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My occasional rabbit hunting buddy Marshall Meadows is also an avid spring turkey hunter, and he recently had a good hunt in Franklin County. This gobbler had a beard that was just under 10 inches, while the bird weighed 19 3/4 pounds.

The turkey season is winding down, and I'm not hearing much from people. That's not unsusual as hunting pressure really drops off by this time of the season.

There are still some birds out there, but we also all know that many of the easy ones have been tagged by this point. Hunters who score this late in the season usually earn their gobbler.

I've got a few more turkey shots in the hopper here and will try to catch up on getting things posted over the next couple of days.

Tammy Horn was hunting with her fiance', Damon Perdue, when she killed this great gobbler on April 17.

They were set up over some decoys when the bird started coming in like he was "on a string," according to Horn. She turned toward the direction but realized she wouldn't be able to get around far enough to make the shot right handed. This is a situation that has helped a lot of turkeys live. But not this one. Horn switched hands with her Mossberg 20 gauge and shot the bird left handed. That's a move we all need to work on.

The bird had a 10-inch beard and weighed about 20 pounds.

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.

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.

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.

While many of us have been eagerly waiting for the April 11 opening of Virginia's spring gobbler season, a few fanatics have gotten the jump on us by traveling south to states with earlier openers.

Carson Quarles of Roanoke has been making an annual trip to White Oak Plantation in Alabama for a while, and these two awesome birds give you a pretty good idea why he keeps going back. Awesome hunting.

Quarles shot these gobblers -- both estimated to be 3 or 4 years old -- on the first two days of his hunt in March.