BURNHAM – A Morrill boy is recovering from surgery after accidentally shooting himself in the foot during hunting dog trials at the Sugar Foot Kennel on Troy Road.

Waldo County Chief Deputy Robert Keating said Tuesday that Jesse Trafton, 15, was in satisfactory condition after undergoing surgery at Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Trafton shot himself in the foot with a 12-gauge shotgun at about 1:15 p.m. Sunday.

Keating said Trafton was assisting with dog trials when the accident occurred. As part of the trials the boy would fire “popper shells” filled with feed, sawdust and cardboard packing from a single-shot shotgun, then launch a replica duck into the air for hunting dogs to retrieve.

When there came a point in the trial when the person running it instructed Trafton to wait a moment, the boy attempted to release the shotgun’s cocked hammer but the gun went off while pointed toward the ground. The shot struck him in the foot, blasting a 2-inch hole in his boot.

There were physicians and paramedics at the trials who performed initial emergency treatment. Trafton’s father then drove his son to Sebasticook Valley Community Hospital in Pittsfield for further treatment and he was taken to Portland for surgery.

Waldo County Deputy Sheriff Glenn Graef and Maine game warden Chris Dyer investigated the incident.