This weeks discussion of the week is…
What do you think the current state of pigeon racing is?
For example do you think pigeon racing is growing or dying and why, express your views and share with others your opinions on the current state of pigeon racing by placing your vote in the poll below then posting a comment in the comment section below this post.
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In my country,Indonesia, it growing sport,but we as younger hard to find a new young people who like it,cause it some kind of expensive sport here.But we try to grow it to become famous, even it have a small prize for winner.
it is time that we come up with video games that will encourage young people to join the sports,show them the beauty of the real struggle of the human soul,pigeons respresent the human soul,the human soul is constantly struggleing to get to know it CREATOR find it way home to please the one who created it..
i think the the sport is growing maybe not as fast as we may like but it is growing if more people talked about it and the history be hind it i think alot more people would be iterested in it and if the oldtimers and new comers could and share knolegeand not keep everthing a secret help each other out instead of saying i dont know or you cant do that and not explain why but with the internet now you can get alot of good info
I hope it’s not dying!!! My family has only had birds for three years now. We are raising homers and domices (sorry spelling). we hope to start back yard flying soon and racing next year. We are in 4H and my daughter shows the birds now, but as general leader I hope to get a race/ class out there for the 4H kids to learn what it’s all about. But first I have to learn . Ha Ha We are meeting more and more flyers that we didn’t know until we saw their birds. There are so many great bird people in our area. I have meet this old soul in a boys body through 4H and a coworker of mine that blows my socks off !!!!! this young boy knoledge of birds and flying , breeding and lines is right up there with and 80 year old man! young people like him wont let this die! no this is something we need to get to the city kids as well as the farm kids — kids always have loved animal and they will fall in love with pigeons like we all have.
Hello from down under,
Chris it has probably all been said so my comment is this…
We have a very marketable product but we are keeping it to ourselves why not have a National Pigeon Racing month each year and have every pigeon group put in and run a national pigeon racing campaign on TV. It would be awesome.
Ask 20 people in the street if they know about pigeon racing and there will not be too many who have ever heard of it so lets advertise the sport and share what we do..
……. fly baby fly.
Clem
So I call up a member of one club I belong to. I start to ask him questions and explain what he is doing wrong. I tell him many things that very few would tell him. This young member flies at the bottom of the combine and club.
Tonight June 3 2010 The President of the TAR club a IF club calls me and informs me that they are refunding my $25 dues and that they have set up a new boundary and I am no longer welcome in the club due to my 25 -30 miles over fly on club members. They granted me permission to fly the west course but now that we are back to a South course I am not welcome. The millage difference is less now than the west course . But they dislike being beat.
I am the SAME person that took out a half page add in the Racing Pigeon Digest giving thanks to different people and telling my system and feed and additives so the area knew what I was doing to win.
I am also the same person that called the president of the TAR club a year ago and told him vet issues to help his birds . He never knew what I told him and helped him with.
NOW these are ALL the SAME PEOPLE that WILL NOT ALLOW me to FLY in the TAR club or Turbotsville Area Pigeon Club.
I strongly support helping people but I think it has come to a end, the conduct of USA pigeons fliers in this area is very poor and sad to say the least.
And you Wonder why the sport is losing members ?
How about the Race Secretary we had about 10 years ago that Smashed Birds up on purpose and we not only lost members but a in tire club over it.
People in the sport better wake up and start being a sportsman. We are a dying breed of people that love to race pigeons. I have seen conduct that is driving people away instead of bringing them into the hobby.
2 years ago I was called by the If to defuse a issue were a bird was lost in Tenn. and a non flier found it. A member in our area told them to dispose of it and he did not want it back. I offered to pay for its return and the Lady in Tenn. decided to keep the bird. This was real poor conduct by a flier and dose not help our sport one bit. The lady made a big uproar and it got pretty bad.
Pretty bad when I call a secretary in Conn and he hangs the phone up on me due to he will not even give me the name of the owner of a bird so I can return it. This is another example of how we pigeon fliers represent our hobby to the public.
Regards JIM
hi jim my name is billy i live in the uk and i totally agree with what you are saying.if you have 25 miles overfly then surely it would be harder for you to win so what is thier problem.ive been in the sport for a year now and no-one will help im flying widowhood and darkness system with young birds would you know of a good feeding and water system. we call this sprint races flying 50-214 miles i dont fly the channel races yet(France) as im more interested in the faster races and i just cant seem to gain 2 minutes of time that im losing behind the winner every week any help would be appreciated, thanks.
I think is dying because new comers are struggeling and there is no advise or support from the more experience guys.
Reasons : No#1 Pigeon racing is not a fair sport. The sport as I see it is over in this area. LLC combine was 150 fliers the ACA over 175 . The LLC is down to 32 fliers. The combine opened up the boundaries and now I am in the middle . I have fliers 45 miles with over fly . I also have fliers 58 miles short of me. I am in the mountains they are not to the south of me. In 2008 the combine took in a club that was 32 miles from the first race station. I find this insane to fly against some one 82 miles short of me for combine trophy. We fly a South course so with head winds that pick up to 20 mph or higher when the fliers to the south have none I see the odds to great.
They are out of what I call the pie plate of fair competition . This is very typical of many combines in the USA.
I ask you fellow fliers Why should I keep flying pigeons with these odds ?
We keep pigeons in the USA and fly 11 old bird races. We double up 2 weekends and I can fly a bird to only 9 old bird races. That is it, Why keep and feed pigeons to fly only 11 old bird races total ? You see the double weekend you have to have bigger teams to compete against the big lofts.
I go to the combine meeting a fight against double lofts . I lose the fight, so now a man can ship 2 lofts or double team against mine .
I fight back and fly two teams , Twice the cost and twice the work . Why keep pigeons and race with such odds against you ?
If you think for one second that a professional flier shipping 40- 60 or more birds that are in great health and conditions can be beat. You are correct , but very unlikely you will do it. If you do it once you will be lucky. To do it week in week out, Lets face it (think again). The more pigeons you have racing to your loft the better the odds to win.
You see many retired people just can not afford to keep all these pigeons and if they can not win a race they get tired of the sport and quite. People like to win from time to time. Instead of increasing the numbers you can ship the combine should decrease the limit and Increase the races a man can fly in one day. More races and more chance to win a race. Makes better seance to me!
Question 2 Why should I fly against a man that will ship 40 birds when I have only 20 or less I can afford ?
You see in this area we are so spread out that numbers give you the odds, I have shipped little teams and I have shipped double teams. The truth is I won more combine and club races with BIG TEAMS ! Week in Week out , I have tested this over and over for the last 17 years . I have studied other that shipped big teams also.
This was done for money for the combine to pay the drivers . Instead of raising the price they take in fliers so far a way that it is imposable to win against them. They allow double lofts to take in more money and also to make the rich man with lots of loft space and birds happy.
These leaders think they are helping the sport but in the end are destroying it more.
Listen it is NOT the RICH MAN destroying the sport by buying expensive birds. The rich man loves to fly pigeons as well as the poor man. We both love pigeons and racing pigeons. There has to be something done by the better fliers to help the newer or poorer fliers. Or there must me races the little lofts or newer flier can fly that the old pros can not enter.
In stead of everyone being a secret agent man they should share their know how and birds to help bring up the poor fliers to your level .
It is not the rich man that destroys the sport but the MONEY that Destroy it. If people did not race for money then secrets would mean less and winning would mean more .Better sportsmanship would see to it that poorer of newer fliers would have a chance to win.
Trouble with helping people in this area — They pay you back by hurting you in most cases . Rich man is not hurting the sport , it is Poor sportsmanship that is destroying it.
We have a trailer that holds 46 crates – the crates are 2 feet by 4 feet . Our combine made a rule – NO LESS than 25 birds to a crate. I ask why ? WE have ROOM for less birds in a crate . We have the CRATES to make more room. They jam birds in a crate and I write the AU and IF trying to get support to fight this . I get NONE FROM THE AU OR IF> I ASK WHY should I subject my birds to this abuse. So you see friends there is not a LIMIT of birds to the CRATE . There is a LIMIT of LESS to a CRATE.
You see how this can be ABUSED ? AND I TELL YOU IT IS . THERE WAS BIRDS LAST WEEK SO JAMMED IN THE CRATES THERE WAS BLOOD FROM FIGHTING.
WHY SHOULD I KEEP FLYING PIGEONS IN THIS COMBINE OR CLUB ???? We have the crates we have the slots on the trailer and we only have 32 fliers.
Do you think I am unhappy ?? You are correct, I can go on with more but will spare every one.
It is not the Rich man or high cost that is destroying the sport it is the people running it .
Hi the sport of pigeon racing is dying in New Zealand, if your 50 years young.Or younger then your one of the youngest in the sport today.
Alot to do with this is fuel cost pushing up the price of grain due to freight costs. Also the freight costs for sending pigeon to race points.
The flier of today keeps far less birds than they used to mainly because there are a lot more retied folks.
Quick story to contradict my statement (opinion)A retired man just bought another house in the area i live in just to race pigeons.He kept the other house and just races young birds. INSANE if you ask me.
I think is continueing growing…Even here in the philippines. We have organized for all lovers in pigeon here in my place and most of them are joined in the fun race. We have coming race this july up to december. More powers guyS!