Two weeks ago we asked hunters on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to answer a very important question: Why do you hunt? A total of 206 people answered our question — this is what they had to say.

Here are our favorite 22 responses:

I hunt to push my Limitations and cross boundaries, I hunt to go where no one else has gone, I hunt because it’s an obsession. — @huntarizonaI (Instagram)

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I hunt because it's in my DNA. Like my father and grandfather putting meat on the table wasn't just a trip to the butcher or the grocery store. Now days most store bought meat is full of growth hormones and who knows what else! Plus wild game is healthier for you and tastes better. — Scott McCalmon (Facebook)

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I hunt because it is one of the most free times in my life. Everything is on my terms and whatever I'm hunting at the time. I get up when I choose and I go where I want. I see things I would never see laying in bed at home or working. I choose to do it and it is not easy at times. I love being in the mountains in the trees with the animals whatever they are. I don't mind the cold or the heat. I see every adversary as an something I have the freedom to overcome. I love coming into camp to eat something that has been cooked in dutch ovens by friends who want to support me. I love sitting around a campfire telling stories and laughing until I fall out of my chair. I love the process of getting ready to go hunting. I cook for weeks getting ready. I pull all my clothes together and all my supplies. I have a great time sighting in my rifle or honing my bow skills for weeks before the hunt. I guess that is the best way I can describe it. — Janet Barclay (Facebook)

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To provide the most organic and best tasting meat I can for my family. Most of my hunting is with a bow I love the challenge. Live to hunt. — Beckie An Jerry (Facebook)

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I hunt so I can spend time with my husband, family and friends. There is something so comforting about fall weather, and the trip to "hunting camp." It's the sights, smells, anticipation, adrenaline, preparation, excitement and freedom that make it all worth it. The meat is the ultimate gift and sometimes a big rack makes for a nice bonus and stories that last for generations. I hunt to feed my family and my SOUL. #hunter4life — Ashlee Bledsoe (Facebook)

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I hunt to be able to see the things God created for me to explore and understand, when I take a life weather it's small game or big game it's a true blessing to be able to know the animal gave for you for you to live on and feed your family, I've bowhunted for 12 years and I've successfully harvested 9 deer in the last 9 years straight along with a freezer full of birds and fish. The truth is we hunt because we enjoy the outdoors and because we as hunters were born into it by true hunters! Poachers don't fit that, they kill for sport and it destroys what we share with our future generations to come! God bless Hunters! — Adam Mayers (Facebook)

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I hunt for the conservation of wildlife, I hunt to be in God's country, I hunt to teach my two young sons the importance of wildlife and show them there is more to life than buying groceries. — Bryant Bridge (Facebook)

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I hunt for the memories I have hunted my entire life and some of the strongest and most amazing memories of my grandfather and father have been in the mountains hunting weather on a side hill eating lunch and listening to old hunting stories or walking through the trees I will hold these memories close to my heart for as long as I live. — Dillon Anderson (Facebook)

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I hunt because it was passed down to me from my grandfather who was a modern day outfitter/rancher! It's my church, my home, and my freedom to do so in this wonderful country we live in... America!!! — Charles Crutchley (Facebook)

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Hunting is a way of life, it is an honor to get out of our everyday busy lives and escape into the backcountry where it will be just God, the wildlife and me. No matter how hard the pack in, how hard the terrain, once you spot that animal nothing can keep me from doing all I can to ethically harvest it. It is a passion that burns deep inside, its a love of animal, wilderness, and life. It is the true circle of life as God intended for us, thus comes the utmost respect for the harvest, I don't believe I have harvested an animal yet that I haven't been brought to tears, tears of joy, excitement, honor, respect and appreciation. That is what it is all about, that and sharing it with the family and keeping those values for future generations. — Candy Michelle Yow (Facebook)

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I don't hunt for the kill, I hunt because it is in everyone of our DNA. The kill is how I expose my true inner being, to be alive, to be one on one with Mother Earth and the perfect circle of life... I hunt... therefore I am. — @johnheingartner (Instagram)

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I hunt to eat. Not real obvious to most answers on here, but if you didn't get anything - you don't eat that night. Try it. You'll either get real skinny or sharpen your skills in a hurry. Put yourself in a Jeremiah Johnson movie for a few hunts. — Tucker Raifsnider (Facebook)

Continued below.

I don't hunt directly for the conservation side of it, but I do know I contribute to that. For me, I hunt for several reasons. But most of all, I like the challenge, spending quality time in the outdoors with friends, and washing away the residue of life, if even for just a short period. — Scott Harris (Facebook)

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I hunt for food and the fact that I can get out and get away from all the troubles of the real world. — Zach Rictor (Facebook)

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When I was young our family didn't have a lot of money so come deer season, like my brothers before me, I also wanted to know that I could go out on my own alone in the woods and be skillful enough to stalk a deer, take it in one shot, field dress it and bring it home. To me it was just a natural aspect of self sustainment. — John Smith (Facebook)

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This is the wrong question. Why don't you hunt? I hunt because I recognize and feed my primal urges. Because it's how I was raised. Because hunting brings my family the most healthy meat on the planet. Because it's the right thing to do. If you don't hunt, you have no excuses. — Tyler White (Facebook)

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So Many Reasons!!

1. Spend time with friends and family.
2. Experience Nature at its most basic and awesome state.
3. Get "away" from day to day life - work, people, cell phones, technology, stress, anxiety.
4. Work hard and do my best to succeed in the field.
5. Relax.
6. Hopefully fill my freezer.
7. Teach others about hunting.
8. Continue family traditions.
9. Challenge myself.
10. Provide for those I need and want to.
11. It is a wonderful thing to do and be a part of.
12. Meet and socialize with others like me.
13. See the great outdoors.
14. New experiences and places to explore.
15. See the emotion involved for those I help, assist and am with.

— Sean Burke (Facebook)

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Because it helps make my life complete! — Michael Tubbs (Facebook)

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Hunting is a part of who I am. It has been passed down from generations throughout my family. It's not just a sport for us. It's a part of who we are. I was blessed to be able to grow up like that. From the morning chills in the air and the fog covering the mountains, to the sunrises many have never got to experience. It's the feeling of being connected with nature and the beauty around it. The joy and excitement a harvest brings when all your hard work pays off. And the work to come after your harvest when you're packing your game, cleaning it and cooking it. Every little detail counts and it's all a part of the reason I wouldn't live any other way. Hunting is my way of life and I would not change it for the world. #ThatIsWhyIHunt — @summerketchum (Instagram)

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For the love of life at it's purest form of man, animal, and all that nature is. — Timothy Turner (Facebook)

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You might as well be asking why do you breathe? — David Romero (Facebook)

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Because it is my RIGHT as an American citizen and the government can't match the quality of food they push off on us (the masses) forget the FDA they can't even do their job! All they are good for is call backs... wild game is 14 times more healthy for us then any bull**** beef they allow to be sold in stores... with all the chemicals and additives in our foods today you are most likely to get sick or worse it ends up being a factor in our early death. — James Arnholdt (Facebook)

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What is theBULLET?

A new series where we ask one simple question and roundup the best answers from goHUNT staff, INSIDER members, celebrities around the hunting world, and YOU the readers. 

Stay tuned for the next segment of theBULLET.