# Rookie Race Reports



## Ashby Loft (Aug 31, 2007)

This rookie blew it today 

Here's the details... http://www.ashbyloft.com/mccammon-race-08-27-2010/

How did everybody else do?


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## SouthTown Racers (Jan 14, 2009)

Oh man that sucks!! I had a bird not clock in one time, and of course it would have to be a bird that had a real shot at winning te combine that day!!


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

I sent 5 birds because I knew it would suck today. I left for work at 3:00 and their was still no birds, so like you if none come back I'm down to 14, problem is though with the hurricane hitting me tomorrow, if they aren't back today, chances will be slim for them tomorrow if at all.


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## brown7683 (May 9, 2011)

Hate that for ya man. I will check mine for sure now before I start racing. I got late hatches only so I am not starting until end of sept. Club going to do little 5 week race schedule for late hatches.


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## flewthecoupe (Mar 28, 2005)

Hang in there in averaging 1250 ypm in the races but crush that in training tosses
I'm hoping for A much better average when we get to the 200 mile races


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

I just home from work and I got 1 out of 5 birds back. I hope the others brave the hurricane and come back Monday.


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## windyflat (Jul 19, 2007)

I got 2/6 in the clock. Man it's been hard on the long end this year.


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## flewthecoupe (Mar 28, 2005)

What combine ?
Ours was canceled ( cjc )


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

windyflat said:


> I got 2/6 in the clock. Man it's been hard on the long end this year.


Their was another earthquake today? But one guy clocked in 18 out of 20, that guy never looses birds I wish I knew what he did.


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## Thunderbird Racing (Jul 24, 2010)

I shipped the best 20 birds in my loft tonight, I hope they can repeat the club win tomorrow! fingers crossed! I did get a trophy for my first club win though.


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

I got 3 diplomas so far, oh well better then nothing lol.


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## Thunderbird Racing (Jul 24, 2010)

First To Hatch said:


> I got 3 diplomas so far, oh well better then nothing lol.


sure beats a sharp stick in the eye. we only had 3 lofts ship so, no diplomas last week.


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## windyflat (Jul 19, 2007)

flewthecoupe said:


> What combine ?
> Ours was canceled ( cjc )


CNY combine... I'm waaay upstate not far from Canada.


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## Pigeon0446 (Apr 22, 2007)

flewthecoupe said:


> What combine ?
> Ours was canceled ( cjc )


The 2 combines on Long Island were cancled as well the Long Island Combine and the Suffolk Nassau Combine. Our race was suposed to be on Sunday but with this Hurricane there's no way we were having a race. It rained here all day but it was pretty calm so I had my birds out and they flew pretty good. But it's starting to get bad now the winds are starting to pick up and the rain is getting heavier.


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## JaxRacingLofts (Apr 11, 2010)

Our club races don't start until October but I've been training my birds since July. 
Friday I took 55 birds with me to the feed store about 6 miles from my loft and we had scattered showers with gust of winds in the 30 mph range...I ended up loosing 5 birds. I can't believe it cause its a straight shot if the birds just follow the street. 
Today I took my 50 "survivors" out to their break point on the line of flight which is just over 26 miles from home and as of tonight I still have 10 birds out?!!! 20 -25 of them came home earlier in a big group and the other stragglers have showed up in small groups of 2-3 at a time.
I'm bringing this up to you guys because I know you have all trained hard and pushed through your losses...do ya think I should "rest them" tomorrow or take the ones I have and release them again from their break point and see if they improve their speed?


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

JaxRacingLofts said:


> Our club races don't start until October but I've been training my birds since July.
> Friday I took 55 birds with me to the feed store about 6 miles from my loft and we had scattered showers with gust of winds in the 30 mph range...I ended up loosing 5 birds. I can't believe it cause its a straight shot if the birds just follow the street.
> Today I took my 50 "survivors" out to their break point on the line of flight which is just over 26 miles from home and as of tonight I still have 10 birds out?!!! 20 -25 of them came home earlier in a big group and the other stragglers have showed up in small groups of 2-3 at a time.
> I'm bringing this up to you guys because I know you have all trained hard and pushed through your losses...do ya think I should "rest them" tomorrow or take the ones I have and release them again from their break point and see if they improve their speed?



I would rest them, and feed something with high fat content. If you don't want to loose birds here what I think you should do: 3 at 3 miles, 3 at 7-8 miles, 3 at 15 miles, 3 at 25 miles, 3 at 35 miles, 2 at 50 miles, 2 at 65 miles, then if you want 2 at 80 miles, or jump straight to 100. You might not loose as many, you need to take it slow with these guys don't push them so hard so fast, I only lost 1 bird road training and I think I have the 2nd best lack of losses in the races after 4 races.


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## raftree3 (Oct 16, 2010)

After my success last week I wasn't counting on such good luck. I sent birds that I probably shouldn't have because of lack of feathers. I sent 11 and had two come in real good then I had to leave and since I'm using a manual clock this year the rest came in after I left. Still have two out though....hoping to see them. My thought was I can't take them for a 100 mile toss as cheap as I can send them to race so I guess it was a training experience. Next week I think I'll try to send birds that I think can actually place well for a 150.


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## Matt M (Mar 2, 2011)

12 Volt Man said:


> This rookie blew it today


Man that sucks. Sorry to hear about it, but sounds like your birds flew well and that you'll probably NEVER make that mistake again so they better watch out for you the rest of the season!


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## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

JAX...There are hundreds of pigeon lofts in Florida....Do you think your birds are getting hooked up with many others going a different direction,and they are getting confused ?? Alamo


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## JaxRacingLofts (Apr 11, 2010)

Alamo said:


> JAX...There are hundreds of pigeon lofts in Florida....Do you think your birds are getting hooked up with many others going a different direction,and they are getting confused ?? Alamo


I wish I could say that but I think my problem is closer to home. I took today off from training and re-evaluated my loft situation and conditions and I think I am over feeding them. I did boost their protein up some last week because of them moulting but today I switched them back to the barley and the 10 minutes feed time. 
Tomorrow I'll take them for short toss along my flight line of maybe 15 miles and we'll see if my theory is correct. As far as health goes their droppings are fine, they feel a little heavy but more exercise should turn that around. 
I do hope that if anyone recovers one of my birds they contact our club but at these simple distances my birds should make a bee-line home and not circle as much as they do.


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## Ashby Loft (Aug 31, 2007)

JaxRacingLofts said:


> Our club races don't start until October but I've been training my birds since July.
> Friday I took 55 birds with me to the feed store about 6 miles from my loft and we had scattered showers with gust of winds in the 30 mph range...I ended up loosing 5 birds. I can't believe it cause its a straight shot if the birds just follow the street.
> Today I took my 50 "survivors" out to their break point on the line of flight which is just over 26 miles from home and as of tonight I still have 10 birds out?!!! 20 -25 of them came home earlier in a big group and the other stragglers have showed up in small groups of 2-3 at a time.
> I'm bringing this up to you guys because I know you have all trained hard and pushed through your losses...do ya think I should "rest them" tomorrow or take the ones I have and release them again from their break point and see if they improve their speed?


I don't think it can hurt to give them a day to rest since you've still got a while till the races start.


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## Ashby Loft (Aug 31, 2007)

Matt M said:


> Man that sucks. Sorry to hear about it, but sounds like your birds flew well and that you'll probably NEVER make that mistake again so they better watch out for you the rest of the season!


I am still kicking myself. I was so excited and the birds came through. I was the weak link. You're right though you can pretty much guarantee that all my birds will be clocked.


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

I got one today, survived the hurricane! That is one tough bird that LOVES its loft.


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## JaxRacingLofts (Apr 11, 2010)

First To Hatch said:


> I got one today, survived the hurricane! That is one tough bird that LOVES its loft.


Congrats...man thats a good thing. I had a few more show up today I'm still holding out for whatever stragglers may come back this evening before I consider them MIA.


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## Ashby Loft (Aug 31, 2007)

We didn't have a good race this week. 26th place was my top bird. (But at least I got them on the clock this time ) http://www.ashbyloft.com/fort-hall-race-09-03-2011/


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## raftree3 (Oct 16, 2010)

Ours was cancelled due to the weather. Just when I was getting used to watching for birds on Saturday morning. 200 next week......


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

I got 35th, top 20% only 7 out of 14 birds are back as of now though....some one told me I didn't do to bad since one guy had me beat with 21 birds, but I still don't like my results..I'm at the point where, "what am I doing wrong?" comes into play they are healthy nice alert eyes and pearl white ceres, I train them twice a week and loft fly them 2 hours when I don't...not sure what I'm doing wrong although the one week where I did pretty good I only trained them Wednesday Thursday and no loft flying that week plus they had a little bit of respiratory after the race the week before and were on respiratory medication, I am at a loss, I feel like I can't turn my season around at all.


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## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

First to Hatch.....Do not race the race during the week...2 hours of flying per day is not needed after the races have started....Loft flying 1 hr to 1 hr 15 min is good enough to KEEP them sharp,without wearing them out...According to the PRO`s,that`s not ME,the birds need one days REST with NO FLYING for every 2 hours on the wing in the RACE !!! So If your birds homed in 4 to 5 hours in a race,and Sunday is race day,you do not fly them at all untill Wednesday....You can either train them short,or loft fly them.....Makes no difference....You have to watch them and see how spunky they are,or how uninspired they are while flying.....Alamo


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

Alamo said:


> First to Hatch.....Do not race the race during the week...2 hours of flying per day is not needed after the races have started....Loft flying 1 hr to 1 hr 15 min is good enough to KEEP them sharp,without wearing them out...According to the PRO`s,that`s not ME,the birds need one days REST with NO FLYING for every 2 hours on the wing in the RACE !!! So If your birds homed in 4 to 5 hours in a race,and Sunday is race day,you do not fly them at all untill Wednesday....You can either train them short,or loft fly them.....Makes no difference....You have to watch them and see how spunky they are,or how uninspired they are while flying.....Alamo


Thats the thing I didn't force them to fly 2 hours I let them out before feeding and they literally flew around the house for that long then I decided they were nuts and and called them in. It just started thundering and raining here, I got 8 birds out of 14 home, so that means I'm down to 10 birds total if I don't get any more back, so you think I shouldn't fly them till wendesday day? when I did good they didn't get to fly at all until wendesday when they got a 35 mile toss should I try that again this week?


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## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

First To Hatch......Yes....One days rest for every two hours flown in a race....Then if Wednesday is the 1st day to fly them,either loft fly them,or road train....I usally go by how much money I have to spend..If I`m a little short,I loft fly...If I have a few extra $$,I`ll take them down the road 25 to 40 miles...Depending on how they feel....By that I mean are they a little light or heavy in weight...Or...Is their skin color pink or purple...Over worked birds will show a purple color....Also purple color could mean to much protien,and or not good enough ventilation in the loft(not enough fresh air)....Alamo


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## raftree3 (Oct 16, 2010)

Alamo...I've been pretty much doing as you suggest but with no race this week I took them 25 this morning...what would you do the rest of the week if you're going 200 on Saturday?


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## Alamo (Nov 22, 2008)

A 50 mile toss on Thursday....Make sure the weather is real nice...You don`t want to make them fly all day....They should make 50 miles in about an hour to 1hr 5 min.....That`s all they need at this point....25/30 miles if you want Tues,OR Wed,or even both days...Just watch the birds at home after they fly....If they are SPUNKY in the loft,when they home,all is well....Alamo


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## Matt M (Mar 2, 2011)

Shipped 9 birds to our very first race this weekend and clocked 7 of 9 by knock off. The first bird in for us put in a very nice effort, grabbing 9th place out of 343 birds and well above 10% mark which was the initial goal. Not bad for our rookie team racing natural system against some powerful lofts entering the 30 bird limit in the race.

It may have been a tough race for the birds coming from Nevada where there was thunder storms and smoke in some areas, not sure if we were affected by that or not. Only downer was our top bird was 32 minutes ahead of the next 3 on our team, those placed 131, 134 and 135 and were down the list. But it gave us a good place to start and definitely have learned a lot these past few weeks.


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

I sat out this weekend, but to my dismay on Friday I had a lil silver I lost in the 250 mile on August 27th return....then I thought to myself I bet 445 will come back no way 248 will that bird didn't seem very good at all. So who do I find in my loft beak and feet covered in mud other than my 248? We have some decent weather over the next few days I'm hoping some more birds come in since it was raining Sunday-Thursday last week and the birds that got lost last week never got a chance to come home...two of them are diploma birds too.


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## raftree3 (Oct 16, 2010)

My first race I was a winner...next race not so great. Last week the race was cancelled for weather. 200 this week...sent 8 and two came good the rest were just average...no winners though. 200 again next week, hope I can find some with feathers to fly. Next year I'm going with some kind of system so the feathers aren't an issue.


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## Thunderbird Racing (Jul 24, 2010)

I got my second Club win in three races today!!!!

So far I have two firsts and a third at the club level. Combine wise not as good but my location is well.......it sucks...


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

Thunderbird Racing said:


> I got my second Club win in three races today!!!!
> 
> So far I have two firsts and a third at the club level. Combine wise not as good but my location is well.......it sucks...


Nice job! I'm very jealous!


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## Thunderbird Racing (Jul 24, 2010)

First To Hatch said:


> Nice job! I'm very jealous!


thanks!! I'm pretty stoked, because a guy in my club made the comment "you'll be lucky to finish race season with any birds"....
he didn't have much to say at knock off today...


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

Thunderbird Racing said:


> thanks!! I'm pretty stoked, because a guy in my club made the comment "you'll be lucky to finish race season with any birds"....
> he didn't have much to say at knock off today...


I know how you feel one guy was telling me what to do and that my birds weren't in condition, he started off with more birds then me and by the 4th race he lost them all and I still have a YB team.


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## Ashby Loft (Aug 31, 2007)

I didn't do really great this week. OK I guess. My top finishing birds were 24th, 25th, and 26th. Just out of the top 10%. 
Really hoped to do better. There's always next week.


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## Thunderbird Racing (Jul 24, 2010)

Well I just got another win in some ways. I have just come in from the loft after doing a head count, I realized I got a bird home today that has been missing since the 2nd 125, on 8-28-11. Welcome home MTFL 131!!


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## Ashby Loft (Aug 31, 2007)

4th place today from 225 miles.  Tough race. Club only had 60 out of 180 birds return in time to check in. I sent 14 and only have 7 back


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

Alamo, so how many days should they get off for flying 3 hours? 


I didn't do to good this week, top 20% again, I'm stuck in the middle, I'm loosing to half the guys and beating half lol.


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## Thunderbird Racing (Jul 24, 2010)

First To Hatch said:


> Alamo, so how many days should they get off for flying 3 hours?


I rest mine 1 day for every 2 hours, so 3 hours would get 2 days rest, since my work schedule would allow 1 1/2 days.


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## Josepe (Jan 10, 2011)

First To Hatch,
You're 17 years old,and it's your First racing season.You can't expect to set the club sheets on Fire this year.It takes Experience,and Luck.You'll gain more experience each year.


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## Thunderbird Racing (Jul 24, 2010)

Josepe said:


> First To Hatch,
> You're 17 years old,and it's your First racing season.You can't expect to set the club sheets on Fire this year.It takes Experience,and Luck.You'll gain more experience each year.


I don't totally agree, this is my first season too, and I have won 2 of three races at the club level!

a rookie can win with a little guidance and hard work.


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## Josepe (Jan 10, 2011)

And don't forget Luck.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Josepe said:


> First To Hatch,
> You're 17 years old,and it's your First racing season.You can't expect to set the club sheets on Fire this year.It takes Experience,and Luck.You'll gain more experience each year.


I was 15 when I started and won my first two races. Got a few other diplomas as well.


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## Thunderbird Racing (Jul 24, 2010)

Oh Yeah, I got 2 more birds home today, that have been missing since last weeks training toss of 32 miles. I was surprised to loose them since they have been there about 20 times. Anyway I'm glad to have them home. The white one was missing for 3 weeks earlier this summer, so I think he may have a girlfriend out there some place.


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

At least my losses are better than most. Knock on wood. Also it is kind of hard to win a race when theirs two guys always getting 10+ birds on a drop. One race I got 35th out of 200+ birds in the race, one guy had 21 birds ahead of me. This my first experience with pigeons, I've learned a lot this year and their is definitely some things I want to do differently, and some ideas I have that I want to do.


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## Josepe (Jan 10, 2011)

You'll get there.


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## Ashby Loft (Aug 31, 2007)

Not too good for me this week. Worst performance so far. 135 mile race and my first bird placed 77th out of 177 birds.


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## Matt M (Mar 2, 2011)

Mixed bag for our loft results on Saturday... I'm only a couple hours from Tom and the PT Classic Race group so we ran into the same strong winds (mostly headwind for us) and scattered T-storms as the PT race birds. So things were much tougher and slower for the 220 miler than the previous 150 miler and even though the knock off time was pushed back an hour there still was a ton of birds out. Given the conditions and the fact that I probably hadn't tuned or fed my birds up properly for a tough race, I was happy with 19th out of 304 club and 23rd out of 617 combine so comfortably in the top 10% with our best finisher but it was a bit of a gap between our 1st bird and the next few. Got back 6 of 9 on Saturday and 2 more the next morning so still out 1 which is the first bird we've lost in the 3 races thus far. The birds definitely got an education this week, and definitely will put some muscle on from that effort.


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## Ashby Loft (Aug 31, 2007)

Matt M said:


> Mixed bag for our loft results on Saturday... I'm only a couple hours from Tom and the PT Classic Race group so we ran into the same strong winds (mostly headwind for us) and scattered T-storms as the PT race birds. So things were much tougher and slower for the 220 miler than the previous 150 miler and even though the knock off time was pushed back an hour there still was a ton of birds out. Given the conditions and the fact that I probably hadn't tuned or fed my birds up properly for a tough race, I was happy with 19th out of 304 club and 23rd out of 617 combine so comfortably in the top 10% with our best finisher but it was a bit of a gap between our 1st bird and the next few. Got back 6 of 9 on Saturday and 2 more the next morning so still out 1 which is the first bird we've lost in the 3 races thus far. The birds definitely got an education this week, and definitely will put some muscle on from that effort.


That's really great especially given the conditions. Congrats!


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## raftree3 (Oct 16, 2010)

Got the results of our races tonight. My best bird was 5th of 74 on the 200 and 7th of 92 on the 100. Something I thought was really cool was a friend gave me a bird this spring and he kept the nest mate. We live 50 miles apart and I'm sure don't treat or train our birds the same. We each unknowingly sent one of these birds, not sure if they were in the same crate or not and each had birds that came even faster but none at or near the same time. These nest mates flew the 200 miles in 1429.611 and 1428.225. Whats the odds????


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## Ashby Loft (Aug 31, 2007)

I had a pretty bad 300 mile race on Saturday. I waited all day for the birds to come back.  The other racers in the club were having trouble too. Most sent 30 birds and when it was almost dark I finally got one back. They had to move the clock check in back to Sunday, because the most anyone had back was 9 birds. Most had 3 to 5 back by dark on Saturday.

I had plans for Sunday and wasn't able to get my clock back to the club house for check in. I ended up with 8 more back on Sunday with one being a bird I hadn't seen for two weeks. 

It was a tough 300 for our club. Just one more race!


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## Thunderbird Racing (Jul 24, 2010)

I had a great race this week, I took the top 3 spots in my club and so far I am 9th combine in the MO side, Illinois side still to report.


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## raftree3 (Oct 16, 2010)

We had a 150 this week. I hauled the birds. Really fast race, my best bird flew 1505 YPM and was 30th. Winner was 1602 YPM. I use a manual clock so my buddy came out and clocked my birds....his won the race. I got home just as my third bird came. One more race to go...300 miles. Anxious to see my birds fly that far, gonna be a little cautious and not send to many, supposed to be a rainy weekend.


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## Thunderbird Racing (Jul 24, 2010)

*Rookie Season Reflection*

The combine and avg. speed results went out a little while ago. I finished 10th avg. speed, for the season, out of 37 lofts, I won my club 5 times, and won the combine in the 300, yesterday. To be honest I am beside myself, and would like to thank all those who helped along the way. What a First season!!


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## Melsloft (Apr 27, 2007)

Craig Congrats !!!!!!


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## First To Hatch (Jul 19, 2009)

Nice job T-Bird. I was looking at the sheets and I realized in most races that I was down in it was because two guys would beat me with about 30 birds, so that made me feel a bit better lol. I just wish I hadn't lost those diploma birds.


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## Thunderbird Racing (Jul 24, 2010)

thanks!

yeah it sucks to loose good birds. Last week my first bird home was a sibling to SouthTown Racer's 200 mile combine winner. I thought it might be a good one too, then lost it on a 32 mile trainer. Worst part is that she had been on that toss about 30 times!


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## ace in the hole (Nov 27, 2007)

Thunderbird Racing said:


> thanks!
> 
> yeah it sucks to loose good birds. Last week my first bird home was a sibling to SouthTown Racer's 200 mile combine winner. I thought it might be a good one too, then lost it on a 32 mile trainer. Worst part is that she had been on that toss about 30 times!


Probably to a hawk or wire. For some reason my young birds wanted to fly real low this year. Just in training with 26 birds I had 12 hit wires and 4 get hawk hit.


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