Bucher Tags Ten Pointer Opening Morning

All Captured On Camera For Episodes of Hunting With Joe Bucher

Some intense in-season scouting combined with a rather tricky approach to hanging a last minute treestand set up paid big dividends for Joe Bucher on the opening of Wisconsin's nine day gun season 2003. In just the past few weeks Bucher made a life long dream purchase of his own deer/turkey hunting property in the famed Buffalo County, Wisconsin; home to more bona fide Boone & Crockett whitetail bucks in the record books than any other place in the world. With very little time left to learn the property before the hunt, Bucher decided to "learn on the fly"; scouting while bow hunting from Halloween leading up to the gun opener on November 23rd. This in-season scouting approach had a double payback in more ways than one.

On Bucher's first scout/hunt trip on the new property, he spotted a major terrain funnel on the top of a 400 foot bluff ridge that included over 35 big rubs, a number of scrapes, and an isolated water hole. The combination of all these ingredients encouraged Bucher to immediately set up a treestand, and within a few hours he shot a huge 248 pound 10 point buck that scored near 150. But that wasn't the end of the season. There was still a gun hunt coming up.

In the next few weeks, he carefully checked out the rest of this big ridge top and found a major doe bedding area at the very end of the big bluff – right off the tip of it — positioned like a large isolated point. "The majority of the deer herd on this property seemed to live near this bluff point," claims Bucher. "They bedded on the top and the sides of this bluff and would dump down into a corn field below in the evening. Once I figured this out, the whole picture started to look much clearer."

Bucher figured his best line of attack during the gun season was to sneak in real early, climbing this steep 400 foot ridge, and then setting up right in the doe bedding area. His plan was to get set earlier and wait for the does to return from their night feed. "I was simply planning to sit right inside the major doe bedding area and wait for any bucks to travel thru here looking for a late estrus female. Since we were approaching the tail end of the rut, I figured the active bucks would likely be near here; especially after the guns started to fire. I didn't know how long I'd have to wait for a good buck to come by, but I packed a lot food, water and clothes in case the wait was a long one."

As it turned out, Joe wouldn't have to wait long at all. Shortly after daybreak various groups of does began to filter upwards and into the isolated bedding area on the remote ridge top. By 8:30 a.m. Bucher and cameraman Scott Knepprath had already seen over eighteen deer including several bucks. "One of these bucks was a real nice tall racked 8 pointer that I considered taking, but I'd shot so many like this recently on bow hunts that I decided to let it pass. What a nice deer this particular buck will be next season. As it turns out, I'm glad I passed on that eight pointer."

As Knepprath captured the action of the nearby feeding deer, Bucher continued to glass the surrounding area; carefully checking out each and every animal that foraged around the narrow ridge top perimeter. Bucher's nerves began to calm as he saw only does and smaller bucks in his view, when suddenly another deer started to make its way up a steep draw to the far west. As Joe peered thru his Nikon binocular, the form of a much larger deer took shape. "The size of the deer alone made me zero in on him. He was sizably larger than all the other deer already up on the ridgetop. As soon as I saw a rack, I knew I was in business".

The first time the big bodied deer stepped into a clearer view at about 80 yards, an impressive ten point rack with nearly perfect symmetry as well as thick overall mass was clearly obvious. "I excitedly whispered to Scott to swing the camera on this deer. When he gave me the signal that he had the deer on camera, I immediately prepared for the shot."
Bucher zeroed in his Remington Model 700AWR 7mmRemMag on the animal, and the Nikon Monarch scope revealed everything his eyes first saw. A perfect 10 pointer with excellent mass. A shot opportunity quickly arrived, the safety was clicked "off", a deep breath was exhaled, and the trigger was pulled. The bullet found its mark, and moments later, Bucher was standing over another beautiful buck.

The entire hunt was captured on the HWJB (Hunting With Joe Bucher) cameras and will be featured on an upcoming episode along with the 2003 video series Whopper Whitetails.