www.roanoke.com

Brent Griffith started hunting turkeys last spring. He had some success calling gobblers close but could never quite finish the job. That changed on Tuesday morning during a hunt in Bedford County.

Griffith was working a gobbler when a hen showed up in front of him. Griffith just shut up and waited. Fifteen minutes later this big boy came in silently from behind him, and Griffith was able to drop the hammer on his first gobbler.

The bird had two beards -- both just under 10 inches. One spur was 1.25 inches and the other just a little less than that. Its weight was more than 20 pounds.

Pretty nice way to start a turkey hunting career!

Tammy Horn sent in these shots of some hunters who had some good success in mid-April in Franklin County.

On April 18, Damon Perdue (left) and Frankie David scored on this great double while hunting near Union Hall. As the gobblers came in to their calls, Frankie got the first shot. The other bird moved off but returned fairly quickly and Perdue was able to close the deal. Damon's turkey was a stout 24 pounds with a 9.25-inch beard, while Frankie's was 18 pounds with a 10.25-inch beard.

Frankie's son, Ryan, had killed his nice gobbler a day earlier. It had a 10-inch beard.

Andrew East of Roanoke sent in this shot of the nice bird he killed on national forest land in Botetourt County on April 22. The bird had a 9-inch beard and 1-inch spurs.

East set up on the bird at daylight and got it to gobble plenty, but couldn't get the bird to come in once it hit the ground.

So East pulled a veteran move and shut up, and here the gobbler came. The thing was, East isn't a veteran. This was his first turkey. How cool is that?

According to phone check-in numbers I got from biologist Gary Norman last week, this year's turkey kill phone-in numbers are actually outpacing last year's by about 13 percent. But you have to be careful about reading too much into that number.

For one thing, part of the increase could be from an increase in the percentage of hunters checking their birds by phone.

It could also be that some counties are way up while others are down. I continue to get reports from hunters who are not hearing much. But, clearly, the hunting is good some places.

Actually, some of the hunters from the Roanoke region who were complaining about a lack of action early on have said things are picking up for them. This last week of April can often be really good as hens start spending more time on their nests.

I may even have to try to get out for my first hunt of the season this week.

Yesterday was a long day, and today will be another long one. I'm not complaining.

I was at the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament at Smith Mountain Lake, on the boat with Kevin VanDam.

As some joker noted when the marshall/angler pairings were announced Wednesday afternoon, the pairing wasn't an accident. I requested to ride with VanDam so I could write a story, which ran today, about a guy that many think is the best tournament bass angler of all time.

VanDam had a pretty good day. He had 15-7 and is tied for 12th, and within striking distance of the lead. This was his best fish, a largemouth that was in the 4.5-pound neighborhood.

Today's pairing was random, and I'm set to go out with Mark Tyler.

Being on a boat and not fishing for eight hours can get pretty boring. But because these guys are doing a lot of sight-fishing for spawners, it can actually go pretty fast because that's interesting even for the guy in the back of the boat.

I have always thought that I could see fish pretty well but VanDam humbled me. The lake was pretty choppy yesterday but he was still spotting them. He said it was because I had crappy sunglasses -- unlike his Oakleys. (One of his big sponsors.)

I didn't say anything on the water, because observers can't aid anglers in any way, but I actually saw a couple decent fish he didn't see. 

VanDam seemed to think things could be really good today, with more fish coming shallow and wind laying down to allow for better visibility. We'll see.

A buddy just sent me an e-mail and said he'd been checking out this blog and was sorry to see I've been "slacking off" in the turkey department. Not much I can say except, "Guilty as charged."

I will get out there eventually. Maybe by then things will have picked up some. Hunters are still killing birds, but it seems to be pretty quiet. The above-mentioned buddy said this has been his toughest opening week-plus in 10 years.

One guy who has had some luck is James Campbell, pictured here with sons Brandon and Dylan. Campbell shot this turkey on April 18 in Bedford County. It weighed 20 pounds, 2 ounces, had a 10-inch beard and 1-inch spurs. Nice bird.yards.

Another reporter and I are working on a piece on off-roading, including how illegal "mud bogging" recently forced the U.S. Forest Service to close a road in the Patterson Creek area.

I know Patterson Creek is popular hunting area and I'm looking for a few hunters who may have been affected by the road closure. If you think you might be able to help me out, please call me 540-981-3395 or send me an e-mail at mark.taylor@roanoke.com. Thanks.

Kill numbers have been pretty modest on Virginia's youth spring gobbler day, but no one can blame Mya Gallo.

The bubbly 9-year-old  -- I've met her and I assure you "bubbly" is appropriate -- made it two springs in a row when she got this awesome gobbler on April 4 on the family's property in Giles County. The bird had a 10-inch beard and 1.25-inch spurs.

Mya was hunting with her younger brother, Cologero, and was under the guidance of her dad, Chuck, whose mother Janet Gallo was in town visiting and was eager to pose with her excited grandkids.

Due to a busy schedule with other things, the closest I've come to hunting this season is hearing reports from other hunters. I've gotten a few reports of good hunting the past few days, but it seems a little slower than normal. But I'm always cautious about assuming what I'm hearing or experiencing represents an actual trend.

I've contacted the DGIF's head turkey guru, Gary Norman, and requested updated telecheck numbers from the DGIF. I am eager to see how the numbers compare to last season's. Norman said he took vacation Thursday and Friday, hunting public land, and heard only one gobbler.

If you've got a current report or a hero shot from this spring, send it in.

Eleven-year-old Jimmy Washington of Salem traveled all the way to Virginia's Eastern Shore to hunt on youth day, and the trip was worth it.

Jimmy, who was with his father, Jim Washington, and family friend Bo Bohlander, killed this great tom just after 9 a.m. with a 15-yard shot from his youth model Remington 870. The bird weighed 21 pounds, 1 ounce, and had a 10-inch beard and 1-inch spurs.

Sonny Hodges' spring gobbler season got off to a good start when he killed this nice Franklin County bird at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

We all know the classic hunt is to have a big tom rattling off gobbles all the way in. Didn't happen here. Hodges said this bird gobbled only one time before it got within range of Hodges' Remington 870. The gobbler, which weighed 21 pounds and had 1-inch spurs and a 10-inch beard, had six hens with him.

I was out of town for the weekend so couldn't hunt. It was pretty windy in Virginia Beach so if it was anything like that here, it was probably a tough morning. I probably won't get out until next week.

Any reports or more shots? Send them my way.

Anyone who carefully examines data compiled for the Virginia Trophy Angler recognition program will notice inconsistencies.

For example, the smallmouth bass Angler of the Year had a 6-pound, 8-ounce fish. Yet in the general listings there’s a 7-pound, 2-ounce smallmouth listed. What’s up with that.

And what about the year’s largest yellow perch, which is an ounce heavier than the existing state record? Why isn’t it a new state record?

Same goes for that 15-pound brown trout, another fish that exceeds the state record.

Then there are those confusing length measurements, some of which clearly don’t collate to the fish’s weight.

The inconsistencies stem from the basic structure of the program, for which the application process is, shall we say, flexible.

An angler can take a trophy fish to a tackle shop or other location with a certified scale, and have an objective witness verify the weight and measurements. But an angler also can print off an application from the Internet, have a buddy sign as a witness and also be awarded a citation.

Having to process more than 6,000 of those applications per year, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries simply can’t verify inconsistent or confusing information. As long as the $4 fee is included with the application, the catch will go in the database.

But there are certain standards.

That weight of that 7-pound, 2-ounce smallmouth bass may very well be accurate. But it wasn’t a certified weight, so the fisherman isn’t eligble for an Angler of the Year award.

The yellow perch weight apparently was certified — although the fish’s listed length of 14 inches is strangely short. But angler Spencer Musick of Speedwell, whom I could not reach for comment regarding the catch, didn’t pursue the necessary steps to apply for a state record, a process that requires, among other things, that a Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist personally verify the fish. Does that mean Musick simply didn't realize the fish was a state record? (And that has happened.) Or was that weight not accurate? (And that has happened, too.)

The answer is simpler for Will Helmick’s 15-pound brown trout.

The fish, like 126 other trout Helmick has registered for citation awards over the past three years, came from a fee fishery. And while the DGIF will happily send an angler a certificate for a big fish caught at a commercial operation, those fish are not eligible for record consideration.

What it comes down to is that while the awards go on a public list, a citation is really just a piece of paper. The true measure of the trophy is something the angler knows best.