Life lessons in a dove field

Through the week eight-year-old Colton Isch gets his education in a third-grade class in Madison. On Sundays he learns from a tiny Sunday school class in Lamont.

Saturday morning he was all eyes and ears as Max Burnham shared important knowledge with the boy. As they awaited sunrise along a fence line dotted with wild sunflowers, Burnham, 65, pointed out the sounds of distant coyotes calling, whistling quail and the sight of doves flying overhead.

“All of these special sights, and sounds, and smells are gifts from God that are out here every morning,” Burnham said softly. “You just have to know how to get out and enjoy it all.”

For more than 40 years the avid hunter and angler has used Labor Day weekend as a time to get kids outdoors, and experiencing the most a day afield might bring. Saturday he was host to a group of about five adults and 20 boys and young men on a day-long dove hunt.

That’s just a small percentage of similar groups he’s hosted in the past.

“The men that farm this field, I know I took them dove hunting when they were just boys in 1972,” said Burnham, owner of a basement and foundation repair company who regularly hosts guests with disabilities on hunting and fishing trips. “But as for this exact kind of hunt we probably started it in ’92, so I’d say for at least 20 years.”

Through time he’s had at least 30 kids make the trip from Iowa, and several from Illinois and Minnesota. They’ve come from many parts of Kansas.

“As for how many kids I’ve had here for at least for one hunt, it would be well over 100,” he said. “That, I can guarantee with no problem.”

Most who come are found by members of his Apostolic Christian Church in Lamont or similar congregations in other areas. Very few have come from families with a father who hunted, though many of the boys Burnham has mentored have become men who certainly do. Most, he hopes, become better adults along the way.

Lessons at his hunts include firearms safety, respect for God, nature, friends, themselves and the many landowners who open their properties for the hunt.

For the past four years Larry Bahr, of Deerfield, Mo, has brought his son, Austin. He said it’s been satisfying to see the boy improve from getting one dove his first hunt to a limit of 15 last year. Now that Austin is experienced enough to hunt on his own at Burnham’s fields, Bahr usually mentors another child. On Saturday that was 10 year-old Gavin Isch.

“Right now he’s hitting them as good as I am,” Bahr said with chuckle. “Neither one of us has anything this morning, but we’ve had some shots.”

Burnham began scouting for potential dove fields weeks ago, looking for where birds were roosting and to see what crops might be first to be harvested. He logged hundreds of miles in his truck in a search that recently showed things might be a bit tough.

“Right now they’re cutting corn all over the place and that can scatter the birds out,” he said, “but we have several good fields so we’ll keep looking until we find what’s best.”

After a safety talk in the pre-dawn darkness, Burnham briefed the half of the group hunting near his house on the flight paths of birds as they entered and exited the field of cut corn. The birds didn’t make liars out of him.

The first shot came five minutes after the start of legal shooting time. Bahr often called out the directions of incoming birds to a small line of boys that included his grandson, Kai Wernli, 13, of El Dorado. As they’d been instructed, the boys helped mark the fall of another hunter’s downed bird and assisted in the search.

Too inexperienced to be shooting, Colton Isch mainly stayed in one spot with Burnham and soaked up the lessons offered by his host. There were still a few doves flying when Burnham called all of the hunters to his house at about 8:30 a.m.

“We have a lot of other fun things to do today,” he said as he walked along. “We’ll also be out somewhere hunting this afternoon.”

Together they shared a breakfast cooked by some families from his church. A nearby outfitter volunteered his clay range so the boys could shoot a few rounds in the early afternoon. Large bowls of homemade ice cream were served between the targets and the afternoon’s trip to other dove fields.

Even though he deferred shots to his guests, Burnham had the best success in the morning, killing seven doves. Most of the boys had three or four birds. Some expressed disappointment the action wasn’t as fast as in past years when some shot limits and others at least went through several boxes of shells.

Burnham, for one, wasn’t disappointed with the action.

“I think this was about right, about perfect for what we’re trying to do,” Burnham said. “If you get too many birds all the guys think about is shooting a lot of doves. Then, they’re not really enjoying the best parts of the hunt.”

This story was originally published September 5, 2015 at 5:15 PM with the headline "Life lessons in a dove field."