As he moved the long black barrel of his .22 caliber Henry lever action rifle into position, he couldn't help but notice as the light reflected off the wooden stock. So shiny: David thought.
David always had a passion for guns but not for their looks, no, David loved guns for a much more sinister reason.
Guns are and have been for the last few centuries been the cornerstone of war, "beautiful war" he thought.
A twig breaking across the field cracked and split the deafening silence as a large white tail buck rose out of the thicket. This brought David back to his senses and he held his position, he did not need to hear the twig break nor see the buck stand up because he had his eye on his prey for several minutes prior.
David brought the rifle to his chest and looked down the sights of the barrel. As he did so, the buck turned its head in his direction but did not more. "A deer caught in headlights," David thought, amused.
He squeezed the trigger as he took perfect aim at the animals heart.
The deer that had looked him in the eyes from a football field away had hit the ground before his finger had subsided from the grip of the weapon.
David felt a rush of excitement, he had been waiting for the moment he got his first kill for this whole year. David had only aquired his hunting license and tags for a deer a month prior.
As he approached the animal's corpse and seen it laying there on the cold hard ground his sense of accomplishment and happiness left him.
In that moment it hit him that this animal deserved to live as much as he did and david put himself in the deers "shoes" for a moment and seen through this young buck's eyes in its last moments. For an instant in Davids mind he was looking at himself a football field away holding a gun and he was paralized just like the poor deer laying sprawled out in front of him.
The pain of taking anothers life had taken effect and David the hunter was no more.
