débucher

A hunting term describing when game, traditionally a stag or deer, breaks cover and comes out of the woods into the open (le cerf débuche à l'aube) — narrowly specialized vocabulary tied to French hunting tradition.

• Le cerf a débuché à l'orée du bois. — The stag broke cover at the edge of the woods.
• Les chasseurs attendent que le gibier débuche. — The hunters wait for the game to break cover.
• Au petit matin, plusieurs chevreuils ont débuché dans la clairière. — At dawn, several roe deer emerged from the woods into the clearing.

Don't confuse this narrow hunting term with its near-homophone déboucher (to unclog, uncork, or come out onto a street), which is the common, everyday verb learners actually need.

Often confused with déboucher.