Jordan Taylor has hunted the same 100-acre lease in Northeast Florida with his stepfather for four years, and he knows better than to rush it. On the morning of September 20, that patience paid off with one of the biggest bucks anyone on the property has seen.
A Careful Approach
Taylor, a 35-year-old electrician from Jacksonville, avoids using a flashlight when he slips onto the property before dawn, since he says the local deer spook easily. He climbed about 14 feet up a cypress tree overlooking a trail deer commonly use, and waited.
He saw a young spike and an 8-point buck early in the sit. Close to an hour later, he heard a deer blowing in the distance. The wind was in his favor, so he used a short grunt call. A deer answered with a deep growl. About fifteen minutes after that, a heavy-antlered buck came down the same trail the spike had used earlier.
“I didn’t see the deer more than five seconds from the time I spotted him until I shot him,” Taylor told Outdoor Life.
The Shot
At 14 yards, Taylor released an arrow. The buck ran less than 30 yards before going down.
A Buck Florida Hunters Rarely See
Once he reached the animal, the size of it was obvious. The rack is heavy-beamed and dark-colored, with 17 total points, 14 of them considered scorable. Taylor estimates the deer at roughly 4½ years old and 160 pounds; the antlers haven’t been officially scored yet.
Florida’s palmetto scrub habitat doesn’t typically produce deer this large or this old. Taylor, who has also hunted in Alabama and Kansas, said a buck of this quality is unusual even by those standards. “Taking a buck like this one is special,” he said.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old was the buck? Taylor estimates about 4½ years old, based on the animal’s build and antler mass. It hasn’t been aged by a wildlife official or officially scored.
Where did this happen? On a 100-acre hunting lease in Northeast Florida that Taylor and his stepfather, George Sitgreaves, have held for four years.
Is a 17-point buck unusual in Florida? Yes, particularly one this mature. Florida’s habitat and hunting pressure make bucks of this size and age uncommon compared to some other states.
Sources: Outdoor Life (Jordan Taylor interview).
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