Land Bank's New Venison Processing Facility Marks Successful First Month With 45 Deer

Warning: This story includes photos documenting the deer processing facility that some readers might find disturbing.

As the year’s shotgun deer hunting season wraps up, the Land Bank is reporting a successful first year for its new venison processing facility on Boynton Lane. With the extended winter hunting season still underway, venison processing manager Dean Belanger said that the Land Bank has processed 45 deer so far from 21 donors since the facility opened a little more than one month ago on Dec. 4, 2025.

“I think it went very well,” he said. “I think that's quite an accomplishment from the standpoint that this was really truly put together in short order.”

Those deer became 239 packages of two-pound ground venison, which were distributed to the Nantucket Food Pantry and Nourish Nantucket. All of the meat stayed on Nantucket and went directly to food-insecure island residents.

The facility accepts whole deer donations for MassWildlife’s Hunters Share the Harvest program, through which hunters can donate venison to those in need.

“We're very pleased with how this has turned out,” Land Bank executive director Rachael Freeman said.

The 45-deer tally over the facility's first month represented "a record number of Nantucket deer donated to MassWildlife’s Hunters Share the Harvest program," according to state deer biologist Martin Feehan.

The Land Bank’s agricultural processing facility, located in the basement of a new food security hub that also houses the Food Pantry and Nourish, came together quickly, in part because of a large amount of work done by staff behind the scenes and in part because the Land Bank Commission made it a major priority.

The property at 17, 19 and 21 Boynton Lane, the former home of Kim Reed's catering business, A Taste of Nantucket, was sold to the Land Bank and Nourish Nantucket in October 2025 for $6.5 million. Nantucket Land Bank executive director Rachael Freeman told the Current at the time that $5.5 million came from the Land Bank, which owns 60 percent of the building, and the other $1 million came from Nourish Nantucket, which will own the remaining 40 percent.

The facility is still receiving deer, and the Land Bank’s designated deer donation phone rang while Land Bank representatives were speaking with the Current this week.

The Land Bank is “100 percent confident” that the program will continue next year.

“The deer aren't going anywhere,” said Emily Goldstein Murphy, the Land Bank’s director of environmental and agricultural resources. “Unfortunately, hunger and need aren't going anywhere.”

The Land Bank hopes to expand the program next year, taking in more deer.

“We can process as many as I can get through the door,” Belanger said.

They also hope to acquire a deer damage permit, which would allow the Land Bank to take deer outside of hunting season under certain conditions, and look into processing poultry at the facility as well.

Since venison is such a lean meat, the processing facility staff adds ground beef to the final product, resulting in ground meat that is roughly 90 percent venison and 10 percent beef.

 The Nantucket Food Pantry has so far received 200 pounds of ground venison for its clients.

"I have had a couple of people asking specifically about the venison," Food Pantry manager Ruth Pitts said. "It will be very helpful when we are short on protein. I believe as it becomes a more consistently available product and people become more familiar with it, it will be great. Though it (venison) is not for everyone."

Nourish Nantucket has been leading the distribution efforts on behalf of the Land Bank.

"From our end, it’s been a really positive addition to the food security network/offerings," said Nourish Nantucket executive director Meg Browers. "We’ve distributed the venison through our existing food security network - our partners at Pip & Anchor and the Nantucket Food Pantry, as well as through our NN Prepared Meals program, and the response from families has been overwhelmingly appreciative. This is a particularly tough time of year, as you know, since most of our tourism-driven industries have stopped services and many Nantucketers are out of work for the winter. As with any new food offering, there’s a bit of education and familiarity involved, but overall, people have been excited to receive it and grateful for the collaboration that made it possible. We made venison chili this week and handed it out along with a recipe for other ways to prepare venison. We’re definitely appreciative of the Land Bank’s leadership on this project and the way it strengthens our local community food system."

Of course, the program wouldn’t be possible without the support of local hunters.

“They’re being incredibly generous,” Goldstein Murphy said.

Hunters who donate whole deer to Hunters Share the Harvest will receive a free antlerless deer tag from MassWildlife to incentivize further hunting.

Properties that the Land Bank acquires with revenue from the two percent transfer fee it collects on real estate transactions must be dedicated to open space, recreation, or agricultural uses. The Land Bank contends that the processing of donated venison, which could eventually expand to other meat products, qualifies as an agricultural use.

It is perhaps the most notable example yet of the Land Bank’s new approach to purchasing land, which Land Bank commissioners have said will involve “transitioning away from a purely open space acquisition mode.”

Deer cause massive damage to local ecosystems, are notorious disease vectors, routinely prove a nuisance to local landscapers and gardeners, and are a danger to drivers. And yet, the herd is only growing. A facility like the one on Boynton Lane could be what is needed to turn the corner in Nantucket’s fight against deer overpopulation.

A local activist group called ACK Deer has championed the idea of a local venison processing facility in recent months. Last fall, the Land Bank and Nourish closed on a Boynton Lane property that is now being used as a food security hub. The agricultural processing facility is located in the basement, the food pantry is on the first floor, and Nourish has offices upstairs, meaning that venison processed at the facility doesn’t have to travel very far.