Morality of ethical hunting

Raising slowly from his tree stand 18 feet above the ground, McKinley Stonewall draws back his bow, takes a deep breath and fires.

Stonewall, 26, is an avid outdoorsman and has a unique passion for animals.

“I love being outside and working with animals,” Stonewall said. “I love seeing [them] grow and just knowing everything I do has an affect on the health of the animal. It’s easy to work hard knowing that the animals are going to benefit from it.”

Stonewall is a farm tech and research assistant at Kentucky State University’s Harold R. Benson Research and Demonstration Farm, where he works closely with the farm’s goats.

“Every goat on the farm we help raise from birth, and the first year of their life we have a lot of interaction with them,” Stonewall said.

Raising goats since birth has allowed him to develop a unique bond with the animals, making farm life all the more meaningful. One goat in particular, Little Bill, is “the most spoiled goat on the farm” and has a special relationship with Stonewall.

“My first year [at Kentucky State] I came in during kidding season and [Little Bill] had got stuck in between the barn door and his mom rejected him, so I ended up raising him from birth,” Stonewall said. “He came home with me every night and followed me around the farm during the day. I put diapers on him and everything.”

His attachment to the goats makes it difficult when it’s time for these animals to leave the farm for the butcher. 

“[It’s] a sad moment… when we do make that trip it’s never easy,” Stonewall said.

His connection to animals ranges further than just the ones he works with. Stonewall is an ardent hunter and grew up around the sport.

“When I was young it was something that brought people together,” Stonewall said. “We’d get together with family or friends and go out… It was a very social experience.”

His relationship with and passion for animals causes him to take an ethical approach to hunting, from practicing with equipment to making clean shots.

“I never wanna see an animal suffer… If I see a doe with fawns, I won’t take them. I always wanna take an animal that is older and at least had a good life,” Stonewall said.

Stonewall believes in ‘fair chase’ hunting, which, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife is, “the ethical, sportsmanlike, lawful pursuit and taking of any free-ranging wild animal in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper or unfair advantage over such game animals.” 

For this reason, he uses a bow to dispatch deer, and hunts to eat rather than for sport.

“If I won’t eat it, I won’t hunt it…” Stonewall said. “I’m not a trophy hunter, I’m a grocery hunter.”