Todd Gast married for love, but the dowry was also pretty sweet.
"My wife likes to say that the first words out of my mouth when we met were ‘How many acres does your dad have?'" Todd smiles. "I guess I did say that. But she already had her hunter safety card at that point."
That's another way of saying deer hunters think alike. Or maybe it's a thing between Kansans.
Todd is originally from Topeka, his wife from the outskirts of nearby Manhattan. They now live in Higginsville, Mo., though they return often to Pottawatomie County to visit her parents and to hunt.
Thanksgiving is one of those times.
Todd, a lineman, routinely burns a week's vacation between Thanksgiving and the traditional opening of the Sunflower State's rifle season. He stays with his in-laws and bowhunts the family land.
In 2014, his family left the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and he remained to hunt. On Monday morning, Dec. 1, he climbed into a ladder stand overlooking a 100-yard-wide strip of timber bordered by crop fields and pastureland.
About 45 minutes later, he saw a buck and some does on the far side of a fenceline about 40 yards to his north. The animals browsed at the fence for nearly 20 minutes before ducking back into the cedars from which they had emerged.
Eager to lure the buck back into the open, Todd used his call and grunted four or five times. When he got no response, he sat back down and re-hung his 21-year-old compound bow.
Moments later, the 15-pointer popped back out and jumped the fence.
Todd grunted to stop the animal before he took the 12-yard, broadside shot.
The buck's BTR composite score is 226 1/8 inches.