Bill Tatro's 17-point muzzleloader buck now stands as the new state record in that category, with a net non-typical B&C score of 180 7/8. Photo courtesy of Bill Tatro.

Deer hunting can tough in the Northeast, especially in western Massachusetts. Winter habitat is almost non-existent. We have burgeoning coyote problems, and there are endless acres of posted private property.

Deer numbers are not exactly sky-high, according to Bill Woytek, the head deer biologist for MassWildlife. He said that the region has only 12 to 15 deer per square mile.

What we do have at this end of the state are good genetics and a larger proportion of older deer. This combination results in mature bucks with trophy-class racks.

They're difficult to hunt and hard to find, but they are out there -- and some experts have no trouble finding them.

One deer hunter willing to share some of his tricks is Bill Tatro of Dalton, Mass., who has a knack for shooting big bucks in the big woods of western Massachusetts.

How good is Bill Tatro? In 1995, he killed the Massachusetts state-record buck, a 177 7/8 monster. (His record was recently broken by a Cape Cod buck.) In 2006, he took the new Massachusetts muzzleloader record, a 190 1/8 (gross score) non-typical on Dec. 18. Six days later, he shot a 165-inch typical buck.

Not a bad week of deer hunting by anyone's standards!

Between 1995 and 2006, Tatro shot two bucks that gross-scored over 140, plus a big 8-pointer that weighed over 170 pounds.

STARTING STRATEGIES
Tatro likes to start the gun season with three to five places to hunt. He likes areas where he's seen signs of big bucks, usually tracks. He prefers places that he has hunted before -- either during the fall bow season or the previous year's gun season -- and especially where he has actually seen big bucks.

He'll also hunt areas he's just starting to learn about. Tatro starts scouting new places in August and September.

"Usually, I look for areas with a wide range of vegetation, especially areas that have hardwoods including oaks or beeches, and some swamps or beaver ponds. Big bucks love this type of terrain. There is plenty of cover and water for them around the beaver ponds and plenty of feed in the hardwoods.

"If there aren't any nuts," Tatro said, "then I look for other food sources such as cut corn or other farm crops. Those big bucks will feed in the corn at night, but they still travel back and forth from the big woods.

"In August or September, I'll scout a new area by first looking at a topographic map. I'll look for steep knobs, brook gullies, the back sides of beaver ponds and other areas that may naturally funnel deer," he continued.

"I'll go in and look for big tracks along the woods roads or on the edge of swamps, where the ground is soft. When I find a track, I check out its width, length, the length of stride and how wide apart the hooves are. Sometimes I have to follow the track a ways to discover all these things."

"I'm always confident that whenever I start out on a track, I will catch up with a big buck," Bill Tatro declared.

THE SEASON BEGINS
Once Tatro has several places in mind, his hunting season begins.

First up is bowhunting season.

Tatro usually hunts from tree stands during bow season. He sets these up at typical deer crossings like edge cover, or places where he has seen either big tracks or the deer that made them.

Sometimes it's better to get out of the tree, and Tatro doesn't hesitate to track or still-hunt if conditions are right. At this time, he begins to fine-tune his stand placement for the upcoming muzzleloader season.

When the muzzleloader season starts, Tatro reverts to "tracking mode," weather permitting.

There was little snow cover this past season, so he had to take more stands than usual.

Sometimes this can create problems.