I'm searching for a short story about a military-type astronaut who hunts down a very sophisticated machine and can only defeat it by luring it into a trap where it tumbles into a large sand pit.
I really don't have much to go on. It was 45 years ago when I read the story, in a paperback probably, written at least ten years earlier because of what I remember about the technology in the story.
I've already searched through short stories by Bradbury, Heinlein, Clarke, Pohl, and Haldeman. I just can't remember enough about the battles and details of the pursuit just the way it ended.