Behind the Numbers: 10,794 deer per season: 208-pound trophy buck

The first installation of my first photo column.



The night before, Joey Kotfer, 16, was the last person to pick up his hunting license before the store closed. He was up at 5:30 a.m. and shot the deer by 8 a.m.

Joey was shaking when he saw the buck through the thick, morning-lit woods. It came to a halt when it heard the clicking noise as Joey pulled the hammer back on his great-grandfather's Winchester 32 Special Model 1894 rifle.

With a little adjustment in the blind he fashioned out of sticks and leaves, Joey took the shot, quickly reloaded and took another. He did it so fast that his dad, Terry, heard the time between shots and thought it was a different hunter, one more experienced. The deer came to rest a few hundred yards away near Terry.

Opening Day for New Hampshire's firearm season was Joey's third year as a licensed hunter. Until now, he had always left the Salisbury woods empty-handed.

By late morning, hunters and customers gathered at Marshall Firearms Inc. in Boscawen. Their truck beds held their season's harvest. Joey sat on the bed of his truck, holding his 8-point buck.

"It's boring for most of the time, sitting out there a couple hours," Joey noted, after the buck was weighed. It was a trophy deer at 208 pounds.

"This is a dream, getting one like this," Dave Merwin said, the family friend whose Salisbury land the Kotfers hunt year after year. Several years ago, his father shot a 209-pound buck in the same woods, weighed at the same scale.

According to Bradford Marshall of Marshall Firearms, six deer were registered on Opening Day of firearm season this year. The store, which was closed on Opening Day in 2009, registered 10 deer on the second day of the season last year.

From New Hampshire Fish and Game Department harvested deer totals of the last decade, an average of 10,974 deer were killed per year between 2000 and 2009.

Cape Cod Dreaming

Spent Thanksgiving with the family on the cape.

UNH Hockey vs. Brown Hockey, 5-5

UNH Hockey...other stuff

More from surfing project

Notes from the road

Driving around the last couple of months I've been making random notes about different things I pass. The beer keg turned mailbox in a neighborhood, leaves floating by the vacant rope hanging from a large oak tree, that dark path through the pines where I stare to catch a glimpse of a river, realizing I've crossed the center line driving on the opposite side of the road. Most times it's just driving by, often pushing the boundaries (by today's standards) of looking suspect as I circle a block 3, maybe 5 times. I keep hoping someone will pop out into their yard long enough for me to strike up a conversation. But you can only wait for someone to take the clothes in from hanging on a line under a maple tree's peaked red leaves for so long before you've got to move on.

Veterans Day ceremony

Nicholas Michalewicz, 11, stands with his family, from left, his grandmother, Karen Menchion, mother, Jessica Menchion, and sister, Julia, 13, before they place flowers on their grandfather's, Michael Menchion, grave at the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen on Thursday, November 11, 2010.



Donald Holmquist, of Keene, walks through the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery following a Veterans Day ceremony in Boscawen on Thursday, November 11, 2010. After 21 years, Holmquist retired from the Airforce, where he worked with Airforce One for seven years under President Eisenhower and President Kennedy. He was joined with his wife, Marilyn Holmquist, as the two placed flowers on the graves of her brother, Edward Millett, and a few friends.

Jury Duty

Mark Langlois, of Manchester, was on the jury that convicted Steven Spader on Tuesday to life in prison for the murder of Kimberly Cates. Spader killed Kimberly Cates and severely injured her 11 year-old daughter with a machete after a home invasion. Read the story of Mark Langlois' experience from the trial HERE

Riderless horse

While photographing at a Veterans Day ceremony on Thursday morning, I was walking the outskirts of the ceremony when I noticed a police officer walking her horse through the cemetery. The horse had been acting restless and she was bringing it to an open area away from the people.

Feature Hunt

Coffee, NPR, me and the road. I have a GPS and occasionally use it on my way to assignments, but I shut it off when I'm out feature hunting. It feels great to just get lost. The biggest struggle is to get out of a warm car on a cold rainy day. But it's always worth that little extra effort to kick yourself and ditch what's comfortable.

I'm still getting use to living in Concord and figuring out what makes this area tic. A lot of times I find myself behind the wheel of my car driving the back roads and checking off the mental list of places where I previously noticed something interesting...a tire swing, a pile of wood, a deer stand in front of a gun shop. It's not the ideal plan of attack for feature hunting and I would eventually like to get to know more people and places so ideas come quicker. But for now, driving around and chatting with random people is a good way to build future connections.

College Cross Country

Abram Deng, left, celebrates with his teammates, Rizik Lado and Haile Jemane, after he finished first place in the 2010 USCAA Cross Country Championships hosted by NHTI on Friday, November 5, 2010. Deng, who placed eighth last year, traveled with his Spalding University team from Louisville, Kentucky.

Chris Archer Installation

Chelsea Fruci, a junior at New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester, experiences the Chris Archer piece, Intimate Immensity: Part I, at the Kimball-Jenkins Estate on Thursday night, November 4, 2010. The piece is one of several by ceramic and 3D design instructor at the New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester, Chris Archer, who opened his show, "Dialog with the Jill C. Wilson Gallery," Thursday night. Archer created around 1,700 to 1,800 stoneware vessels to create the piece. The piece is an hommage to his relationship with pottery and cups, he said, explaining that an excellent drinking cup is where all the elements come together.



Chris Archer, second from left, talks with Andy and Mim Hampton, of Chichester, during his opening of, "Call As Response: A Dialogue with The Jill C. Wilson Gallery." A ceramics and 3D design instructor at the New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester and a potter for 20 years, Archer said the pieces were designed to be walked on and heighten the perception and physical sensory of the domestic setting. The work will be at the Kimball-Jenkins Estate through November.



Liz Johnson, a junior at New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester, examines the Chris Archer piece, Intimate Immensity: Part I, at the Kimball-Jenkins Estate on Thursday night, November 4, 2010. The piece is one of several by ceramic and 3D design instructor at the New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester, Chris Archer, who opened his show, "Dialog with the Jill C. Wilson Gallery," Thursday night. Archer created around 1,700 to 1,800 stoneware vessels to create the piece. The piece is an hommage to his relationship with pottery and cups, he said, explaining that an excellent drinking cup is where all the elements come together.

Drive to Work

I feel like I'm a pull-string doll, but I'll say it again, motivation and ideas come to me at night. I'm pretty sure they'd come to me more throughout the day if I had a reasonable sleep cycle. To spark creativity, to push myself to make more ambiguous photographs and not worry about some ostentatious style, I've decided to start carrying a camera with me all the time and shoot whatever the hell I feel like. Sure, there may be photos (like this one) that are nothing more than a waste of space online, but aren't most blogs like that anyways? No offense, of course. Photography is a process, a constant development. When you get into a visual rut, I say change it all. Do something different. For me, that's shooting more and carrying my camera more. Paying more attention. Taking my time. Literal photographs have a sense of urgency and feeling that, they're just...sort of...there. The story is shot, the image is in. Your ass is covered. Didn't work out? Oh well. Write it off. Better luck next time. Been there and it's a nasty attitude to shake.

I want more. Out of myself, out of the work I do. I haven't been interested much in photographing lately, but here's to a change. A push. A renewed drive.

Election Coverage

Shane and Crystal Laliberte, carrying their 3 month old daughter, Ryan, stop to chat with Carol Hargrove outside the West Street Ward House in Concord's Ward 7 while on their way inside to vote Tuesday afternoon, November 2, 2010. "It's the baby's first vote," Laliberte joked on her way in.


Lucy waits as Darlene Olivo fills out her ballot at a voting booth in the West Street Ward House in Concord's Ward 7 on Tuesday afternoon, November 2, 2010. "She's a Yellow Dog Democrat," Olivo joked.


From left, Tom Boulter, moderator, Dennis Thivierge, work clerk, and Anne Hartshorn, far right, supervisor of the check list, cheer as Anna Cauble, center, submits her completed ballot after voting for the first time on Tuesday afternoon. Boulter, who has been moderator for the past thirteen years in Ward 7, says the West Street Ward House is a small building but has a friendly atmosphere as neighbors visit with one another and entire families come to vote.


Former Congressman Charlie Bass celebrates his win over Ann Kuster at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord on Tuesday, November 2, 2010.

Tea Party Express national tour

The Tea Party Express ended their fourth national tour in Concord on Monday night after it kicked off in Reno, Nev., on October 18.

Campaign Trail: Ann McLane Kuster

A few weeks ago I got to spend "A Day in the Life" with New Hampshire Congressional candidate, Ann McLane Kuster. We spent the day driving around New Hampshire as she was completing her 30 Days, 30 Diners tour. She said the tour to diners was important because it was a way to connect and meet around 9% of undecided voters.

This was the second time on the road with a candidate and I knew what to expect with access. I was hoping to ride in the car, as I previously did with U.S. Senate candidate Paul Hodes, but instead I trailed the 350+ miles in my car. I had a great time, and it was a challenge to wait for the genuine moments.