Last night I went to bed praying for your safe return home but woke to the unfortunate news of your passing.  It’s with a heavy heart that I share the passing of my hunting buddy, Josh Bias.  Josh was a big buck killer who honed his skills in the bow-only counties of southern West Virginia.  Josh was also an accomplished outdoor writer and if you’ve picked up a copy of North American Whitetail Magazine in recent years, chances are, you’ve read some of his Breaking News Bucks stories.

Josh and I first met by chance after a morning hunt during the rut. I had been hunting up high on a small, rugged point that required me to access from the bottom in a drain with no logging roads or natural flats.  It was a long, steep walk but there were some great deer in the area I had high hopes for the morning hunting and planned to stay here for the majority of my Rutcation.

After an uneventful hunt, I slowly worked my way down the mountain, but to my surprise, there was another hunter on the only trail that I could take to get off the mountain.  I couldn’t go around him, I had to go under him to get back to my ATV.  So, I picked up my grunt call to let him know I was there and he flagged me down the hill towards his direction.  As I eased down the hill, a small buck ran off the point with an arrow in its side and both of us watched as the buck bedded down about 40 yards below the unknown hunter’s treestand that I was approaching.

Josh, an avid outdoorsman and animal lover (yes, you can be both) climbed out of this treestand and turned his attention to the wounded buck.  He knew what had to be done, the wounded buck needed to be put down because it was suffering from a poorly placed shot from another hunter.  Josh nocked an arrow as we began to finish the job that another hunter had started.  I even videoed the well-placed arrow finding its mark as the buck expired shortly thereafter.  This chance encounter between two strangers quickly turned into a memory that we would talk about for years to come.  The county that we were hunting was a one-buck limit county, so he was giving up his entire hunting season to help put this young buck out of pain, but he did it without question because it was the right thing to do.

After a quick congratulations and apologies for ruining each other’s hunt, Josh introduced himself and began to tell me that he grew up hunting the area and had found success hunting down low rather than up high in this area as hunting pressure was always higher towards the top.  This would be one of the many hunting lessons that I would learn from Josh.  I later pulled out of my spot but was nice to see photos from the area through Josh’s trail camera pictures that he would often share and he was right!  The bucks were down low during hunting season, not up high.

We exchanged information and I left to hunt another spot while Josh began to look for the hunter that had wounded the buck.  Thankfully, Josh was able to locate the hunter and return the buck to its rightful owner.  In a nutshell, this was Josh.  Someone that would go out of their way to help others find happiness while doing the right thing in the process.  Josh had a big heart, especially for animals.  His dog Saddie accompanied him nearly everywhere he went and if you had a dog, he’d treat it just the same.

Josh and I would spend countless hours over the next 12 or 13 years talking big-buck strategies, sharing trail camera photos, and whatever life had thrown our way.  He was the type of friend that you might not hear from for six months, but when the phone rang, you picked up right where you left off.  His passion for fantasy football also rubbed off on me as we competed against one another in various fantasy football leagues through the years.  In fact, I changed my team name to “Just Here to Beat Josh” so that he would have to see it each time we played one another, oftentimes we’d meet in the playoffs!

As for hunting, he was one of the best hunters that I’ve ever known.  His impact within the hunting community far exceeds what he ever knew.  He lived and breathed big bucks and helped others find success along the way.  He always found a way to find the biggest bucks in the area and he wasn’t shy to share his Spartan Camera photos of them as well.  Where many hunters hide their big buck photos, Josh shared his with the world and brought you along on the hunt with him.

In fact, he killed his largest buck on FaceBook live!  I’ll never forget that hunt as we tuned to watch a late-season hunt for Paparazzi!  Josh videoed a smaller buck coming down the hill, narrating the hunt through his phone and then Paparazzi caught him by surprise.  Josh didn’t have time to turn his phone off, instead, he just put it in his pocket, grabbed his bow, and let the arrow fly and he brought all of his friends along for the hunt.  This buck was special to Josh as he had watched him for several years slowly progress into the Booner that he became.  I can recall this buck as a 2 or 3-year-old and thinking that it was just another “nice” buck but Josh saw the potential in the buck that others couldn’t see.  Little did we know, Paparazzi would blow up to a near-perfect typical Booner!

That wouldn’t be the only big buck of Josh’s hunting career as he put in more work than most will ever know.  Josh taught me a lot along the way, such as how to dive deep into topography maps and how to make the best mock scrapes.  He would spend hours breaking down a topo map to learn every little detail, not only for himself but for total strangers as well.  Josh introduced me to a few hunting-related products that improved my hunting success, such as Elimishield Hunt, Ozonics, and RAW Frozen Scents.  Each of these items is a staple in my hunting arsenal until this day and if it weren’t for Josh, I probably wouldn’t have used them. Who knows, maybe without Josh I wouldn’t be the owner of HuntingGearDeals.com.

Josh channeled his love for the outdoors in many different ways until he found a home with North American Whitetail Magazine.  Josh looked up to Gordon Whittington and Bobby Worthington, soaking up every bit of knowledge that they had to offer, and eventually, Gordon offered Josh an opportunity to write for NAW.  You’ll find a link to all of Josh’s published articles that I could find below.

As great of a hunter as Josh was, he was an even better person.  He touched the lives of many people through the years and our community rallied together during the last week since he’d gone missing.  It wasn’t the outcome that we prayed for but now we channel the same energy into doing something positive in Josh’s memory.  As we mourn the loss of a friend, we hold onto the memories that we want to carry with us for a lifetime.  I pray for comfort for his family as they grieve the loss.

Josh and I shared a passion for the outdoors that brought us together and if you’re reading this, chances are you have someone in your life that reminds you of Josh.  If so, reach out and tell them you love them and appreciate them.  You never know what tomorrow holds.  Find the time to share a hunt together this season as well, as it very well could be your last opportunity.