“When you’re ready to shoot, say ‘pull.’ When I hear that ‘pull,’ I’ll throw the clay,” says my shooting instructor Myron Weirich, who has just placed a large Weatherby semi-automatic 20-gauge shotgun in the wee arms of this little lady.
I gaze at the freshly fallen snow that blankets the pristine expansive lands surrounding Montana’s Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness. Treetops glisten under striking sunshine, making me feel as if I’ve stepped into a Christmas card, a winter wonderland—or better yet, as if I’ve stepped into the classic movie A Christmas Story and my shotgun has finally arrived. The only problem is my fear that I’ll likely shoot someone’s eye out.
“You’re good, you’ve got this,” says Weirich, who apparently has a heck of a lot more confidence in my firing capabilities than I do. “You always want to be shooting where your target will be going, because it’s constantly moving. You want to predict its direction and follow that instead of stopping to shoot, since it takes a few seconds for the bullet to hit its target.”
Makes sense, I think. I peer down the barrel and follow the bright orange orbs as they soar into the crisp winter air, tracking their movement until I feel they’re at adequate shooting range. I remove the safety device, pull the trigger, and bristle back when the recoil pounds into the crevice between my shoulder and upper chest.
Load, pull, and release. I do this over and over again without ever actually hitting the clay. While I feel a little defeated, I also feel rather invigorated. If mamas shouldn’t let their babies grow up to be cowboys, they could perhaps let their babies grow up to watch cowboys skeet shoot. This gun-shy gal has to admit it was pretty exhilarating. And when in Montana, the land of brooding cowboys, it seems only fitting to fire off a few rounds. In fact, it’s part of the reason I saddled over to the gorgeous The Ranch at Rock Creek, outside of the historic town of Philipsburg in the western part of the state.
Originally homesteaded in the late 1800s, the Ranch still has some of its original buildings standing. Today, however, there is a definite sense of luxury throughout the property, which sprawls out over 6,600 acres of rugged wilderness amid endless meadows, lakes, and streams. It’s the only guest ranch to receive a five-star rating from the Forbes Travel Guide, living up to its high standards as a Relais & Châteaux property. The Ranch at Rock Creek’s 29 rustic accommodations include lodges and barn lofts whose interior designs infuse western chic with cozy elements, such as fireplaces and copper soaking tubs; glamping tents come with heated floors and cast iron beds. And The Ranch’s Granite Lodge restaurant serves up regionally- and locally-sourced organic ingredients, plating everything from hearty breakfasts to perfectly prepared tasting menus of scrumptious steelhead trout, braised elk, cast iron-fired porterhouse steak, and all things truffled and whipped.
This winter, The Ranch launched The Indulgent Frontiersman, a survival skills program inspired by Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant, which is based on the real-life exploits of its Montana-based protagonist Hugh Glass. “We wanted something that refined your skills in survival situations,” says The Ranch’s activities director Patrick Little, who helped develop the program. “Such as horseback riding to the pistol and rifles range, because that’s what I think a lot of the frontiersmen did, but it’s also something that tests your skills in the outdoors. We wanted to help prepare people, should you find yourself having to spend a night or two in the woods. Basically, how not to panic, and be in the right mental capacity to help you get out of a number of situations.”
Because these lands remain little changed since trappers, miners, and cowboys first settled the Western territories, they provide an optimal setting in which to learn some basic skills. The survivalist program includes everything from an ice-fishing trip to catch Kokanee salmon, to a private horseback ride, to a gun and target shooting range, to snowmobiling and snowshoeing. But more importantly, as Little mentions, it also includes best practices should you go out in the woods and lose your bearings—including how to build a fire in various situations, construct shelters using space blankets, and capture food, or what to do if someone is hurt.
“It’s all about getting to experience life like a frontiersman and being able to survive that,” explains Little. That is, with one added bonus: after a long afternoon of testing your wiles, you get to return to The Ranch’s Granite Lodge for a Saddle Sore Soak spa treatment and a fireside craft whiskey and beer tasting, before consuming all the calories you worked away while trying to keep up in this modern-day Wild West.
