In the rolling hills of North Georgia, the gentleman’s hunt is more than a pursuit—it’s a tradition. At the Beretta Shooting Grounds, precision meets adventure, camaraderie meets refinement, and every moment in the field carries a spark of thrill.
There’s a certain kind of quiet you find only in the Georgia hills just before the hunt begins. The wind carries the faint scent of pine, the crunch of gravel under boots, and somewhere out of sight, the low, excited whine of bird dogs ready to work.
Late last fall, I found myself back at Barnsley Resort’s Beretta Shooting Grounds, the famed sporting venue operated by John Burrell’s High Adventure Company.
I’ve hunted all over the country, but there’s something about this place — Barnsley Resort is a perfect blend of Southern hospitality, fine dining, extrodinary lodging, and world-class upland bird shooting — that keeps drawing me back year after year.
This trip was a little different. We had a brand-new lodge to break in and our three-day agenda promised great sport, awesome food, and even better stories. And with the crew of friends I brought along, there was no doubt the stories would go well into the night.
The Crew
•Edwin Spencer – Orthopeadic surgeon specializing in shoulders (handy to have around when you’re throwing a shotgun to your cheek a few hundred times a day).
•Tripp Spencer – Edwin’s son, wrapping up college and heading into the insurance business, here to log some memories before trading textbooks for policies.
•Chip Seigler – One of East Tennessee’s top residential contractors, known for building exquisite homes north of a million dollars.
•Hudson Seigler – Chip’s son is a recent college grad, working with his dad and learning the family business.
•Terry Lewis – Of Real-Time Construction, a philanthropist and board member of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation, also the sponsor of the annual Wounded Warrior Turkey Hunt for 26 years.
•Bruce Fox – Attorney from Clinton, avid sportsman, and board member of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation
•Terry Turner – Owner of All Occasions Party Rentals and a pretty fair wing shooter (see opener).
•Nicolas Summers – Regional sales rep for Pilot Oil. I think Nicolas would rather hunt than eat most days.
•Chris Lowe – Works in the chemistry industry. Should come in handy for making the perfect old fashioned or if we need to make some gunpowder.
•Jackson Queen – Works in real estate development in Charlotte, NC., friend of the Lowe family.
And of course, me — Nathan Sparks — joined by my little black Cocker Spaniel, Chota, whose boundless energy and nose for birds has made her the best hunting companion I could ask for.
The Lodge Experience
We arrived on a Friday evening and rolled straight up to High Adventure’s new hunting lodge, located just outside the Beretta Shooting Grounds. One of the best features of this setup? Once you pull in and unpack, your truck keys might as well go in the safe — everything from your hunts to your meals is right here.
The lodge sleeps up to 12, though we found eight to be the sweet spot for comfort and elbow room. Those upper bunks are great for the younger crowd, not so much for me. The interior is a blend of rustic timber and refined comfort, with a great room built for storytelling, a long dining table for lingering meals, and a well-stocked bar perfect for winding down after a day afield.
And that first night, winding down wasn’t hard, thanks to Chef Sean Finley and his team.
Finley’s Table
Sean Finley is a man whose reputation precedes him. Well-known for his lavish spreads, he’s not just a chef — he’s part of the High Adventure experience. He moves like a culinary nomad, from the pheasant fields of South Dakota to the duck blinds of Nebraska to the trout waters of North Georgia’s Soque River. Wherever you find him, count yourself lucky; You can bet the menu will be as memorable as the hunt. Sean is much more than just the Chef. He is a master of organization, and when he is around everything runs perfectly smooth.
Our Friday night dinner was, as always, a feast. I’ll have to consult my photos to recall exactly what was on the plates (that’s the hazard of good bourbon and better conversation), but I remember this: every dish was flawless. After dinner, the bar filled with laughter, the glow of TV screens, and stories traded across glasses of bourbon until the fire burned low.
The Pheasant Tower Shoot
Saturday morning, we woke to the smell of Sean’s breakfast — a spread hearty enough to fuel the kind of shooting we had ahead. By 9:00 a.m., the guides were lined up outside in a string of side-by-sides, shotguns at the ready, dogs shifting in their kennel boxes.
The Beretta Shooting Grounds can host up to 10 groups at once, but that morning, we all stayed together to the same field for a pheasant tower shoot. The setup is classic: hunters arranged in a circle, like hours on a clock, around a tower at the hill’s center. From within the tower, pheasants are launched high into the air, catching the wind and darting in unpredictable lines.
Every 20 birds or so, a horn sounds, and each shooter rotates to the next station — a gentleman’s way to keep things fair.
Pheasant shooting here is no casual warm-up. These birds are fast, high, and require a keen sense of how much to lead the bird. Of the several hundred birds that morning, I’d guess we accounted for about half, leaving plenty in the fields for the afternoon’s walk-up hunt.
And through it all, Chota worked the field with enthusiasm, retrieving when needed—and I am sure from her perspective, living her best life. With all the birds picked up, we headed back to the lodge for lunch.
Afternoon in the Fields
After a well-earned lunch back at the lodge, we regrouped for the afternoon hunt. I paired up with my favorite guide, Stephen Farmer, whose German Shorthaired Pointers (GSPs) are some of the best bird dogs you’ll find anywhere. Today he has Sweetie with him, and she and Chota work well together. Chota is a flushing dog. For those of you that don’t hunt, the pointer roams the fields until the birds are located, then after the guide carefully positions the hunters, the flushers are sent to do their job. Safety is paramount on these trips for all involved, and High Adventure runs a tight ship. Only two can shoot at any one time and safety instruction is given even to the most seasoned of hunters.
Unlike big-running English pointers or setters, GSPs generally work close, their points coming within easy walking distance. Chota fell in alongside us, well-mannered and steady at heel until her flushing job was called for. I really like funning around with Stephen, and I was anxious to get a good photo for the story of my friends. So as we walked up the hill toward the side by side, I jokingly said to Stephen, “What I need for you to do is have Sweetie point a covey of birds on top of the hill where I have a really nice background for the photo. “After she points, move the shooters into position but wait for my signal. Then we can send Chota in and I can get the perfect picture for the story.” He laughed alongside me and asked if that was all I needed. We were still chuckling as we came to the top of the hill to find Sweetie on point in the perfect spot, just as I had imagined. Terry Lewis came up to the left and Bruce Fox to the right. Chota did her job perfectly and birds were everywhere. I lined up on Terry for the awesome shot on the opening spread of this story.
The rest of that afternoon was a perfect blend — a nice walk through mixed cover, the dogs locking up on pheasants and quail, the snap of wings and the sharp bark of the gun. The bag grew steadily heavier, and the camaraderie grew right along with it.
Evening with John Burrell
Dinner that night was another long-table affair, the room buzzing with laughter and the satisfied fatigue that comes after a full day outside. As I’d hoped, John Burrell joined us for the evening. Sean served us an enormous perfectly prepared prime rib with all the trimmings.
John is not only the owner of High Adventure Company but also one of the finest storytellers you’ll ever meet. Over glasses of bourbon, he spun tales from across the hunting world — from the plains of Africa to the highlands of Scotland — each one delivered with the ease of a man who’s lived it all. It’s in moments like these, surrounded by friends old and new, that you realize why bird hunting is called a gentleman’s sport.
The High Adventure Difference
What keeps me coming back isn’t just the birds or the scenery. It’s the all-inclusive nature of the experience: the fine food, the attentive guides, the well-trained dogs, and the sense that every detail has been thought through. That is one of the things High Adventure is known for — perfect planning of every detail, you don’t have to think about a thing.
From the moment you arrive to the moment you leave, it’s seamless — the kind of trip where you can just focus on the sport and the fellowship.
Why We Hunt
In the end, this trip was about more than the shots fired or the birds bagged. It was about spending time with good friends and creating a special level of camaraderie — the kind that’s forged in shared blinds, over long dinners, and during walks through crisp cover. It’s about the dogs, the guides, the stories, and the traditions that make hunting
a heritage worth preserving.
As the trucks rolled away from the lodge on Sunday afternoon, I couldn’t help but think about the next time. Because with High Adventure and Barnsley, there’s always a next time.
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