Jack Kelly writer
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PIGEONS IN PARADISE
(The Robb Report, March 2006)
“Pull!” I bark, but before I can draw a bead on the target, it
plummets into the scrub oak, and my shot sails toward the
heavens. Scoring a hit seems a remote possibility, for I
apparently lack the necessary intuition and panache that
skeet shooting demands. But this realization fails to diminish
the fun of trying my hand at the sport here in the pristine
setting of Keyah Grande, an intimate resort situated at an
altitude of 7,500 feet in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, near
the town of Pagosa Springs. The shooting takes place in an
isolated valley against a backdrop of mountains and acid
blue sky. The setting lends to the sport a sense of
exhilaration that is rarely found at a suburban skeet range.
The resort’s firearms expert urges me to keep my cheek on
the gun, counsel that is as rudimentary as telling a novice
golfer to keep his head down. “Follow through” is another
watchword common to both sports; because the clay
continues to travel while I am pulling the trigger, it is
imperative that I keep swinging the gun just ahead of the
target, trying to hit it at the peak of its arc. When I finally do
shatter one of the elusive orange disks, known as a pigeon in
the sport’s vernacular, I experience a thrill that is visceral and
addictive.
Skeet is a game of free-flowing energy rather than one of
careful calculation, my guide explains. It involves action
without thought. After a time, the shooting comes more
naturally, and the clays burst with more regularity. Still, it is
daunting to know that in actual competition, shooters must
contend with two targets released simultaneously.
In the autumn and winter months, you can stalk elk instead of
pigeons at Keyah Grande. The animals are raised on Keyah
Grande’s working ranch and released months before the
hunt into the resort’s nearly 2,000 acres of preserves. The
resort’s owners, Barbara and Alan Sackman, are themselves
avid hunters and maintain a home on the property. They
initially intended Keyah Grande as their private Western
retreat, but later added the guest house, which contains
eight rooms, each eclectically decorated in a motif based on
a country that the couple has visited: Japan, France, China,
and Spain among others.
Keyah Grande also offers fly-fishing, hiking, and horseback
riding, and it has a spa and an outdoor hot tub modeled on a
Roman bath. From the tub, you can enjoy dramatic
cloudscapes while soaking off the effects of an afternoon
spent in the saddle or tramping the backcountry. Meals at the
lodge are prepared by the husband-and-wife team of Alex
Talbot and Aki Kamozawa, who met and trained at the
acclaimed Clio restaurant in Boston and now present such
flavorful adventures as chipotle ice cream. Once you
consider all of the resort’s features, then, like shooting skeet,
the decision to visit Keyah Grande becomes an action that
requires no further thought.
# # #
(The Robb Report, March 2006)
“Pull!” I bark, but before I can draw a bead on the target, it
plummets into the scrub oak, and my shot sails toward the
heavens. Scoring a hit seems a remote possibility, for I
apparently lack the necessary intuition and panache that
skeet shooting demands. But this realization fails to diminish
the fun of trying my hand at the sport here in the pristine
setting of Keyah Grande, an intimate resort situated at an
altitude of 7,500 feet in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, near
the town of Pagosa Springs. The shooting takes place in an
isolated valley against a backdrop of mountains and acid
blue sky. The setting lends to the sport a sense of
exhilaration that is rarely found at a suburban skeet range.
The resort’s firearms expert urges me to keep my cheek on
the gun, counsel that is as rudimentary as telling a novice
golfer to keep his head down. “Follow through” is another
watchword common to both sports; because the clay
continues to travel while I am pulling the trigger, it is
imperative that I keep swinging the gun just ahead of the
target, trying to hit it at the peak of its arc. When I finally do
shatter one of the elusive orange disks, known as a pigeon in
the sport’s vernacular, I experience a thrill that is visceral and
addictive.
Skeet is a game of free-flowing energy rather than one of
careful calculation, my guide explains. It involves action
without thought. After a time, the shooting comes more
naturally, and the clays burst with more regularity. Still, it is
daunting to know that in actual competition, shooters must
contend with two targets released simultaneously.
In the autumn and winter months, you can stalk elk instead of
pigeons at Keyah Grande. The animals are raised on Keyah
Grande’s working ranch and released months before the
hunt into the resort’s nearly 2,000 acres of preserves. The
resort’s owners, Barbara and Alan Sackman, are themselves
avid hunters and maintain a home on the property. They
initially intended Keyah Grande as their private Western
retreat, but later added the guest house, which contains
eight rooms, each eclectically decorated in a motif based on
a country that the couple has visited: Japan, France, China,
and Spain among others.
Keyah Grande also offers fly-fishing, hiking, and horseback
riding, and it has a spa and an outdoor hot tub modeled on a
Roman bath. From the tub, you can enjoy dramatic
cloudscapes while soaking off the effects of an afternoon
spent in the saddle or tramping the backcountry. Meals at the
lodge are prepared by the husband-and-wife team of Alex
Talbot and Aki Kamozawa, who met and trained at the
acclaimed Clio restaurant in Boston and now present such
flavorful adventures as chipotle ice cream. Once you
consider all of the resort’s features, then, like shooting skeet,
the decision to visit Keyah Grande becomes an action that
requires no further thought.
# # #