We were not very confident at the beginning, but we continued the search nevertheless," Mr Moheb, a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and wildlife ecologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, said as he described his mission.
He led a small team trying to find a trace of the deer in the north, in an area ostensibly at peace but with some security concerns.
"Eventually we found one, which was very exciting," he said.
It was hoof marks and faecal pellets that led Moheb and his team to believe that the Bactrian deer could still exist.
"Finding field evidence gave us hope that the species still existed in the area," said Mr Moheb, who came across the young female deer in the Darqad district, along the border with Tajikistan.