About 150 yards in front of him, there was a single pine tree, and about another 150 yards beyond the pine, Green could see a nice wide, brushy juniper tree. If his estimate was correct, the buck was lying 200 to 250 yards past that juniper.

He planned to keep the juniper between the buck and himself. If he could get to the tree without spooking the deer, the range would be quite reasonable for both his shooting ability and his 7mm Remington Magnum.

But the stalk proved tougher than he figured. When he had walked that same area during archery season, the ground had been covered with thick grasses and a carpet of beautiful yellow flowers from summer rains.

But by the rifle season, all that lush growth had dried out. So every step he took made a crunching sound. Also, the taller stalks rubbed against the coarse fabric of his pants.

"As I slowly made my way toward the juniper tree, I stepped from rock to rock, trying to avoid making too much of a racket," he said.

That made the going really slow. It was taking him so long, he wanted to peek and make sure the buck was still there. But "I resisted that urge," Green said.

Eventually he reached the ponderosa pine about halfway to the juniper tree. From there, he had a clear view ahead of him and pretty much knew the deer hadn't left its bed.

"At that point, I felt more confident, even though I was getting a bit nervous at the idea of killing such a magnificent buck," said the hunter.

"He was the biggest buck I had ever stalked while I was actually hunting, and I knew putting my tag on him was doable, as long as I didn't screw up. I sure didn't want to tell my family and friends a tale about letting this great trophy get away."

As he began moving toward the juniper, he was doubly careful about where he stepped. And he almost blew it.

Green looked up and saw something move. When he raised his binoculars, his hands were shaking so badly that he "had a hard time holding them steady." Finally, he saw that the movement was his buck lying there, looking right at him with his neck stretched out!

"I had been concentrating so much on where I was walking that I wound up slightly off course and to the left of the line I meant to follow. I was now in the open, in plain sight."

Green figured the buck would jump up and run off at any second. But the animal stayed put as Green slowly worked back to the right to regain cover. Once Green was out of view again, he paused for a few seconds and watched both sides of the tree.

The buck was still there.

As Green painstakingly closed the distance for a shot, he became aware of another potential problem.

"The sun was still low over the horizon," he said. "So I was casting a long shadow to my left, and it was falling in an area where the buck could easily see it, especially when I was moving."

Although the hunter knew the deer was bedded in the same place, Green still had about 15 to 20 yards to go before reaching the cover of the juniper tree.

"By then, I was getting quite excited just thinking about this deer. So rather than waiting until I was safely tucked in behind the juniper, I began drifting left with hopes of getting a shot at the bedded buck from there."

Finally Green reached a spot where he could see the deer.

It was gone!

"I almost wanted to cry when I didn't see the buck," he said. Then he looked around again and saw him. The deer had started feeding near a distant treeline. Green pulled the rangefinder out of his pocket and aimed it at the deer. It read 360 yards.

Green had practiced shooting at that distance, but a shorter shot would have been closer to his comfort level. At the same time, he knew that getting closer would be tough now that the deer was up and about.

It was crunch time, thought.

"If I didn't take the shot then, I might never get another chance."

Green worked his way to the shaded area on the left side of the juniper, dropped to a prone position, adjusted his scope to the 9X setting and held the crosshairs just over the deer's back. When the buck turned to a 45-degree angle, quartering away, Green shot -- and missed high.