Hunt and Share

Supporting wild game meat donations

The Game Animal Council’s Hunt and Share is a free, voluntary platform that provides traceability and food-safety support for wild game meat donation initiatives.

It aims to grow:

Wild game meat donation initiatives.
Hunter contributions to donation initiatives.
Foodbank confidence in receiving wild game meat donations.
The amount of high-quality free-range protein been donated to those in need.

Hunt and Share has been developed to support both existing and new initiatives. It includes a guidebook, online hunter training, a donation record database, labelling with QR codes, information for meat donation recipients, and additional resources.

Developed with advice from the Ministry of Primary Industries, Hunt and Share provides rigour and traceability without the complexity and cost of a commercial model.

Hunt and Share is hosted on the Game Animal Council’s online learning platform called Better Hunting. All you’ll need is a free login to get started.

Visit Hunt and Share on Better Hunting

Benefits of wild game meat donation

Wild game meat donation leverages community generosity – hunters donating meat, butchers donating time, and communities covering processing costs – meaning limited foodbank funding can stretch further and support more households.

It provides households with nutritious, high-quality free-range protein that has been harvested ethically and sustainably. It grows awareness that hunting can provide individual and community self-sufficiency, resilience, and food security.

For hunters, wild game meat donation means they can give back by doing something they love. It encourages them to get out more which is great for wellbeing and connecting to the environment. They are also able to increase their harvest, which in turn increases their contribution to game animal management.

Most importantly, recipients of donated wild game meat can be proud that they are part of a movement building community resilience by utilising New Zealand’s valued introduced species.

How Hunt and Share works

Organisers of wild game meat donation initiatives are ethically and morally bound to ensure the meat donated through their initiative is safe to consume, and to uphold the highest standards of food safety. This protects their recipients, themselves and all the benefits that donated meat provides.

Hunt and Share helps meat donation initiatives meet their obligations and provide confidence to foodbanks and donation recipients that the right steps have been taken for safety, care, and traceability.

It does this by providing free and voluntary standards for:

Hunter knowledge.
Donation traceability.
Meat recipient information.

Information for meat donation initiatives

With one in three households experiencing food insecurity in the last year, access to high-quality protein can make a meaningful difference for those under pressure.

Local wild game meat donation initiatives across the country have stepped up, quietly donating huge amounts of time, money and effort into helping fill this need. Hunt and Share has been developed to support their important work and grow this movement.

For new meat donation initiatives

If you are looking to establish a new meat donation initiative, check out the Hunt and Share Guide (PDF File). This offers comprehensive, free information on:

Donation procedures
Processing – using an MPI-listed homekill or recreational catch provider (recommended) or using your own butchery setup.
Food safety
Labelling – including template labels for your processed meat donations with a space for the donation ID and a QR code linking to storage, thawing and cooking guidance so that recipients get safe handling and cooking information.
Distribution.
Funding, and more.

Once your initiative is up and running, contact support@nzgac.org.nz to set up your donated meat record database on Hunt and Share.

For existing meat donation initiatives

If you are an existing meat donation initiative and would like to use Hunt and Share, check out the Hunt and Share guide and contact support@nzgac.org.nz to set up your donated meat record database.

Resources for initiatives:

Better Hunting account required:

Information for foodbanks

Hunt and Share provides confidence to foodbanks and donation recipients that the right steps have been taken for safety, care, and traceability.

If you’re a foodbank interested in using Hunt and Share to trace wild game meat donations, there’s a couple of pathways you can explore:

If you already receive wild game meat donations you can talk to your meat donation initiative about Hunt and Share.
If you don’t currently receive wild game meat donations but would like to, you can connect with Game Changer NZ, or one of your local meat donation initiatives.

Resources for foodbanks:

Food safety basics: MPI online training modules

Better Hunting account required:

Donated wild game meat label (PDF File)

Information for butchers

A key part of the meat donation process is safe and professional butchering services.

If you’re a butcher interested in processing wild game meat donations, you will need to be aware of the regulations around recreational catch service providers.

Check out MPI’s ‘A Guide to Homekill and Recreational Catch’ first and then connect with a wild game meat donation initiative. We have listed some that currently use Hunt and Share below.

Information for hunters

Across the country, hunters are already stepping up to help their communities by donating wild game meat to foodbanks and charities through a range of local initiatives.

Hunt and Share aims to grow this movement by providing a platform that helps initiatives receive meat donations from everyday hunters and hunting groups. It includes a hunter knowledge check and database, for hunters to log their donations to initiatives on the platform. A Better Hunting account is required to access these resources.

Contact a wild game meat donation initiative to get started. We have listed some that currently use Hunt and Share below .

Current initiatives using Hunt and Share

Game Changer NZ

Game Changer NZ is a national meat donation and community fundraising initiative. Led by the Wild Game Recovery Trust, they connect hunters, butchers, foodbanks, and local communities.

It enables the public to donate towards professional butchering services, so that hunters can harvest animals for distribution to local foodbanks. Through Game Changer NZ, the Trust provides coordination across the entire meat donation process, ensuring traceability, good safety and clear guidance from the hunt through to processing. Game Changer NZ uses Hunt and Share to provide traceability and confidence for their initiative.

Learn more about Game Changer NZ here.

Getting in touch

If you have questions about using Hunt and Share or would like to explore your options as an initiative, hunter, butcher, or foodbank, please email support@nzgac.org.nz.

The Game Animal Council would like to thank the Ministry for Primary Industries, Kiwi Harvest, Southern Lakes NZDA, Nelson NZDA, The Salvation Army and the Wild Game Recovery Trust for their support in the development of Hunt and Share.

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