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I was driving home from my final muzzleloader deer hunt of the 2008 season when my cell phone buzzed. It was my friend Alfie Hammerstrom.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Driving back from the woods," I said.

"Me, too," he said. "And I got a stinky five-pointer with me."

We both got to my place about the same time, and I snapped a few shots in the front yard.

Alfie killed the buck about 4 p.m. while hunting a small property in Roanoke County. Most five-pointers are yearlings, but this one sure looked like a 2-year-old. Not that it really matters. This was a nice deer -- especially when it comes with about an hour left in the season.

As I wrote about in my Roanoke Times column today, last week's rain was a boon to waterfowl hunters. After months of being low, Smith Mountain Lake is near full pond and that's pushing ducks into the shallows.

My friend Erich Faber (above) took advantage of the good conditions to bag these great mallards on Saturday morning. Read more »

Sorry I didn't file any reports from Indianapolis. Time was harder to come by than expected.

One reason was I spent a lot more time at the ATA show Friday than I expected. We headed over right at 9 a.m. I figured I'd get back to the motel by 2 p.m. or so, which would give me time to get my Roanoke Times column written and write a blog entry about the show.  No way. I stayed all day and still didn't come close to seeing everything.

I ended up not getting back to the motel until about 6 p.m., so I barely got my column done before I had to run out the door to meet my good friend and new Peterson's Bowhunting editor Christian Berg for dinner.

So, the show...

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In a couple hours I'll be in the air on my way to Indianapolis (by way of Detroit) for a couple days.

The primary reason for the trip is I'm a recent addition to the Outdoor Writers Association of America's board of directors and we have our annual winter meeting on Saturday.

For the past few years we've been trying to plan the meetings to coincide with outdoor industry events so we can put some effort into connecting with others in the business. Networking, really.

Before I was on the board, meetings were held in conjunction with the Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade show and the Outdoor Retailers show. Even though we were at the SHOT show recently, I wouldn't have minded if we'd done a quick return. After all, the show is in Orlando next week. And while I'm sure Indianapolis is nice, we're talking about Indianapolis in January. Which means cold. (Admittedly the forecast is for weather not unlike what we've been seeing around here lately.) I've also never been to the SHOT show, which I understand is pretty spectacular.

That said, I've never been to the ATA show, either. Being an avid bowhunter and archer, I don't think I'll have trouble finding stuff to interest me. I'll be there all day Friday and my plan is to come back with a story or two, of course. Maybe on new gear or trends. I'll just have to see. If I have time I'll file some live reports on the blog, too.

Any suggestions on things I should be on the lookout for? I know many of you guys are probably more on top of the archery and bowhunting world than I am.

Walt Hampton of Grayson County stuck out the late muzzleloader season till the end, and this is what can happen when you don't give up. He killed this great buck on the last day of the season.

Walt said he used a Savage M10 smokeless powder muzzleloader and made the kill at a range of 125 yards.

Dean Miller sent in this shot of his son, Ashley, with a white five-point buck that Ashley shot on New Year's morning.

Dean didn't tell me what county this was in but he lives in the Richmond area so I suspect this was shot around there.

Ian Branson shot his first bear on a Dec. 27 hunt in Alleghany County. The picture was submitted by his proud brother, Jonathan Branson.

The boar weighed 216 pounds and Ian dropped it at range of 65 yards.

Tim Craighead sent in this shot of his 8-year-old son, Cory, with a great bear Cory killed on New Year's Day. The bear weighed 177 pounds.

 Here's what Tim wrote about the hunt:

"Cory hunted almost every day of his Christmas vacation and walked many miles before he got his chance at his bear. I am extremely proud of the effort and dedication that he displayed while hunting with him and his sister Danielle. There were several mornings that I would have rather stayed in bed but they were always ready to go. I would like to say thanks to Tex, Stoney and Randy Mcpherson and also Charlie Custer for all the hard work and many miles walked so that Cory could have this opportunity. I know that it something he and I will always remember."

With a great deer (and bear) season already in the bag, Ralph Barton said he headed out to hunt turkeys the other day.

He had roosted some birds the previous evening and crept in there before first light. Some of the birds busted off the roost, which was fine. As it got light Ralph started calling. This is what showed up.

Tommy Nunley of Wytheville sent me a couple of deer shots the other day, and I was pretty happy to see what they were -- him with a couple of great deer. He had some great words to match, too:

"I wanted to echo what Ralph Barton had to say. I wasn't lucky enough to get a nice buck like Ralph did but I was able to get two does in two days of hunting using about the same strategy as Ralph. You have to be out there to make it happen! I was out there braving the cold and I'm very happy with the two deer that I've blessed with in this great new year!"

The stories of the hunts are on Tommy's great blog, which is heavy on hunting content.