EAGLE RIVER – Anyone who enjoys hunting or fishing has at one time dreamed of getting paid to work in the outdoors. Landing such a dream job is exactly what Oxford native Brach Pulver was able to do, as he has worked the past four years as a videographer, editor, producer and cameraman for Joe Bucher Television Productions.
Pulver spent much of his free time chasing whitetail deer with the bow or gun, while growing up in rural Oxford in Marquette County. One of his favorite things to do when he wasn’t hunting was to watch hunting and fishing shows with his father Al. Now he is responsible for producing one of the many television shows that are popular with sportsmen.
“I lived on hunting and fishing videos. My dad and I were watching them when “Realtree (Outdoors)” got started,” Pulver said. “Anything that has to do with whitetails and hunting is for me.”
Pulver’s current job with Joe Bucher Television Productions, which produces “Fishing with Joe Bucher” and “Hunting with Joe Bucher,” has him doing just about everything. Pulver shoots almost all of the video for both the fishing and hunting shows, but also edits the footage. He also is responsible for putting together commercial spots for the show. Pulver also occasionally gets to put down the camera and grab the bow or gun to try his luck at bagging a buck or longbeard in front of the camera.
Pulver’s road to his current dream job took some unusual turns. He spent time in college at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and at Madison Area Technical College, but wasn’t studying television at the time. His big break came when he got the opportunity to fill in as substitute cameraman on a trip Bucher was taking to hunt whitetails in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
“Joe had a full time cameraman in place already and he needed a guy to just fill in on a UP hunting trip,” Pulver said. “I went on the trip, and he scored on a big 10-point, and he liked the footage. It just kind of progressed from there.”
After going with Bucher on the trip to the UP, Pulver took a short course to learn more about working a camera. From there, he admits he picked up all the other skills from on-the-job training. Now that he has honed his camera skills, Pulver says he takes a lot of pride in being able to get great footage on a deer hunt, comparing it to bagging a buck with the bow or gun.
“Every time I am shooting something with a camera, it is almost as good as shooting it with a bow or gun,” Pulver said. “If I don’t make a shot with the video camera, we don’t have a show.”
Pulver is spending his summer for the most part shooting fishing shows, but also goes along on turkey hunting trips in the spring and whitetail hunts in the fall. The television show also goes on occasional bear hunts and is preparing for a September archery elk hunt in New Mexico. While Pulver enjoys working on all aspects of the show and chasing fish and turkeys in the summer and spring, there is no doubt that he is truly at home when perched high up in a tree in search for big bucks in the fall.
“Once whitetails come around, I am in my element. Either in velvet in August, or all the way through the end of deer season,” Pulver said.
On Nov. 3, Pulver got the opportunity to bag his first Pope and Young buck with the bow and arrow while with Bucher on a hunt in Buffalo County. When the hunt started, Pulver was working as a cameraman, but also brought his bow along. When the two of them settled into their stand, a 135-inch 10-pointer eventually approached their setup. Bucher wanted to holdout for a bigger buck, but Pulver was more than happy to hand the camera over to his partner so he could take a shot at harvesting his first ever record-book buck. Pulver did just that and Bucher got it all on film. The hunt will be featured on one of the episodes later this year.
Another highlight during Pulver’s past four years working for Bucher came on the opening day of the 2003 whitetail archery season, when his father Al came up from his home in Oxford to join him for a hunt on public land near Eagle River. Brach had some nice bucks patterned while watching them all summer and was able to get video of his dad connecting on a buck in full velvet. The footage was featured on one of the “Hunting with Joe Bucher” shows last year.
“I kind of had the bucks pegged through the summer time,” Brach said. “It was all public land, which made it even more special.”
Pulver is a 1997 graduate of Westfield High School. His parents Al and Brenda still live in Oxford. Pulver currently lives in Eagle River with his wife Cheryl and 1-year old son Braden.