SONNY DUNHAM: THE SPORTSMAN

By Sr. Agent Scott Watson

I believe that anyone who has ever turkey hunted, or even talked about turkey hunting would agree that a 22 lb. turkey with a 10" beard is quite impressive. In the 2003 season, my neighbor and friend Mr. Sonny Dunham, killed such a turkey, but this story isn’t about the turkey, it’s about Mr. Sonny.

I’m not a writer, by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m gonna do my best to try and convey to you the kind of SPORTSMAN this man is. The only way I know to do that is to tell you the whole story on him.

Mr. Sonny is 63 years old, and is from Sterlington, La. His wife is Wardna Dunham, and she too is an avid turkey and deer hunter. In June 1995, he was diagnosed with cancer (myoepithelioma) in the roof of his mouth, and sinuses. They went to California for his first surgery, almost immediately. At that time they said that the cancer was not malignant. Over the course of the next few years they made more trips to California for more surgeries. He had a total of 15 surgeries. By 1998 the cancer was growing at such a rate, that it had blinded him in his left eye. They had to remove the orbital bone from his right eye, but were able to save his sight by using a titanium mesh to support the eye.

In November 2000, the Dunhams made their last trip to California. They were there for 30 days. On this trip they removed his jawbone, and the rest of his gums. They said that Mr. Sonny was most concerned that he wasn’t gonna get back home before deer season ended. They also said that on the way home, they were in the airport in Denver, and they saw a man wearing a camouflage shirt, and it excited Mr. Sonny, just to see someone wearing camouflage. He told Mrs. Wardna, lets follow him, he looks like he is going to the same place we are.

Mr. Sonny’s cancer continued to get worse, until they had to put in a trach, and a feeding tube in 2002. His sight in his right eye was also failing him. The cancer in his mouth, and face had gotten too large for him to put a gun to his shoulder. But what he did have was the desire to keep hunting, and with the help of his wife, and their next door neighbor, Mr. Mikiel Porter, they were able to keep him hunting.

Because the cancer was too large for him to get the stock of his rifle close to his face, Mr. Porter took a sander and cut the stock to fit around the cancer. They would hold the gun up, mark the stock and keep sanding until they got it where it would fit. Then there was the problem of sights. He couldn’t get his rifle high enough, because of the cancer in the front of his face, so they put a set of high rise mounts on the gun, where the scope would be high above the gun. They sighted the rifle in for Mr. Sonny, and he killed 3 bucks, and 1 doe in the 2002-2003 deer season.

Then in March 2003 comes Turkey season which happens to be his preference. At first they did not know how they were going to handle turkey season, but they decided to set his shotgun up the same way. They took the wooden stock off of his rifle, and put it on his shotgun. It took some work to make the stock fit on the gas operated shotgun, but they made it happen. They then put a high rise mount and scope on the shotgun. Mikiel went with Mr. Sonny because he was not able to go alone. Once they got into the woods, and sat down, Mr. Sonny went to work with a box call, and killed the 22 lb. turkey that I mentioned at the first of the story.

When Mr. Sonny and Mrs. Wardna told me that he had killed the turkey, it was almost unbelievable. I can’t describe to you what this man’s health, and physical condition is like. What I can tell you is that this man has a passion for the outdoors, and hunting (especially turkeys) that will not let him lay down.

I’ve been hunting since I was young, and I’ve always thought that I really loved to bowhunt, but after seeing what this man went through to kill that turkey, I don’t have any idea what it must mean to him. To see someone in the shape that he is in, and still out trying to get that big gobbler, has had to have been one of the most humbling experiences of my life, and I wanted to pass his story on for the rest of you to read.