Dick
Ellis
The sudden whirring sound like the blades of a
helicopter alone were enough to startle anyone, if the
quick blam! blam! of a 12-guage shotgun wasn't enough to
finish it off!
What was even more startling was the sight of a North
Carolina Pheasant in a full power military climb headed
into the November sky.
North Carolina Pheasant? Indeed, this was not the
Nebraska or Iowa prairies but, the piney woods and sandy
soil of Columbus County, Southeastern North Carolina.
A group of more than 40-hunters had gathered this day
at the Honey Hill Hunting Preserve to honor one of their
own and marvel at the strange sight of Pheasant. The
hunters, mostly from law and law enforcement backgrounds
were participants in the First Annual Peter Case Batton
Appreciation Pheasant Shoot. Batton, a native of Wilson
who has spent most of his professional life in Raleigh,
is a retired Parole Officer for the state. A Cancer
survivor and well-known sportsman and photographer,
Batton's friends thought it was time they gathered to
celebrate the fact he is still here.
Former Deputy Secretary of Crime Control and Public
Safety, E.B. Jackson organized the event and contacted
hunting preserve owners Bobby and Terry Garrell who
invited the hunters for a day of celebration, shooting
and dining. The father-son team operates the preserve
located near Whiteville and pen raise Pheasant, Quail
and Chucker to offer guided shoots or hunts such as this
one. A Pheasant shoot involves flushing the birds past a
series of shooting positions while a hunt is down a maze
of paths using your dogs or those provided by the
preserve.
The event honoring Batton, involved breakfast, a
safety lecture, shooting at some 150 birds in the
morning, lunch and your choice of another shoot or hunts
in the afternoon. All this was culminated by an awards
presentation ceremony that would rival the official
Olympics.
Some of the sportsmen in attendance included; former
Secretary of Crime Control Joe Dean, former National
Guard Adjutant General Natt Robb, Ray Davis Chief of
Police of Kill Devil Hills and former Republican State
Chairman Jim Hastings of Boone. Raleigh attorney George
Barrett enjoyed the day along with Fletcher Sanders and
Bill Crews, both retired executives with the Department
of Corrections and retired Director of the Governor's
Crime Commission Bruce Marshburn. Colonel Sid Jennings,
retired Commander of the North Carolina Highway Patrol
and past Chairman of the Governor's Board of Economic
Advisors Robert Rupert of Dunn, were also included in
the list of celebrities on hand.
The
first award trophy was presented to Batton for
sportsmanship. The committee voted that because he shot
in the morning and slept all afternoon, the honoree
embodied the spirit of true sportsmanship. The trophy
for Top Shooter was presented to a reveler who claimed
to have shot 83 birds and because no one counted, his
claim could not be disputed!
The preserve employees cleaned the birds while the
festivities were underway which allowed each hunter to
take his game home ready for cooking. A trap and skeet
range is also featured at Honey Hill Preserve.
According to organizer Jackson, the event will be
scheduled annually on the first Saturday of November.
North Carolina wildlife laws offer a special season to
controlled hunting preserves who are allowed to hunt pen
raised birds from October 1st through March 31st.
