If you caught my column in today’s Roanoke Times, you know that Virginia’s turkey hunters have set a new spring gobbler season record.

Smashed the record in fact.

Dave Simmons, pictured here with his sons (hunting partner Noah, also pictured below, and photo bomber Willie) contributed to the total with a final day bird, killed in Franklin County thanks to the calling of Dave’s best friend (and cousin) Travis Ferguson.

Bob Ellis with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries was kind enough to share the preliminary total for the season (you’ll have to read the column!) with me yesterday. The agency plans a full release today, and after I get it I’ll break down the numbers in more detail.

Turkey season can wear on hunters, what with the early mornings and lots of miles on the boots.

Those who stick it out can be rewarded.

Jim Forbes killed this nice gobbler a week ago, on the final Monday of the season. He was hunting national forest ground.

I am trying to get my hands on the final turkey tally but understand from DGIF that it might not be released until tomorrow. I would be shocked if the total doesn’t eclipse the previous record of 18,345 from 2002, given that hunters were already just about 1,000 birds shy of the mark early last week.

Congrats to Jim for contributing to the total!

I just got a note from W. Watson Martin, whose canoe got pinched from his backyard on Roanoke Ave., just upstream from the Memorial Bridge on the Roanoke River.

No, the kids weren’t in it!

Watson is ticked, and I don’t blame him. He’s offering a $200 reward for information that gets his boat back. Here’s his description:

“This Old Town Canoe was STOLEN on 5/16/13 from 1601 Roanoke Ave SW near Memorial Bridge along with two black and grey paddles. It’s missing the seat backs because they’re in my house; seats have notches to accommodate them. It also has a white, after-market drink holder screwed to the left of the rear cross bar. It’s a 2011 Guide 158. I live just upstream from Memorial Bridge and think the thief floated down to Wasena with it or took it upstream to Bridge Street in the Norwich neighborhood. Chain was cut. It’s under investigation. Contact me with any tips. Thanks! I hate a thief.”

Someone knows who stole this boat. If you have info, send it to me and I’ll forward to Watson.

Barry Arrington of Bedford sent in this shot from the recent Wheelin’ Sportsman hunt sponsored by the James River chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation.

The three hunters who scored were (left to right) Danny Balderson from Waynesboro, Tim Richey from Christiansburg and Chris Shelton from Richmond. Fifteen hunters participated in the hunt.

Wheelin’ Sportsmen provides people with disabilities the opportunity to participate in outdoors activities. Just as importantly, it helps friends and family learn about ways to help their loved ones get outdoors. Having participated as a volunteer in these events I can tell you that they are inspiring for EVERYONE involved.

Congrats to all the hunters, and thanks to the volunteers and generous landowners who allowed hunting for helping make this hunt, and those like it, happen!

Walt Hampton sent in this shot of his son, Wade, with a nice gobbler killed in late April. Here’s what Walt wrote:

“We watched this bird come 1,200 yards last Saturday, cross a creek and a woven wire fence before Wade killed him at 10 yards. When they’re ready to come, they come.”

I know this feeling.

I once killed a gobbler that had come about 400 yards across a field to where I was set up with my friend Carson Quarles. The bird took his sweet time and it’s a miracle my heart was able to take the hour-long wait for him to get within shotgun range.

Congrats to Wade and Walt for what had to be an amazing experience.

As I wrote about in my column in today’s Roanoke Times, Virginia’s hunters are on the cusp of setting a record for the spring gobbler season.

Among those doing their part were Carson and Norma Quarles of Roanoke, who killed their nice birds on family property in Botetourt County.

When I heard the tally through the weekend had already eclipsed last year’s total and was just about 1,000 birds from the record set in 2002 — sorry, but you’ll need to read the column to see the exact numbers — I admit I was a little surprised. Not that the kill is tracking above last year. It’s been tracking above all season. But the previous gap had been 16 percent, and I figured after the rainy and windy weather we’ve had lately that gap would have narrowed.

Thank goodness the DGIF was able to provide actual figures to keep me from putting my speculation in writing! I got out a couple mornings last week and it was slow. May get one or two more hunts in, than that’s it for me.

I hope you all are getting used to seeing my Outdoors page in the Sunday paper, on the back of the Ticker business section. That’s a recent change from its longtime home in the Friday Sports section and, honestly, a change I’m also still getting used to. Online at Roanoke.com, the feature still lives in the Sports section.

For this week’s feature I took a look at some  classic bass lures, including the Johnson’s Silver Minnow pictured here. You can read the story HERE.

I wouldn’t claim that my list is the definitive list, but I think it’s pretty solid.

Anyone care to disagree? What did I miss? What’s on the list that shouldn’t be.

In my column in today’s Roanoke Times — remember, my columns now run Fridays; my Outdoors page Sundays on the back of the Business (Sunday Ticker) section — I had a little fun with this new wave of zany fun runs, such as the Warrior Dash, Spartan Race and Muddy Buddy.

One of the newest is the Great Bull Run, which is supposed to capture the excitement of actual bull runs. Except the race organizers assure us the bulls aren’t aggressive. When a PR rep called to pitch me the story she made sure to mention that, to which I replied, “What fun is that?” Total silence. It was pretty funny.

Anyway, in the column I pitch some ideas for some races that might be exciting AND dangerous. I’d love to hear other suggestions — just make sure the suggestions meet our submission criteria. (Several of my ideas that didn’t make the column certainly WOULDN’T!)

Some of you already know that Wild Lifer Ralph Barton made an exception to his “no tournaments” rule and entered the Optimist Tournament over the weekend. He finished second in the striper category with this dandy, which tipped the scales at 17.58 pounds.

When I saw Ralph at the awards he said he had been catching some nice stripers while plugging after dark. “I was going to be fishing anyway so I figured I would go ahead and enter.”

The fatty (below) caught by Ralph’s girlfriend, Jan Wilson, didn’t meet the 37-inch tourney minimum, but sure was a nice fish, too!

My column in today’s Roanoke Times noted a few of the changes going on with the tourney, including the folks from the Challenger Little League Baseball group getting involved.

Sid Witt and the others at CLLB are interested in moving this event forward. They’ve already made some improvements to the event, which hasn’t changed a whole lot in its execution and production since its early days starting 45 years ago.

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