As a lifelong hunter, I want to respond to George Hunt’s Oct. 27 letter, “Hunters kill moose, bear because they enjoy killing.”

I hunt because I would rather eat wild game than the meat produced on farms and sold in the stores. Wild animals have not been given growth hormones and grains containing all kinds of byproducts that make them grow bigger and faster so they can be slaughtered earlier and processed for sale in supermarkets.

People who believe that hunters enjoy killing usually buy their meat at the supermarket and have no understanding of where the meat comes from or even how it was butchered. They have probably led a sheltered life and think they know it all.

We hunt to harvest food for our families. The only difference between Hunt and me is that I choose to do my own butchering, rather than letting someone else do it for me. I eat a better quality of meat than someone who buys meat at the meat counter.

Anyone can choose not to hunt. If they eat meat at all, however, they should not label me and other hunters as cold-blooded killers. We process what we hunt, eat it and are proud to feed our families with good-quality meat. Many people do not understand how meat shows up at the stores. It is not by magic; someone has done the same thing all hunters do. They have killed and processed the meat so other people can eat it.

Some people are vegetarians by choice. I am a carnivore by choice and like meat. I do not tell them how and what to eat, and I don’t want them telling me how and what to eat.

Davy Crockett

Augusta