"Then he came around the front of the tree and put his head down toward my feet"

For a second, Hartley applauded his stealthy performance.

“I thought it was just going to walk past me and keep going,” Hartley said. “Then I heard him smelling me from behind.”

Moments later, the buck did more than sniff — it pushed its nose directly into the middle of Hartley’s back.

“I thought, ‘Hey, what’s going on here?'” Hartley said. “Then he came around the front of the tree and put his head down toward my feet.”