Sunday morning was a calm but very foggy morning here in Northeast Oklahoma. I was sitting in my stand on the edge of an overgrown field at the base of a thick hillside. I have my stand positioned on the backside edge of a pond that' s just a few yards inside the treeline off of the field. At about 7:45 I decided I' d try a little rattling sequence. With the fog still thick and visibility only about 50 yards or so I thought that it made for the prime situation. About a half hour to 45 minutes after I rattled I heard what sounded like a deer moving on the other side of the pond about 40 yards or so away. I stand up and give a couple of grunts on the grunt call. After a minute or so of silence I see the deer come up over the pond dam and begin to move around to my side. He' s a monster, the buck of a lifetime!! He' s out of my range but he' s coming to me and I' ve got a scent canister setting about 15 yards in front of my stand that he' s on track to walk right in to. At this point buck fever gets me. I' m in a small tree because there aren' t any large trees to choose from in the area. I feel like the whole tree is shaking as I struggle to keep it together. The wind is fairly calm and I' m afraid that he' s gonna look up and spot the tree moving and take off. After an agonizing 3 or 4 minutes he' s within 30 yards of and coming straight into my wheele house. I can' t shoot until he moves into my shooting lane because of the thickness of the brush. He' s now coming in like he' s on a string and I' m shaking my butt off with buck fever. At 18 yards, that' s right 18 yards out and one step out of my shooting lane he stops!! He' s about 10 yards downwind of the scent bomb. He sticks his head up and starts smelling around. He' s acting nervous like he knows something' s not right. He' s froze up and not moving and I' m about to loose it. I could take the shot but there' s alot of brush between the vitals and me or I can wait. I choose to wait even though this is the buck of a lifetime and I may never get this chance again. Suddenly he turns and sleeks back up the hill about 30 yards and then stops gives a quick glance back and then disapears into the thick cover. I know he never saw me or heard me and I' m pretty sure he didn' t smell me so I can' t figure out what went wrong. The only thing I can think of is that maybe the scent (Knight and Hale doe urine not estrus) got him nervous but I don' t know. I had plenty of time to look at this bruiser and all at close range. He' s no doubt a huge mainframe 10 point and he' s got numerous other stickers and kickers coming off everywhere. He' s very heavy beamed and and wide, he' s got it all. His body is huge in comparison to other deer in the area. I' m glad I passed on the shot, I know it was the right decision, but at the same time I' m sick that he didn' t present a good shot to me. I' m hopeful that I' ll get another chance. After all, it only takes one.