Young Bird Training

I'm not racing, this season, but I'll sell you some Pigeon Poo!

2017-10-04T09:26:00.002-05:00

Finally Fall! I have a variety of late hatches I really should be flying and then training. Man! So busy! I need to pair up my two Black Eagles. I'm not sure they were a pair after all.

The Evansville Racing Pigeon Club Young Bird racing season is going strong. Follow them at http://twitter.com/evvrpc

We are taking a break from racing this week because it is time once again for the Evansville West Side Nut Club Fall Festival We are booth #47 and the only place to get Pigeon Poo (it's a treat - you'll like it!)

Come on out to the nation's 2nd largest street festival (I heard this once, not sure if it's true). I see you at booth #47. It's a great cause! "Won't you please help us ship pigeons to Alabama?" :-) Oh, come on! Have a chili cheese hot tamale!

I had an ACE Middle Distance Champion?!

2016-01-22T15:58:00.001-06:00

NATIONAL ACE PIGEON SUMMARY REPORT (Middle Distance)
AU National Database
2014 Old Bird Season
Printed on January 22, 2016

Qualified birds from Indiana

       POS AVE UNIRATE    NAME             RACING PIGEON       CLR SEX   QUALIFYING RACE MILES

   1 4.229% Robert Threet           0319   AU 12 EVV    BB   H    224, 167, 224, 224.
   2 4.953% Mark Helfrich           0981   AU 13 EVV    BC   H    168, 225, 309, 225.
   3 5.881% Donald Goodwin          0967   AU 12 EVV    BB   H    227, 311, 169, 227.
   4 6.085% Randy Bean             4836   AU 13 WII    BCH H     98, 337, 141, 298.
   5 6.111% Steve Helfrich          11435 AU 11 HELF   RCOP      168, 283, 225, 168.
   6 6.142% Mark Helfrich           0459   AU 12 EVV    BB   H    225, 225, 225, 283.
   7 6.434% Mark Helfrich           0444   AU 12 EVV    BC   C    225, 168, 309, 225.
   8 7.153% Randy Bean             6261   AU 09 IDA    BCH C     98, 98, 337, 298.
   9 8.462% Randy Bean             4849   AU 13 WII    BCH H    186, 189, 337, 141.
10 8.509% Steve Helfrich          0234   AU 12 EVV    BB        309, 168, 225, 225.
11 8.674% Randy Bean             0690   AU 10 IDA    BCH H    186, 189, 298, 141.
12 8.738% Mark Helfrich           4811   AU 11 EVV    BC   C    168, 225, 225, 309.
13 9.450% Randy Bean             6838   AU 09 IDA    BCH C    186, 98, 337, 189.
14 9.588% Steve Helfrich          0238   AU 12 EVV    BC        309, 225, 225, 168.

I have been scaling back, so I gave this bird and his father to other club members.
I was not aware of this. Thanks Carl for pointing it out.

No Futurity Race

2011-10-11T09:52:00.000-05:00

There will be no Futurity Race for me this year. I had only one of my 10 futurity birds left. For some reason, this was a particularly high loss season. She had been out 165 miles when I lost all of the remaining futurities so I held her back and just gave her deep training drops along with the rest. On her 4th drop from 64 miles, she did not come home. That was Sunday. On Monday evening, while driving home on the divided highway I saw a dead bird - a pigeon! It had to be a pigeon the size and color were right and there's not a lot of pigeons in the suburbs so it stood out (still amazing that I noticed it). I pulled over and walked back. Yup! A pigeon wearing the same blue race bands I use. I grabbed it's foot and pulled it back from the road to flip it over (I can't imagine what the passing cars thought of my actions). Sure enough, it was my last futurity bird. What a strange thing!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

2011-09-17T13:53:00.000-05:00

It's been busy. I missed a real high point. After 5 seasons of Young Bird Racing, I finally won!

National Database-1        EVANSVILLE RACING PIGEON CLUB         09/17/11-12:44
                                   Mt. Vernon IN
                                 Weekly Race Report                      Page 1
                             Open and Junior Category
Name: FT. CAMPBELL 1              Young Bird Race             Flown: 08/31/2011

Release(A): 07:00  Birds: 188  Lofts: 8            Station: FT. CAMPBKY (0201)
Weather (Rel) PC, SE 5, 60 deg  (Arr) PC, SE 7, 80 deg


POS NAME          BAND NUMBER        CLR  X ARRIVAL   MILES   TOWIN      YPM  WS Cus Pts  NDB Std Pts
  1 THREET ROB/30 5311   AU 11 EVV   BB   H 08:46:02  91.384  00.00 1516.795    187         97  
  2 THREET ROBERT 5393   AU 11 EVV   GRIZ H 08:46:14   2/30   00.12 1513.892    186         95  
  3 THREET ROBERT 5324   AU 11 EVV   BLK  H 08:46:25   3/30   00.22 1511.355    185         92  
  4 HELFRICH S/30 11323  AU 11 HELF  BB     08:48:19  92.274  01.14 1499.335    184         89  
  5 HELFRICH STEV 11306  AU 11 HELF  BC     08:48:20   2/30   01.15 1499.104    183         87  
  6 HELFRICH STEV 11310  AU 11 HELF  BCWF   08:48:20   3/30   01.15 1499.104    182         84  
  7 HELFRICH STEV 11327  AU 11 HELF  BB     08:48:20   4/30   01.15 1499.104    181         81  
  8 HELFRICH STEV 11307  AU 11 HELF  BC     08:48:21   5/30   01.16 1498.874    180         79  
  9 HELFRICH STEV 11329  AU 11 HELF  BC     08:48:22   6/30   01.17 1498.643    179         76  
 10 HELFRICH STEV 11390  AU 11 HELF  BC     08:48:27   7/30   01.22 1497.492    178         73  
 11 HELFRICH STEV 11321  AU 11 HELF  BC     08:48:33   8/30   01.28 1496.112    177         71  
 12 HELFRICH STEV 11360  AU 11 HELF  RC     08:48:48   9/30   01.43 1492.674    176         68  
 13 HELFRICH STEV 11366  AU 11 HELF  BB     08:48:53  10/30   01.48 1491.532    175         65  
 14 HELFRICH STEV 11328  AU 11 HELF  QUAL   08:49:05  11/30   02.00 1488.797    174         63  
 15 HELFRICH STEV 11314  AU 11 HELF  BB     08:49:06  12/30   02.01 1488.570    173         60  
 16 HELFRICH STEV 11402  AU 11 HELF  BBWF   08:49:06  13/30   02.01 1488.570    172         57  
 17 HELFRICH STEV 11394  AU 11 HELF  BKSP   08:49:09  14/30   02.04 1487.888    171         55  
 18 HELFRICH STEV 11401  AU 11 HELF  BCSP   08:49:11  15/30   02.06 1487.434    170         52  
 19 HELFRICH STEV 11311  AU 11 HELF  BB     08:49:14  16/30   02.09 1486.753    169         49  
--------------------------------- Above are 10 percent -------------------------

The next race - no so good.  70th place and I dropped 7 birds (out of 31).

We flew the first two on Wednesdays to avoid dove season opening weekend.

I picked up 2 birds just in time for race 3. I held back the two stragglers and sent

24 birds.  I only got back 8 race day!  So, at the end of the day I now had 10 birds.

I had 31 only four days earlier.  Very depressing.  I did get several birds in the top

10% and 20% though.

National Database-1        EVANSVILLE RACING PIGEON CLUB         09/17/11-12:49
                                    Haubstadt IN
                                 Weekly Race Report                      Page 1
                             Open and Junior Category
Name: COLUMBIA 5                  Young Bird Race             Flown: 09/10/2011

Release(A): 07:00  Birds: 159  Lofts: 8           Station: COLUMBIA, TN (0203)
Weather (Rel) PC, Calm, 52 deg  (Arr) Cloudy, WSW-5, 75 deg


POS NAME          BAND NUMBER        CLR  X ARRIVAL   MILES   TOWIN      YPM  WS Cus Pts  NDB Std Pts
  1 SIMPSON DON/8 4434   AU 11 EVV   BKCK H 10:57:52  179.426 00.00 1327.593    316         97  
  2 SIMPSON DON   4430   AU 11 EVV   BLCK C 11:01:08   2/8    03.16 1309.527    314         94  
  3 GOODWIN DO/30 4561   AU 11 EVV   BC   H 10:50:01  169.333 05.32 1295.631    312         91  
  4 HELFRICH S/30 11307  AU 11 HELF  BC     10:50:49  167.769 08.24 1279.229    310         87  
  5 GOODWIN DON   4596   AU 11 EVV   BBWF H 10:54:57   2/30   10.28 1268.427    308         84  
  6 SIMPSON DEB/6 4485   AU 11 EVV   BLCK H 11:10:33  179.426 12.41 1260.363    306         81  
  7 SIMPSON DEBBI 4483   AU 11 EVV   BLCK H 11:10:35   2/6    12.42 1260.220    304         78  
  8 THREET ROB/24 5323   AU 11 EVV   BB   C 10:58:39  167.476 16.37 1235.086    302         75  
  9 HELFRICH M/30 4859   AU 11 EVV   BC   C 11:03:58  167.945 21.18 1211.598    300         72  
 10 HELFRICH STEV 11306  AU 11 HELF  BC     11:03:53   2/30   21.28 1210.692    298         69  
 11 HELFRICH MARK 4114   AU 11 EVV   BB   C 11:04:10   2/30   21.30 1210.606    296         65  
 12 HELFRICH STEV 11315  AU 11 HELF  BBWF   11:03:56   3/30   21.31 1210.444    294         62  
 13 HELFRICH MARK 4802   AU 11 EVV   RB   C 11:04:58   3/30   22.18 1206.652    292         59  
 14 BUTCH GARR/15 4314   AU 11 EVV        H 11:02:17  165.270 23.10 1200.609    290         56  
 15 BUTCH GARRISO 4324   AU 11 EVV        H 11:07:23   2/15   28.17 1175.801    288         53  
 16 SIMPSON DEBBI 4480   AU 11 EVV   BLCK H 11:33:48   3/6    35.55 1153.361    286         50  
--------------------------------- Above are 10 percent -------------------------
 17 SIMPSON DON   4040   AU 11 EVV   BLCK C 11:33:50   3/8    35.57 1153.220    284         47  
 18 SIMPSON DEBBI 4482   AU 11 EVV   BB   C 11:33:52   4/6    36.00 1153.045    282         43  
 19 SIMPSON DON   4041   AU 11 EVV   BLCK H 11:33:55   4/8    36.03 1152.834    280         40  
 20 SIMPSON DEBBI 4050   AU 11 EVV   GRIZ C 11:33:58   5/6    36.06 1152.631    278         37  
 21 SIMPSON DON   4435   AU 11 EVV   BLCK C 11:36:45   5/8    38.53 1141.039    276         34  
 22 GOODWIN DON   4509   AU 11 EVV   BB   H 11:24:04   3/30   39.34 1128.607    274         31  
 23 HELFRICH STEV 11314  AU 11 HELF  BB     11:23:12   4/30   40.47 1121.839    272         28  
 24 GARRISON B/16 4275   AU 11 EVV   RDCK H 11:37:03  163.374 01:00 1037.857    270         25  
 25 BUTCH GARRISO 4312   AU 11 EVV        H 11:47:32   3/15   01:08 1011.660    268         21  
 26 BUTCH GARRISO 4353   AU 11 EVV        H 11:47:32   4/15   01:08 1011.649    266         18  
 27 BUTCH GARRISO 4322   AU 11 EVV        H 11:47:35   5/15   01:08 1011.473    264         15  
 28 BUTCH GARRISO 4306   AU 11 EVV        H 11:47:37   6/15   01:08 1011.320    262         12  
 29 GARRISON BUTC 4218   AU 11 EVV   BLCK H 11:51:48   2/16   01:15  985.396    260          9  
 30 THREET ROBERT 5321   AU 11 EVV   BLK  C 12:12:15   2/24   01:30  943.969    258          6  
 31 THREET ROBERT 1229   AU 11 APA   BC   H 12:20:15   3/24   01:38  920.365    256          3  
 32 SIMPSON DON   4432   AU 11 EVV   BLCK H 12:43:44   6/8    01:45  918.702    254          0  
--------------------------------- Above are 20 percent -------------------------

Today's race was one of the best for my birds - not sure how I did against the

other but 9 out of 10 came in at the expected time.  I may only have 11 birds left,

but the are pretty good based on that race.  Gotta go - they are waiting on a bath

(since they can hear that I gave the breeding loft baths).  :-)

Chicken Guts Made Me Late

2011-08-30T09:23:00.001-05:00

Not my pic - Never got that close.

I left 15 minutes early for my usual pre-work training drop of 42 miles. Tyson has a chicken processing plant down that way. Evidently, a truck full of "chicken guts" jack knifed and closed the south-bound parkway down. Another truck, trying to get around, somehow jack-knifed and closed the north-bound lanes. So much truck traffic was being diverted off onto the nearest exit - that pretty soon two trucks wrecked on the exit and they closed THAT exit down. What a mess!

Jumping up another 22 miles

2011-08-27T21:24:00.001-05:00

I woke up at 4:30am. "Might as well get the birds down the road", I thought. I love it that time of morning. It was cool. I even saw my breath when I first exhaled on the back deck. Your eyes are so completely dark adjusted it seems like there are so many more stars. I get my preview of the winter constellation, Orion, rising over the trees. I'm pretty sure that out of place star west of Taurus is Jupiter - unless my eyes are so dark adjusted that Saturn seems that bright (unlikely).

The birds are easy to load. And very quiet - except one: Ug! That ugly common has trapped back in! I took him off 42 miles and he came back two days later after (as far as I know) only being in the loft one day. Impressive homing instinct for a mature, untrained common barn pigeon. Let's see if he can come back from 64 miles.

I was early. The site is higher so just as I got there the elevation rose so that the sun rose. I would give it another 12 minutes while the birds settled. I gave the common a 12 minute head start. ;-) When I released them, they circled only once and then headed on an exact bearing for home. Sixteen beat me home. According to the weather channel, they had a 2mph head wind and still covered 64 miles in 67 minutes. (Wow! Please do that in a race sometime!) The other half was WAY out. My theory is these guys were so fast the others wore out trying to keep up and must've set down to rest because they have been coming in all together from 42 miles (last 3 of 5 drops anyway).

Surprises - 5391, the son of 306, came in 3rd seconds behind the first two (the first 15 all clocked in within 2 minutes. 306 was the son of a white show racer and my slowest but very loyal 500 mile bird. It'll be interesting to see how he does in races.

Lookin much better from 42 miles

2011-08-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

My favorite drop


racing pigeons against sunrise

Yesterday's time was really good. Today's was slower but they had a pretty good head wind and even then it was okay - they were on time anyway. The best part - 27 of 30 clocked in on time! I check the loft and I had 31 last night. HOWEVER, 2 of them were without race bands which means they weren't here Sunday when I banded them all. After I released them, I called and the loft manager said there was already one eating. A straggler had come in - a futurity. Oh well. This was the 4th drop from 42 miles. Tomorrow makes 5 drops (as I want them to break this early). This weekend the weather is looking good for 2 drops from 64 miles. Then, if I can (and the weather is looking like I can), I will drop them from 42 miles again Monday & Tuesday (boxing night). I like to get them a good stretch before shipping.

Meh

2011-08-24T08:46:00.000-05:00

Been too depressed by results to post. This has been the worst batch ever. I've begun to wonder if they've gotten respiratory infections again. I dropped 34 birds from 42 miles and only got 15 back after 2 and a half hours. By dusk I had 27. In the morning I had picked up 3 (I think) but it these came in after I closed the loft and it looked like a raccoon got one of them.

I wrote down the numbers of the birds that clocked in mostly together more than an hour late - the rest were way out and all over the place. I figured the 2nd half of stragglers pulled these guys down SO I basketed them separately for a separate release. When I release the "fast" birds - they would not leave the site. They kept circling and coming back. After nearly 20 minutes, as risk for being late for work, I released the "slow" birds. They quickly found the others and together they all went straight home and clocked in pretty on time. Weird.

This morning I had 30 birds in the loft. 10 of my 12 blacks (dropped Picard). I dropped both pretty tortoise grizzles from Alaska. That makes at least half the Alaska birds. These guys are kitting tightly and took off in a hurry towards home. It was their 4th drop from 42 miles. About 2 miles north, they crossed in front of me coming back heading straight west from the east. *sigh* (They should be going straight NNW). Oh well. I hope to get them down there tomorrow and Friday and then jump them up to 64 miles Sat & Sun. The race is only 92 miles next Wednesday so they should be fine.

Looking Good at 24 miles!

2011-08-15T09:27:00.005-05:00

The corn was much taller than previous years at this drop. I am a couple of weeks later than usual. There are 36 that are doing well and another 2-3 that are struggling. I was worried I'd be able to get done with training but it looks really good. If the weather does ok - I'll be at 42 miles by Friday - an entire week before shipping for the first race. I hope to get them out 64 miles before that (and maybe one drop at 82 miles if we're really lucky (and I'm not too sleepy)).

I finally remembered to turn on my camera before releasing! :-)

And then there were 36

2011-08-12T08:42:00.001-05:00

Click to enlarge

Okay, these 36 look pretty good. I keep forgetting to take pictures. This one was taken too late but it's all I've got. They are doing wonderful at 12 miles (although I dropped those last 3 weak ones on the first drop from here). I am going to drop them across the river and into town a bit. It's about 14-15 miles. Two drops there and then we jump up to 24 miles. I want them to know this area well, it is probably the breakpoint.

Slow Going

2011-08-10T16:49:00.000-05:00

It is going to be exciting this year. I still need to get all the racing bands on the birds and get them in the computer. I hope to get them used to the computer trap sooner this year (that would be right now!). I took a week off to medicate them. I believe many of them had respiratory infections. They are mostly looking better now. I hope to jump them up to 12 miles tomorrow. 16 days until we basket for the first race. Yikes! I'll be lucky to get them trained out as far as I like (64 miles).

on the 3rd day of training

2011-07-28T08:59:00.000-05:00

I dropped another yesterday. I had two weak fliers this morning. Not sure what is going on. I left back Aqua so I only too out 40 this morning. I'm giving up on Aqua. The black hen 5381 is acting pretty weird. Her and a pied blue bar flew up in a tree. After the others left they took off each by themselves toward home. I will medicate them and hold them back when I jump up to 6 miles tomorrow. The other 38 looked real good.

And then there were 42

2011-07-26T08:40:00.000-05:00

Sad and strange. A first. While dropping the birds from their first training release I found a dead bird in the basket. It was 5380 - the one that seemed to be having problems after vaccines Saturday. She felt a little light but had been flying. I sure didn't expect to find her like that. I basketed just before 6am and released just before 8am. I have administered that vaccine nearly 200 times in the last 4 years and never had a problem.

I held back one: Aqua. The one with the freakish obsession for drinking bath water. He has, no doubt, picked up something from that bad habit. He was seriously light this weekend but I administered some meds and he's feeling better. He has always been strangely tame. He flies up on our shoulders when we go in to feed. I keep meaning to hand feed him. I think he's going to be a pet instead of a racer. (Sorry Phil - yep, he's one of yours).

Least favorite part is done

2011-07-24T09:21:00.000-05:00

My least favorite part of this hobby is administering the PMV vaccine via syringe. It takes a long time and I always feel bad about it. This time I had two incidents. I hit a vein on one and it bled a bit - not too much but that still bothered me. More scary, one of my blacks was having what appeared to be an anaphylactic reaction to the vaccine. I didn't notice until I was closing them up at night. First I noticed he was not in his roost. Then I noticed he appeared to have a cough but, under closer inspection, I decided he was having some breathing difficulty. I watched him a bit, considered administering Benadryl, but then decided he was not in immediate danger and left him alone. Sure enough, he was fine this morning.

While the birds were waiting in the boxes in the A/C (their first time being boxed), I cleaned the loft, put down litter, fresh water and feed for their return. After two syringes (12 birds) I'd drop them off and freshen the feed a bit (since the early birds would fish out all the good stuff). I was after 4pm when the last batch was dropped off. I put the bath pans in and they became very excited and stopped feeding and came up for a late afternoon bath (it was miserably hot). After the bath - they we wondering why they were cooped up. So, I flew them. I'd say 2/3rds felt up to some flying. The next morning - all of the regular fliers were ready to go. I have a few who always have to be tossed out and one black hen who is nesting. So, things looked back to normal today.

I will begin training Monday morning. I have exactly one month to get my 19 training drops in (three each 2.5 miles, then 6, 12, 14, 24, 42, 64 and one at 82). I can (and often do) squeeze the 12 & 14 down to 2 each and forgo the 82 mile at the end for a total of 16 drops. If I thought I were really pressed for time, I'd drop the 3rd 2.5 mile and drop from 64 miles only one.

If I get ahead of schedule, I continually drop from 42 miles because it is a convenient location. It's just off the Interstate and it takes me just as long to get to the 24 mile as it does to this drop. The 14 mile also takes longer than it's worth but I want them to know that area well and hopefully break no later than that.

Kitting Nicely

2011-07-11T18:06:00.000-05:00

I was worried about the younger half but they are all kitting now. I had to shoo several out. The Alaska birds seem to not like our 115 degree heat index and prefer the cool loft (amazing design - it stays pretty nice in there - I need to put a thermometer in there to see how cool).

I can't wait to start taking them down the road. It's going to be fun!

Late Breeding Means Short Old Bird Season

2011-05-19T08:27:00.000-05:00

I had a terrible breeding season. Not sure exactly why - perhaps the bitterly cold winter over came my tricking them into thinking its Spring with extra morning and evening lighting. At any rate - I really needed all of those late hatches for the Young Bird Team and didn't want to risk losing any feeders so I stayed out the first 5 races. Combined with the terrible weather - I am just now getting the birds out 42 miles. They've done that twice and have been loft flying in the evenings since March so they're in fairly good condition - though the older cocks are a bit heavy. They switched the 165 with a 300 so I had to lay out yet another race. I hope to get them a 100 mile training drop before going to their first OB race of 225 miles.

New Young Birds from Alaska

2011-04-08T10:53:00.000-05:00

Just got four new young birds - very pretty young birds from a breeder in Alaska! They got here pretty quick - two days - and looked good and healthy. They settled in with the rest of my young bird team very nicely. They are two light and two dark grizzles. I especially like the darker grizzles as they have quite a bit of red. I would call them almond or bronze. Steve calls them tortoise. They are actually redder than the picture shows. I have 22 young birds banded with more on the way. I am hoping for about 36 on the 2011 young bird team.

Evansville Racing Pigeon Club new member drive

2011-03-08T09:23:00.000-06:00

I told the rest of the club - "If Mike Tyson, The Coffee News, Courier & Press, Fox 7 & WIKY don't bring some interest into the new member drive at Central library tonight - I'm going to start getting discouraged!" We had a whirlwind of a morning promoting the Evansville Racing Pigeon Club's New Member Drive this morning. The event is at Central Library tonight at 7pm and we're hoping for a crowd! At 6:55am we were on Fox 7 and then had to be over to the radio station at 7:40am. (Click here to see the video). Cross your fingers!

Nearly 70 degrees - First Liberation

2011-02-17T08:25:00.001-06:00

It was the first time many of the late hatches had been out and just about the only time the old birds had been out since I started training young birds. I came home early and they looked pretty antsy - it had been nearly 70 degrees (it's supposed to break a record today at 72). As soon as I opened the trap they started busting for the exit. With only 30 minutes before sun down, I figured they'd be safe from hawks, especially if I stayed and watched - which I did (supper got cold, oh well). You could feel their joy as they climbed into the wind and then zoomed down with the wind. The late hatches tried to keep up with the old birds and after less than two minutes were back on the roof panting, resting before going again. I was amazed that everyone went back up fine - even the late hatches. Such an intelligent bird! I expected some of the Young Birds would protest and try to get back in the Young Bird loft but they didn't. The 11' geodesic winter fly pen spoiled them, I guess. Need to do this every night and start getting them conditioned for old bird races in April.

Breeding Season Well Underway

2011-02-11T08:25:00.000-06:00

I'm being more selective this year. I moved eggs from two preferred pair to two foster parents. I am determined to keep certain pairs from reproducing this year due to their track record. Still - it felt weird to break eggs this time of year. I worry the pairs I've taken eggs from will hesitate to start another round and I really need them to. It is going to be a very interesting young bird team! Black Eagles, Black Knights, black Houbens, Black Diamonds - it's going to be a dark year.

Stitches

2010-11-04T10:19:00.002-05:00

I just realized that my best bird ever, the young bird that came within 42 seconds of winning the big race, was the one I had to stitch up before training because she got damaged by a hawk. Tiny little hen. Never would've guessed her to nearly win a 300 mile race as a young bird.

The Big Race - 42 seconds to win

2010-10-29T13:56:00.002-05:00

3331 Click - Good hi-res

It was hard work. Two and a half extra hours before work boxing and driving the birds down for training - several days a week. I sat out the 225 the week before because it would start off with a head wind. I felt that would grind them down too much before the more important Futurity and Triple Crown race the next week. Instead, I sent them on the short race which was later, after the wind shifted into a tail wind. They coasted in real causal, obviously not too hurried or tired. The winds were westerly and my loft being 6 miles straight west of the rest meant the scores weren't anything to brag about.

Then came the week of the race. I really poured it on! I just loft flew them Sunday through Tuesday but Wednesday, Thursday and Friday they went for 42 mile flight before breakfast and were then liberated most of the rest of the day. The always did this in about 50-55 minutes (usually against a slight head wind) but on Friday - they took 1 hour 45 minutes. My guess is, the hawk was back bothering them. I noticed it likes to perch on the loft about that time of day waiting on them. Oh well, they got an extra hour of training and were then locked in until basketing for the race. I can honestly say I don't see what else I could've done for them. They were in great condition.

[Race Day: About 1:20pm] I was goofing off after feeding, watering and even bathing all the critters. Eating lunch while watching TV. I wasn't even thinking of looking at the loft clock until 2pm. The phone rang. It was Larry asking how many I got back. "What? You've got a bird already?!" "Got a bunch of them and they've been here a while. You'd better go check your loft!" So I ran out to the loft and I had 7 birds in! The first came in at 12:26:18! They had flown 308 miles in 5 hours and 11 minutes! I was amazed. What's more, I was 15 minutes ahead of a loft 6 miles shorter than me. "That's a pretty good indicator!", I thought. I didn't get too excited as this never seems to turn out.

RACE RESULTS: I got the first bird in! However, 12 seconds later 2 more birds came in together at Marks loft 6 miles east and almost 1 mile north (overflight) of me. They took 1st and 2nd place. I got 3rd place with a blue bar #3331. "42 seconds to win" the computer said. It was pretty cool and a little annoying at the same time. I've never scored higher than 3rd. 2nd would've, of course, been better. But 42 seconds from 1st place after 300+ miles was pretty cool! I'll take it.

National Database-1        EVANSVILLE RACING PIGEON CLUB         11/05/10-12:59
                                   Evansville IN
                                 Weekly Race Report                      Page 1
                            Open and Sportsman Category
Name: BIRMINGHAM 13               Young Bird Race             Flown: 10/23/2010

Release(A): 07:15  Birds: 134  Lofts: 9            Station: BIRMINGHAAL (0207)
Weather (Rel) Clear, SE-5, 57 deg  (Arr) PC, SE-15, 80 deg


POS NAME          BAND NUMBER        CLR  X ARRIVAL   MILES   TOWIN      YPM  WS Cus Pts  NDB Std Pts
  1 HELFRICH S/30 10145  AU 10 HELF  BB   H 12:26:28  309.191 00.00 1747.107    532         96  
  2 HELFRICH STEV 10172  AU 10 HELF  BB   H 12:26:30   2/30   00.02 1746.920    528         93  
  3 THREET ROB/15 3331   AU 10 EVV   BB   H 12:26:16  308.276 00.42 1743.103    524         89  
  4 HELFRICH M/30 2509   AU 10 EVV   BC   H 12:27:38  309.389 00.57 1741.737    520         85  
  5 HELFRICH MARK 2590   AU 10 EVV   BC   H 12:27:42   2/30   01.01 1741.365    516         81  
  6 HELFRICH MARK 2580   AU 10 EVV   BC   H 12:27:46   3/30   01.05 1740.994    512         78  
  7 HELFRICH STEV 10121  AU 10 HELF  BC   H 12:27:35   3/30   01.07 1740.866    508         74  
  8 HELFRICH STEV 10141  AU 10 HELF  BB   H 12:27:36   4/30   01.08 1740.773    504         70  
  9 HELFRICH STEV 10161  AU 10 HELF  BB   H 12:27:37   5/30   01.09 1740.681    500         66  
 10 HELFRICH STEV 10114  AU 10 HELF  BB   H 12:27:38   6/30   01.10 1740.588    496         63  
 11 HELFRICH STEV 10106  AU 10 HELF  BC   H 12:27:39   7/30   01.11 1740.495    492         59  
 12 HELFRICH STEV 10130  AU 10 HELF  BB   H 12:27:39   8/30   01.11 1740.495    488         55  
 13 HELFRICH STEV 10235  AU 10 HELF  BB   H 12:27:40   9/30   01.12 1740.402    484         51  
 14 HELFRICH STEV 10139  AU 10 HELF  BB   H 12:27:41  10/30   01.13 1740.309    480         48  
--------------------------------- Above are 10 percent -------------------------
 15 HELFRICH STEV 10191  AU 10 HELF  BC   H 12:27:42  11/30   01.14 1740.217    476         44  
 16 HELFRICH STEV 10147  AU 10 HELF  BCWF H 12:27:43  12/30   01.15 1740.124    472         40  
 17 HELFRICH STEV 10174  AU 10 HELF  BCSP H 12:27:44  13/30   01.16 1740.031    468         37  
 18 HELFRICH STEV 10154  AU 10 HELF  BB   H 12:27:45  14/30   01.17 1739.938    464         33  
 19 THREET ROBERT 3305   AU 10 EVV   BC   C 12:27:30   2/15   01.57 1736.159    460         29  
 20 HELFRICH MARK 2522   AU 10 EVV   BC   H 12:31:03   4/30   04.22 1722.908    456         25  
 21 HELFRICH MARK 2550   AU 10 EVV   BC   H 12:31:05   5/30   04.24 1722.726    452         22  
 22 BUTCH GARRI/9 2217   AU 10 EVV   BB   H 12:30:55  307.548 06.05 1713.386    448         18  
 23 BUTCH GARRISO 2214   AU 10 EVV   BCWF H 12:30:58   2/9    06.08 1713.142    444         14  
 24 GOODWIN DO/19 2664   AU 10 EVV   BLK  H 12:35:34  311.262 07.01 1708.866    440         10  
 25 GOODWIN DON   2699   AU 10 EVV   BB   H 12:36:32   2/19   07.58 1703.755    436          7  
 26 GOODWIN DON   2760   AU 10 EVV   BB   H 12:36:34   3/19   08.01 1703.552    432          3  
 27 HELFRICH MARK 2521   AU 10 EVV   BB   H 12:34:43   6/30   08.02 1703.148    428          0  
--------------------------------- Above are 20 percent -------------------------
----------------------- Below are the first birds from each loft ---------------
 45 GARRISON B/14 2767   AU 10 EVV   BC   H 12:35:04  305.564 12.14 1680.250    356          0  
 48 LARSON LAR/13 3036   AU 10 EVV   BB   H 12:35:37  304.857 13.30 1673.534    344          0  
 70 SIMPSON DEB/2 0449   AU 10 HKY   GRIZ H 13:15:03  321.742 35.56 1572.705    256          0  
 87 SIMPSON DON/2 2739   AU 10 EVV   BC   C 13:32:25  321.742 53.18 1500.319    188          0

Hanging onto "McCloud"

2010-10-21T09:21:00.000-05:00

I thought I had lost 3323 yesterday. Been having a lot of hawk trouble. He has been consistently among the first bird in from races and training. In fact, he earned me a 3rd place AU diploma in the race before last. The highest I have ever placed in our super competitive club of old veterans and their old bloodlines. He must've been first one in from another 42 mile training drop and gotten chased off. The hawk later fed on one of my rollers and 3323 came in late in the afternoon. When I thought I had lost him, it made me sick. "I haven't even gotten a picture of the bird that earned me my first 3rd place diploma." So, I took this:

Good Birds! (Well Behaved Anyway)

2010-09-29T08:59:00.002-05:00

I held back 4 late arrivals from this weekend's race. Did very nicely! My best score sheet EVER! With a 3rd place diploma winner (my highest ever!), I was very happy. This weekends race is a bit further so I am taking the remaining 22 young birds out today and Friday for a 42 mile conditioning drop. The sun sure comes up late now.

The drop is exactly an hours drive for me. I stopped about 30 minutes before the drop at the last (good) gas station and filled up and went inside to get coffee. I came back and drove the remaining 30 minutes then opened the back hatch of the van to find that one of my baskets was not latched on one side and two birds were out! I stared at them and they stared at me. They seemed to be thinking, as I was, "This isn't right!" Thank goodness they stayed on the blanket I put down! I decided to just do what i always do - set the baskets down and let them settle a bit before the release while I eat my breakfast. So I did. The two loose birds just ambled back toward the opening and stayed there (still on the blanket) while I ate. I decided it might be funny to film the release with my cell phone. So I did (sorry it came out sideways).

They must've gotten out at the gas station - I would've heard them otherwise. I know they rode the last 30 minutes just standing next to the other baskets. I was thinking this morning how calm and gentle they've become. Heck! Maybe I don't need baskets!! :-) I really love working with these animals. They're pretty amazing creatures!

Another Bad One - for me

2010-09-20T14:56:00.001-05:00

Well, most of the others did well. For some reason, only 9 of 29 came in on time. I got 12 more - but they were really late. That's really all I have to say on it. There was a hawk and it got one of my rollers. Not sure of what happened as I was out of town.