The Bite-Sized series of articles is meant to take the most powerful cards in Dominion and give a short explanation of what makes them powerful.
Bounty Hunter is strong because it’s extremely good to open with: it can Exile an Estate and make $3. Masquerade and Priest have similar upsides in the early game, and while Bounty Hunter can struggle to find many things to trash in the midgame, it can Exile Provinces in the endgame, making it valuable in ways that not many other “early game” cards are. On top of this, it is non-terminal, making it slightly better when it’s the only source of thinning.