My fourteen-year-old daughter got her buck last week, and a friend shot hers this evening. My husband posts photos on Facebook, and I admit I worry about backlash, since the practice of hunting is getting unpopular with the public. However, hunting is the culture where we live, and there’s even an official certificate for the first deer taken. Once I saw that there’s a group for sharing such photos, I felt better.

Although I’m no hunter myself, I’ve thought it through and do not believe hunting deserves moral outrage. I’m talking specifically about hunting deer and other animals for food, as well as killing pests. (Although the latest stir was over exotic animal hunting, some animal lovers hate all forms of it.) Here are six points in defense of hunting:

1.) Hunting is do-it-yourself meat. If you eat meat, you cannot be opposed to fair chase, quick-kill hunting. You may dislike the idea that the hunter perceives the challenge as a sport, but that doesn’t make the resulting meat less moral than packaged meat from farms. This is fresh, local, minimally processed food. Now, if you don’t eat meat, your position is consistent — I recognize that — but I disagree with the premise that eating meat is wrong.

2.) Hunting is a whole set of serious skills. The work has just begun once the hunter has located the deer and achieved a clean shot. Now begins the process of making sure the good meat is harvested. This is a long chore of gutting, skinning, butchering, packaging, and freezing. It takes hours and hours, at least for teenage girls. I should know; there’s a second deer of the season being processed in my basement right now. And the girls are fine taking care of this independently, and seem very knowledgeable explaining details to me. This is because the state recognizes responsible hunting as a skill and has done a decent job with its thorough hunters’ ed (with instruction in gun handling)  before releasing young people to hunt. In a food crisis, I want to be next to people who can bag animals and prepare them for eating. Don’t you? I wouldn’t know the first thing about where to cut, what organs to remove, or how to skin the animal.

3.) Hunting for food is a long-standing tradition. I don’t think we should be too good for what sustained our ancestors for thousands of years. Yes, we are surrounded by plenty now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get some of our food in a way that is less conventional by modern standards. Taking issue with hunting then, seems an insular and pampered position, even for vegans.

4.) Hunting dispatches the animal quickly, as opposed to less swift ways to die in the wild. The forest isn’t paradise: animals are killed by predators or struggle for food. Hunters are taught where to shoot to ensure that death is quick.

5.) Hunting can be necessary for controlling an animal population. Deer are beautiful, but also prolific and pesky. Hunting season helps with that.

6.) Hunting has other benefits. It is one way to get sedentary kids outdoors with vigorous, prolonged activity. Often, kids, dads, and grandpas spend time together outside sharing the experience. And, a common culture of hunting can generate connections and camaraderie amongst acquaintances.

My family has made endless trays of jerky with my daughter’s buck. We have lots of white packages in the freezer. And while I don’t oppose the practice and culture that brought us this, I hope a good portion of it is cooked and eaten while I’m out of town this month.