Impressive racing pigeon release footage.

[Disturbed]

Yeah, I have some pretty varied interests and have a small loft of Homers. Never raced. Yet.

[caleb]

Pretty cool, but I'm not sure I understand how the race works. Was one of the leaders shot at the end?

[Disturbed]

Birds get taken to location up to hundreds of miles away from their home lofts.

Birds are released.

Birds fly back to their home loft.

As the bird enters the loft a band it's wearing w/bar code get scanned automatically. The scanner is then read by the race officials.

Because the lofts are all in different locations and some closer to the release point, the winning bird is the one with the fastest average speed [not the first one back it a loft].

The race for pretty big cash prizes and some private lofts keep over 500 birds.

Lugged colorways and racing pigeons, it's all here on Vsalon...........................

[Nierman]

Do they allow race radios? Breakaways get caught in the last 1K?!

My cousin raised pigeons when I was a kid, and my older bro and I each bought one with our child labor money. Mine would sit on my shoulder when I mowed the yard. A 10yr pirate of the high weeds, I was. Arrrg.

Coooo(l) video!

[Til Dropp]

My Italian boss in 80s was heavily into racing them. Pretty mean (but fair) big guy he was. You could always tell how his race went when you see him Monday mornings. He would say how many heads of his favorite birds he twisted that weekend.

There is a show about Mike Tyson getting into racing pigeons on Animal Channel. He's been into pigeons since his childhood but never actually raced. He was supposedly bullied and beat up growing up until some local gang dude took away one of pigeons he was carrying, twisted the bird's head off and dripped the blood over Tyson's head. I guess he beat the dude up. That was the first time he actually fought back and "got into a fight". He took the film crew to the exact location to show where it happened. He said he felt justified doing it. That was the beginning.

the winning bird is the one with the fastest average speed [not the first one back it a loft].

A fastest bird is worthless unless it is a bird that goes back into a loft as the timer is on the gates of loft: I'd assume half the game of racing pigeons besides the speed is to teach them to go back in the loft ASAP/making lofts enticing enough for them to want to go back in right away/pick the ones with natural penchant for going back into loft. Some pigeons are specially trained and released just to guide the birds back into loft (I forget the name). Some birds won't go back into loft for hours.

[Disturbed]

Nothing get my birds back into the loft faster then a eagle drifting over the property. The fold their wings back and drop like stones only braking just before the hit the entry perch.

[54ny77]

i had the unique displeasure of being around racing pigeons for many years via family....ugh....

yeah, cool to watch, amazing to hear the whoosh of a big group of them buzz your head, and mind-boggling how they can go 500 miles away and find their individual pen....but scooping shit and feathers and good lord the STENCH of the coops....umm, no thanks.

some of the gigantic coops in europe (esp. belgium) are amazing. pigeon coop mansions, they are.

[Til Dropp]

shit and feathers and good lord the STENCH of the coops

You become one with... not that I would.

[Disturbed]

i had the unique displeasure of being around racing pigeons for many years via family....ugh....

yeah, cool to watch, amazing to hear the whoosh of a big group of them buzz your head, and mind-boggling how they can go 500 miles away and find their individual pen....but scooping shit and feathers and good lord the STENCH of the coops....umm, no thanks.

some of the gigantic coops in europe (esp. belgium) are amazing. pigeon coop mansions, they are.

Well, if you'd done a decent job of keeping the coop clean, the smell wouldn't have been a problem.

It's hard to get worked up over pigeon poop when 3-4 times a year the spray/spread liquid cow manure on the 100 acre field that's 90 yards from out porch.

[caleb]

I have some pretty varied interests and have a small loft of Homers. Never raced. Yet.

Do you train the dogs on them or just keep them for kicks?

[54ny77]

hey thanks but no thanks for the great advice, as all this was when i was a young kid ordered to go scoop pigeon shit & feathers and occasionally have the privilege of watching for incomings so they could be tagged and times recorded during races. mess up a tagging, oh no bueno.

that was so much more fun than going to the beach and riding my bmx bike and hanging out with friends...

Well, if you'd done a decent job of keeping the coop clean, the smell wouldn't have been a problem.

It's hard to get worked up over pigeon poop when 3-4 times a year the spray/spread liquid cow manure on the 100 acre field that's 90 yards from out porch.

[Disturbed]

Do you train the dogs on them or just keep them for kicks?

The pointing dogs, yes. The birds are place in a spring release box and after the dog locates and points it, the bird is popped out and back to the loft they go. I've also kept quite a few different varieties just because I enjoy them. Tumblers/roller are a blast to watch and I use to have about 20. Yeah, they have tumbler competitions.

[caleb]

The pointing dogs, yes.

You run pointie dogs? Don't take this the wrong way, but I always thought they were a little ... small ... for you.

- Caleb (who wishes he had an English Pointer from hot field trial lines for hunting but dreads what the other nine months of the year would be like)

[Disturbed]

You run pointie dogs? Don't take this the wrong way, but I always thought they were a little ... small ... for you.

I don't ride them....

- Caleb (who wishes he had an English Pointer from hot field trial lines for hunting but dreads what the other nine months of the year would be like)

Not what you think......



Zoom Zoom out of a Guardrail bitch and Calico's Thrillogy. High power horse back trial breeding. She sleep under the covers. [bent tail tip was from 2 breaks while playing w/lab pup]



Our home is quite modest, 1400 sq feet and we generally have 3-5 pointers inside. Raise them right [well socialized as house dogs] and they're great as long as you have a fenced in yard or supervise their free time. Most are super affectionate and the BS about being not so and out of control/run off dogs comes from [imo] how many are raised/"trained"/treated.

6 pointers and a beagle in this green Christmas pic from a few years ago....



Maxx, a clients dog that I raised/trained that lives with us about 4-5 months a year.

[caleb]

Not what you think......

I know that's what people say, but the fear still lingers. I'm not due for another dog for another two or three years, so I have a while to get over it.

[Disturbed]

They're fine in the house, it's just what may happen when they go out the door.......

Athletic, independent and very high bird finding desire doesn't make for a dog that wants to lay around in the yard if other options are available. i.e. running off at high speed.

[caleb]

They're fine in the house, it's just what may happen when they go out the door.......

Athletic, independent and very high bird finding desire doesn't make for a dog that wants to lay around in the yard if other options are available. i.e. running off at high speed.

Yeah, the "runoff dog" stereotype also worries me a bit. I've been looking at English Setters (both trial dogs and the Ryman/Old Hemlock strands) as a potential middle ground between a runoff dog and a boot licker. My wife and I are planning a relocation within the next year, so exactly where we end up will influence how big I want a dog to run. If and when I get serious about picking up a new pup I'll be sure to fire you a PM to pick your brain.

[Disturbed]

With the wide diversity within the lines of both setters/pointers, it's the individual breeding not the breed you really need to look at. FWIW they all have 4 legs to our two and anyone of them can run faster/bigger then we can. Happy to give you my .02 any time....

[SteveP]

i love racing pigeons.
there just isnt a lot of meat on them...

[Human Epic Jolt]

1st july 1976 British Rail banned 'em. Used to be a big thing in some parts of London. the train conductor would accompany on the run up and release at a certain time.

hows this for a fact:

"In 1929 the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company alone claimed it was carrying seven million birds during the racing season and running as many as seventeen special pigeon trains on some days."