, he’s learned some tricks on how to prepare it well, too.

“There are several factors. One is you are what you eat. So for most of the deer around us, they’re living good and they’re not eating pine needles,” he says. “The next aspect is preparation, and venison is very low fat and it’s very easy to overcook. When you do cook it, grill or whatever, it’s got to be low and slow almost to the rare side. That can make a big difference.”

The effort to get more venison onto kitchen tables

There was an effort to legalize the commercial sale of venison in the New Jersey Legislature in 2014; it went nowhere. 

Giese doesn’t necessarily see a change in the law any time soon, but he is working with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on getting people more prepared to source their own meat. In September 2024, HHH, the state DEP, Bringhurst Meats and The Buck Stop held two free deer-butchering workshops. 

The goal was to equip a new generation with the tools necessary to eat locally, Giese said, and the plan is to continue these workshops later this year.

“There are a lot of middle-aged folks that want to get into hunting because of the locavore movement, and they don’t have a mentor. They don’t have a father or an uncle or family member that was a hunter, but now they want to become a hunter and they’re struggling,” said Giese. “We’re trying to educate and among the 30-somethings, there’s a lot of interest in knowing where you’re getting your meat from.” 

If you do want to get your hands on some deer meat without picking up a weapon, though, Alstede Farms in Chester and Fossil Farms in Boonton sell venison sourced from New Zealand.

Or head to a game dinner. Aichem sees these events as an opportunity to spread the gospel of venison to his diners.

“Venison itself, there are no hormones, no antibiotics; it’s completely organic,” he said, “and I think it’s the best, really.” 

Matt Cortina is a food reporter with NorthJersey.com/The Record. Reach him at mcortina@gannett.com.