New Hampshire’s hunters can help the less fortunate by sharing all or part of their fall harvest with the “Hunt for the Hungry” program. Once again this year, the New Hampshire Food Bank, based in Manchester, is collecting donations of whole or processed game animals for distribution to more than 350 food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and group homes statewide, according to a press release from the organization.

Last year, the Hunt for the Hungry program took in nearly 900 pounds of donated deer, bear, moose, duck and other game meat. The program offers packaging instructions and can pick up your meat donation. To donate game, call food bank operations manager Michele Garron at 603-669-9725.

If you’re donating a whole deer or moose, you can bring it to Lemay & Sons Beef in Goffstown (603-622-0022), where they will process it for the food bank at no charge.

“Wild game has historically provided a source of food to hunters, their families and their neighbors,” Lee E. Perry, executive director of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, said in the press release. “This program is a great way for hunters to give back to their communities by providing needy families with food to help them get through the winter.”

Last fall, hunters took a total of 408 moose— 272 bulls and 136 cows, for a statewide success rate of 77.6 percent—the highest since 1995. A record number of people applied for New Hampshire moose hunt permits this year— more than 16,300—and about two-thirds of them were New Hampshire residents.

The moose hunt is part of the state’s wildlife management strategy. The moose population, which was only approximately 50 animals in 1950, had grown to over 4,100 by the time of the first moose hunt in 1988, when 75 permits were issued. Today the moose population is estimated at 7,000, according to N.H. Fish and Game.

Deer remaiins the most popular quarry for the more than 60,000 hunters who buy licenses in New Hampshire each year. The state’s muzzleloader deer season runs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 7, and the firearms deer season opens Nov. 8.