THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. _ The parking lot at Falls Radiator off U.S. Highway 59 was a hopping place Wednesday night, Dec. 4, when about 20 volunteers scraped and salted deer hides and stacked them on pallets for eventual sale to a hide buyer.
That's the way it is every Wednesday night from the opening of the firearms deer season until mid to late December, as the Thief River Falls Chapter of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association preps deer hides as part of the organization's Hides for Habitat program.
Often called the ultimate recycling program, Hides for Habitat uses proceeds from the sale of deer hides for food plot seed, wildlife habitat projects and youth outdoor education programs.
It's a big job and messy work, but that doesn't stop the members of the Thief River Falls MDHA chapter, which perennially tops the state in the number of hides it preps and sells. The chapter handles all of the MDHA's hide collection efforts in northwest Minnesota, with drop boxes set up from Warroad, Minn., to East Grand Forks and south to Vergas, Minn.
Since its inception in 1985, the Hides for Habitat program has collected more than 900,000 deer hides statewide and raised nearly $5.5 million, said Craig Engwall, executive director of the MDHA in Grand Rapids, Minn.
"I think one year, (MDHA) had 22,000 hides statewide, and Thief River Falls had 2,500 to 3,000 of those," Engwall said. "It just gives you an idea what a big portion of what we do as an organization they're responsible for; it's huge."
Despite the hustle and bustle, Wednesday night's turnout was light compared with some evenings, said Jerome Cota, treasurer of the Thief River Falls MDHA chapter.
"This is really a little bit of a small crew here tonight; normally it's 25," Cota said. "It's a lot of work."
Whether scraping hides, loading the hides on pallets or salting hides, everyone knows their job. The previous week, the chapter prepped nearly 1,600 hides during the evening work session; Wednesday night's tally was about 1,100 hides.
"The guys come and go as they have time," said Ben Meyer, president of the Thief River Falls, MDHA chapter. "A lot of the older guys come early. Those of us who work a real job get here a little later."
