Buffalo County, WI Bow Buck named “Nosey”

The author of this Field Report is IDO Gold Member – Craig Daugherty (Craig D).

I just got back my 2009 Wi Bow Buck “Nosey” done by Kirk Peterson out of Arkansaw, Wisconsin. Now the Story! Where to begin, 1st of all, I would like to thank fellow iDoHunting Pro Staff Director – Brad Juaire for his all his work in the recovery of my buck – more on that later.

I took the week of Oct. 30 to Nov. 9th off anticipating a great hunt during the Wisconsin Whitetail Rut. I was hunting with fellow iDoHunting members Brad, Dean, Rob and Ricco. Everyone in our group was optimistic on the week ahead. I had a few encounters with a 115” buck during the Halloween evening, and the highlight was a bruiser name “Devil” buck. I had him at 10 yards on a spot called the “tire” stand next to a rock quarry. I opted to pass on him because he was not a shooter in my book, even though he was a mature 4 year old buck.

My next opportunity came on Friday Nov. 6th. After compiling numerous trail camera photos of bucks of at least 2.5 years of age and older, our group had narrowed 2 bucks into a category of shooters. One of those bucks was a buck name “V” buck. He bears a “V” symbol outlining on the front of his head. The second buck was deer name “Nosey”. Nosey got his name for his trail camera pictures of always hanging around a water hole and deceptively leading with his nose first sometimes even smelling the trail cameras. I had the opportunity to hunt a stand that Brad shot a huge buck out of the year prior named “Stallion”. My hunt started that Friday afternoon. I arrived to the stand at 1:00p.m., again, hopes were high because we knew these 2 bucks lived within a couple hundred yards of our stand placements. “V” buck and “Nosey” were on the hit list, and it’s the rut, so anything can happen. The weather that evening was windy; gusts were 25-30 mph. I sat patiently on stand trying to decipher between wind gusts and deer walking in the woods. About 2:30 p.m. I spotted some movement to the east; right away I knew it was a shooter. As this buck moved closer, it was clear it was “V” buck. I tried grunting at him, but the wind was so strong I could have pounded on a drum and he still probably couldn’t have heard me. “V” buck was now at 60 yards out in front of me on a lower trail working his way towards 2 adjoining trails. He came to a stop at the 2 trails intersection at 42 yards. I was at full draw; the wind was moving the tree too much for me to get a bead on him so I opted not to take a risky shot. Just like that “V” buck was gone. A guy waits all year for an opportunity like that and it’s over within a few seconds. I was thinking maybe that would be my only chance I would have to fill my tag. Later in the afternoon, I had a couple encounters with some does and small bucks, but that was it.

Saturday morning arrived at 4:00 a.m. I and fellow IDOhunting member, Ricco Guzman made a game plan to get into the woods extra early. We both made our way to our stands a good 1 ½ hours before shooting time to ensure we would minimize spooking deer while we walked to our stands. Ricco was going to sit in a stand close to a bedding area and I was back up on the “Stallion”stand where I had seen “V” buck the day before. At daylight, I had a few small does and a couple of young bucks walk by me. As I was sitting there, I noticed a hay bail blind downwards behind me on an adjacent property. I brought up my binos and could see 2 hunters inside the blind, which was only 150 yards away from me. I started to hear them mimic a rattling sequence. As I was watching them, I turned around to the alfalfa field in front of me only to see a buck making his way down the field edge about 150 yards downhill from me. I glassed the buck, and right away I knew it was “Nosey”! The wind was perfect and it was blowing up the hill right at me. Nosey was now out 125 yards. I got the grunt tube out and started to grunt softly. He didn’t react and kept walking right on the field edge. I needed to get him get his attention and make him come up hill to take a look; so I grunted louder. He finally stops and looks in my direction. I paused not to move a muscle, waiting for him to make his next move. After a brief moment, Nosey turned and was on his way up towards me but only to make a big circle and end up at the bottom of a logging trail about 100 yards away. I grunted again, he stopped again. It was now or never. I hit the call again, more aggressively and the call rolled over to a growl call. Nosey was now pawing the ground, licking his lips shaking his head. He then came in on a rope right towards me slowly making his way up the steep ridge. I grunted softly a couple times to keep him on course. Nosey was now at 35 yards and closing the distance. I drew the Mathews Bow back and waited until he was past 2 trees. I grunted with my mouth one more time and he stopped. I released the arrow and heard a loud smack! Upon impact he hit the ground hard! I then noticed I hit him high in the back, quartering down the opposite shoulder. He laid there for a few seconds and then he was up, crashing into one tree, then another. I could see blood all over the place and felt that it was a killing shot. Nosey finally gathered himself and trotted away. As I watched through my binos I could see that my shot was a little higher than I had originally thought (I hit my arm as I released the arrow). I pulled out my watch, looked at the time and it was 7:56 a.m. As a bow hunter, you are taught to wait at least 30 minutes before tracking an animal so I sat in the stand shaking, trying to calm myself down. Those 30 minutes felt like 2 hours.

I finally got down from the stand at 8:30 a.m. and walked over to where I had just shot Nosey. I found part of my Beam ICS 400 arrow and only 8” was left, so the rest was still inside him. I followed the blood trail from the impact area towards down the hill. Nosey ended up crossing a fence line of a neighboring property. So at that time I backed out. After getting permission from the adjacent landowner, Ricco and I were back on the blood trail 3 hours later. We ended up tracking him for 500 yards and the blood trail was not very good (drop here and there). Eventually the blood trail went into a huge corn field. The landowner made it clear to us that he didn’t want anyone in the corn field because they were combining it that very same day and told us that they would watch out for it. The next day came and passed and they did not find him. We searched the area over the next few days and there was no sign of him. There were many sleepness nights as I replayed the hunt over and over again.

Brad continued to work diligently and communicated with the landowner trying to recover Nosey. Gun season finally approached and wouldn’t you know it – one of the landowner’s hunters finally found him! The landowner agreed to meet with me regarding the buck. I was optimistic and pessimistic at the same time. I didn’t know for sure if they were going to give up Nosey to me or not. I made the drive to Buffalo County to meet with the landowner and their hunters. I was a little nervous on what to do and what to say. I stood there in front of 8 hunters, along with the landowner, explaining each detail of the hunt that November morning. After talking for 20 minutes, the landowner walked over and handed the skull mount of Nosey over to me. I gasped a sigh of relief and thanked the landowner and the other hunters over and over for their understanding. Again, most of all, thank you Brad for having the drive never to give up! Nosey is now my personal best Bow Buck! And thank you to everyone else for your support and effort in bringing Nosey home.