Deer to Care, founded by southern hunters Stu O’Neill, Southland Police senior detective Tim Cook, and Niagara manager Wesley Baratcart, aims to tackle food insecurity by donating high-quality, locally sourced venison. The non-profit’s unique model combines hunting, pest control and community support to create a reliable supply chain of nutritious meat.
The process begins with hunting deer on Southland farms and forests, helping to control pest populations and also providing a sustainable source of free-range wild game.
The meat is then processed through certified butchers, thorough inspection ensuring safety and quality before being distributed weekly to recipients across the region.
Deer to Care organisers said it had built a supply chain to distribute venison to its surrounding doorsteps that benefited both the environment and the community.
The hunting charity had already been providing a steady supply of frozen venison mince to local charities in Gore such as Gore & Clutha Whānau Refuge and the Salvation Army.
But Mr O’Neill said the three had been hunting most nights and weekends to produce, in 2025 alone, more than 500 deer or about 13 tonnes of venison, to feed the community.
"Now we have the ability to 100% guarantee a delivery every week."
The initiative was also made possible through funds from the Mataura Licensing Trust and a donation of 50 deer from the Balfour Big 3 Hunting Competition.
Mataura Licensing Trust board member Vince Aynsley said his organisation was happy to fund the idea as it gave back to the community constructively.
"You're just not handing someone a $50 bill," he said. "You're actually providing."
He said Deer to Care was not "the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff" but stopping the issue at the top.
Whānau Refuge manager Talia Marshall agreed, saying her organisation was more into preventive measures, like donating proteins to their clients.
"Our stats for the last few years would show that when we do the preventive stuff, like giving food parcels or Christmas gifts, all that stuff that relieves the financial pressure, then there's less people in our safe housing," she said.
Mr O’Neill said Deer to Care was already making a difference in Southland, weekly deliveries reaching retired emergency workers and local charities.
He said if hunters had an excess of deer, they could go to the non-profit’s website to make contact, or to locate donation freezers which had been set up in businesses across Southland.
Mr O’Neill said one deer recovered by Deer to Care could provide 30kg of mince, or 50 packs.
