Deer hunters across Louisiana have an added incentive to participate in the Hunters for the Hungry Committee's annual campaign to feed the state's needy in their communities. "We hit it big this year," Hunters for the Hungry co-founder Richard Campbell said. "We are taking hunters' donations to a new level."

Hunters contributing freshly taken deer in six major cities in the state and in Natchez, Miss., will be entered in a raffle for a Bad Boy Buggy, the newest in small four-wheel-drive vehicles. The all-electric ATV is valued at $8,000.

Campbell said committee efforts across the state have resulted in a much-expanded list of game processors accepting the donations of freshly taken deer.

"There is no cost to the hunter other than the effort it takes to get the game to the processors," Campbell said.

For most processors, all that's needed is that the hunter field dress the deer. Most will skin the deer and process the venison for soup kitchens, senior citizens' community centers and other need-based organizations in their local communities.

"The best part is that if hunters wants to skin the deer, they can keep the backstrap and the tenderloins," Campbell said. "Either way, they are entered in the raffle."

The committee kicks off its annual campaign with today's Clean Out Your Freezer Day, and continues its efforts for the next six months with the appeal for donations of fresh game, notably deer.

In 10 years, the Hunters for the Hungry in Baton Rouge, and later joined by the Monroe-based Sportsmen Share Your Harvest Committee and volunteers in Alexandria, Lafayette, New Orleans, Shreveport, and even Natchez, Miss., have collected more than 150,000 pounds of frozen fresh game and meat.

The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank distributes the game to more than 100 organization in the Capital City area.