Ron Green's hard work paid off when he finally stalked close enough to take this 183-inch buck mule deer in Arizona's Unit 5 near the northern-central part of the state. Photo courtesy of Ron Green.

Ron Green began his 2007 deer-hunting season with a bow in hand. The 34-year-old engineer from Mesa, Ariz., intended to put his tag on an elusive Coues white-tailed deer during the September archery season in Unit 5.

But by the time the archery season ended, he still hadn't tagged his wall-hanger whitetail.

Green wasn't completely discouraged. He and his dad, Larry, had also drawn permits for the late October to early November rifle season in Unit 5, where any antlered deer could be legally shot. "Things were looking good," he said.

Then, while he was scouting for mulies about three weeks before the rifle season, he saw signs posted by the Forest Service, saying they were about to start controlled burns in the area. "Of course, that concerned me a bit," Green said.

Just before the hunt, he went back to the same area where he had seen the Coues deer bucks. It didn't look good there either. Heavy smoke from nearby prescribed burns filled the air in the higher elevations. There was no fresh deer sign, and even the elk had moved out. "It was a like a ghost town," Green said.

The hunter had spent so much time scouting the area, he felt obligated to hunt it anyway on opening day.

"I have always believed it's important to trust your scouting," he said, adding that he might always wonder "What if?" if he felt he didn't give it at least one good day.

But that day came and went without seeing any signs of deer.

"Right then I decided to forgo my quest for a Coues buck and concentrate my efforts on the lower elevations where the mule deer live," said Green. "Having scouted and hunted the unit in previous years, I thought I knew where I could find some respectable bucks."

Green and his dad spent the first few days hunting a network of canyons. They saw plenty of hunters and heard several shots, but didn't find any shootable deer. After discussing their options, the Greens decided to try an area where they'd been successful in the past. It was public land, but for some reason, not many people hunted it. The men's decision made would later prove to be a good one.

THE BUCK
On Nov. 1, the younger Green watched four bucks for most of the morning, but never got close enough for a shot. That afternoon, he picked up a very nice shed antler from a four-point mule deer.

"When I found that antler, I knew there was at least one trophy buck living in the area," said Green.

Then just before dark, he glassed two good bucks. One, a heavy 2x3 that he had seen earlier in the morning, was about 500 yards away. The second buck was even farther.

Though it was too dark to see them well, both deer's antlers appeared to be better than average.

Hoping that the bigger buck would still be there, Green returned to the same area the next morning and found a good spot to set up his tripod-mounted 15X binoculars. Within minutes, he spotted two does and two fawns. Then as he watched, something caught the deer's attention and eventually caused them to run off.

"I didn't see any hunters in the area, but something made those deer nervous," Green said. "I decided to move so I could glass the area where they ran."

He moved down the hill toward the flatter country, set up his tripod under a lone ponderosa pine tree and started glassing. He had just about completed his first right-to-left sweep when he saw the buck, lying alongside a juniper tree with just his nose and one four-point antler showing.

"My heart began beating in double time," Green said. "Even at 500 yards or more, I could tell he was a dandy buck. He had heavy, deeply forked, dark antlers."

THE STALK
As he watched the buck lying in the open, apparently catching some warm rays from the sun, Green began planning his stalk.

The early-morning breeze was blowing downhill, which made a stalk from where he was almost impossible. Green waited for the sun to warm the hill behind him and for the wind to change direction. But with the sun shining right on the buck, the deer wouldn't stay put for long.

Minutes later, the wind shifted. Green knew he had to move quickly. He hurriedly glassed the area around and beyond the buck, to make sure no other deer were present that might spook it. Grabbing his rifle and rangefinder, Green started his stalk.