After dedicating months of work and strategy to a once in a lifetime buck, Jason’s persistence capped off a four-year run of trophy-class Kentucky whitetails.
Jason Taylor’s 2025 deer season hadn’t been a walk in the woods by any means. It was a full-blown campaign built around one specific buck.
“I built my entire season around him,” Taylor says. “Every food plot, every screen, the new sets, access routes; all of it was so that I could pursue one particular deer.”
The Long Game
In 2024, this same deer was on his radar as a 16-point grossing around 150 inches. “He was on the no-shoot list last year,” Jason explains. “I wasn’t for sure exactly what he would grow into this year, only that he was something special.”
Most hunters would have happily ended that buck’s story in a split second. Not Jason and his wife, Holly, and that’s what makes them different.
In fact, this buck was the only shooter Holly saw all year. “Thank you for not shooting him!” Jason laughs. Thanks to Holly, this buck was able to meet its full potential.
When this year kicked off, this buck was at the top of Jason’s hit list. But as anyone who’s hunted a mature buck knows, obsession doesn’t guarantee success.
Despite his preseason confidence, this buck quickly gained his respect. “I thought I had him dead to rights in the first two weeks,” he says. “Based on his patterns from previous years, I was sure I’d cross paths with him early. But you can never assume you have the upper hand because if you do, these critters will humble you in an instant.”
“September was brutal,” Jason recalls. “I only saw deer from the stand once that entire month. Chasing these giants doesn’t always mean hunting where the majority of deer can be seen and, often times, in some of the thickest cover or under the most questionable conditions.”
Jason’s trail cameras confirmed the buck’s sporadic behavior. Inconsistent movement in location and times, along with sporadic disappearing events left him scratching his head, but waiting patiently.
Then, while Jason was in Wyoming on a bird hunting trip, the buck made his first mistake. “He daylighted in a brand-new spot on the farm,” Jason says. “Not only that, but the access and wind for that setup were absolutely perfect. I knew right then I had to get home and make my move.”
Without hesitation, Jason drove straight through the night back to Kentucky so he could head to the stand hours before daylight.
“I got in super early,” he says. “I wasn’t taking any chances. My plan was to catch him cutting through a clover and chicory plot on his way back to bed.”
When daylight started to break, the plan looked like it might fall apart. “He came into the plot before daylight,” Jason says. “Then he disappeared just before shooting light. My heart absolutely sank.”
Jason’s hunt wasn’t over yet.
By an act of God, the buck came back just after daylight and hung out on the edge working a scrape and munching chicory. Jason ranged him at 34 yards, drew and let the arrow fly.
“The arrow definitely found its mark,” he says. “He ran maybe 35, 40 yards and fell. Then he got back up, stumbled, and laid down again. Within seconds, he tipped over. I just sat there in disbelief.”
Jason walked up to the buck and couldn’t believe what he saw.
After years of patiently waiting for this buck to live up to its potential, the story was over. The deer was everything Jason had hoped for, and more.
After three rounds of scoring, the buck measured out at 201-3/8 inches of antler, per BTR. Twenty-eight points,” he says. “An absolute beast of a body, too. Easily my best Kentucky deer ever.”
Jason’s 3-year Whitetail Run
For anyone following Jason’s hunting journey, him dropping a trophy buck is nothing new.
Since 2022, he’s tagged SIX giants over 150 inches. And four of those were over 170-inches!
Let’s walk you through each of them.
2022:163-inch buck
In October of 2022, Jason Taylor’s long pursuit came to an end with a 163-inch Kentucky giant he’d known since it was a young buck.
He’d passed multiple younger bucks, including a pair that pushed 150 inches, waiting for the right one. All of the hours spent scouting, running cameras, and conducting extensive habitat management has yielded some great results.
“I’ve watched him grow into something magnificent,” he said. “Truly blessed.”
2023: 172-inch buck
Jason Taylor’s 2023 season started off by chasing one of the most meaningful deer of his life, a velvet 12-point he watched grow for years.
He’d followed the buck since 2020 as a 3-year-old and passed him in 2022 as a 150-inch 11-point, knowing he had more potential. A year later, that gamble paid off. The buck grew into a perfectly matched 172-inch 12-point with heavy beams and flawless velvet.
Almost entirely nocturnal, the deer rarely slipped up in daylight, but the right conditions brought him out one September morning. Taylor was ready. With a perfect shot from his bow, years of work — from food plots to mineral sites — came full circle.
“Definitely one of my favorite bucks of all time,” he said. “There are some deer that just mean more than others. This is one of those deer.”
2024: “Amigo” 156-inch buck
His first buck of the 2024 season, nicknamed “Amigo,” was a massive velvet 8-pointer taken in early September after several years of close encounters. Jason Taylor used cameras to prove that Amigo had abandoned his evening daylight feeding sessions and switched to mornings.
Using wind and cover, Taylor was able to sneak into a shooting house overlooking a food plot well before dawn. The 156-inch buck’s story ended with a 41-yard heart shot that was the culmination of five years of careful management.
2024: 183-inch buck
Next, Jason shot a 183-inch buck during archery season, but property rules forced him to wait until the next day to recover it. By then, unfortunately the coyotes had already torn the deer apart. An absolute heartbreaker, but an extremely impressive buck nonetheless. Even with a few broken antlers, this buck still scored big!
2024: 174-inch buck
As the 2024 season was winding down, Jason participated in a quota hunt on an extremely coveted piece of public land in Kentucky.
He checked in at 4 a.m., packed in deep with his climbing stand, and setup on a spot that he was keen on based on extensive e-scouting. When daylight came, he quickly realized his research paid off.
“I watched a line of does and young bucks work through the terrain, and a couple hours later a good buck appeared,” Jason recalls. “I raised my binoculars and could see he was a good 10-point with stickers. I switched to the scope and waited.”
When a nearby doe coaxed the buck into the open, Jason made the 90-yard shot. The deer, a 17-point with incredible symmetry and multiple splits, later scored 174 ⅞ inches despite three broken tines.
A Streak for the Ages
Now, with his 201-3/8 inch giant on the ground, Jason Taylor has put together one of the most remarkable four-year runs in Kentucky hunting history.
From tagging SIX 150+ inch bucks in the past 4 years, including 2 of the biggest bucks of 2024, Jason Taylor has shown that consistency and patience still produces results in the Kentucky deer woods.
Definitely give Jason’s page a follow, I have no doubt you’ll see him tag another trophy in the near future.
