UkPigeonRacing

Always trained on line of flight they do compass when loft flying

MIL wrote: Thu May 02, 2024 4:19 pm I like to see my youngsters roam, for hours on end ideally - that's when they can do what they like

Training is when they need to have their "business hats" on though

Whether its training or racing its irrelevant to me.

I want them home A-B in the fastest time possible

I don't want them off their true line - and I guarantee one thing for certain whether you race North or South, Sprint or Distance one fact remains true

"Leading pigeons don't get pulled about"

I want my birds leading - not following

That's not quite true Mike. They may not get pulled over a short distance to a small local area, but the further they are sent they WILL be pulled off line the bigger the home area is. Top pigeons may sometimes beat the drag, but they will never beat the wind. That's why in many races a fancier is beat before the birds are up, no matter how good his birds are.
When York raced with the YMR I can't recall the East coast aces ever beating the York pigeons 40 miles West of then in an East wind.

MIL wrote: Thu May 02, 2024 4:42 pm A pigeon flying extra distance and not getting the credit for it will get its arse licked by any decent pigeon flying A-B in a straight line.

But how many pigeons fly in straight lines Mike? The further you send a bird the LESS likely it is to fly in a straight line? Tracking birds has proved this. That's why the old concept of 'corridor' flying failed. Nobody told the birds that they had to stay in the corridor.

If I have natural baby's they seem to really roam but even spring bred baby's on darkness don't roam for me so at 6,7,8 weeks old they get little tosses at 9 weeks old I toss as many times as I can from 1 mile bk to very little food after that it's 1x 5 mile toss 4 different directions after that it's 8 miles until there like red arrows then 16 miles until there like red arrows after this they will get a 30 n 50 mile toss before racing but mainly it's all 16 mile tosses.

you can't do that here north or south but why go north its hard enough going south here only one road and its shit traffic all the time not good for me never mind the birds nothing easy about training here I'm afraid

I really enjoy reading different fanciers methods and it just goes to show there is no single way. I think much of it depends on the area the birds are flying too, narrow corridor fed or a fed that covers two or three counties. I can fly mine in two feds, one is a relatively narrow area the other much bigger, the corridor fed birds are nearly always faster and more bunched than the bigger one. As for compass training I have tried it but didn't think it made any difference, I do sometimes in the season take them in totally the opposite direction just to get them thinking. As for general training youngbirds go 15 mile first toss ( I have taken them 25mile first toss if ranging well) Old birds normally a couple at 25 miles before first race. I honestly believe we can never teach our birds ti navigate they can either do that or they can't, in all lofts they'll be followers and leaders I see my role as shaking out the followers as quick as possible much more fun working with the leaders.

I was taught by a fantastic flyer you need your team to be driving the batch home like a train if there middle or back there going where the driving batch is going, that's how u get the big drops 75 to 90 percent of team on drop race day.

Andy wrote: Fri May 03, 2024 8:15 am

Anthony webster wrote: Fri May 03, 2024 7:55 am I was taught by a fantastic flyer you need your team to be driving the batch home like a train if there middle or back there going where the driving batch is going, that's how u get the big drops 75 to 90 percent of team on drop race day.

You would never get those sort of drops in our combine. Even the best fanciers don’t get big percentage drops. Yes they get drops of 10+ birds but these are fanciers sending 50+. Also how many of the ones that drop with the leading bunch to a fancier have just followed their loft mates. I remember one difficult young bird race last year where one of our members who had been having big drops and taking a lot of the top positions before this race had 3 I think it was drop together but then had to wait an hour before getting another one. In that time I had got most of mine.

In the tighter south Rd fed I can drop 75 percent regularly but on North Rd where is 100 miles by 50 miles minimum iv dropped 50 percent but most weeks it would be 10 to 20 percent on drop.

Andy wrote: Fri May 03, 2024 8:15 am

Anthony webster wrote: Fri May 03, 2024 7:55 am I was taught by a fantastic flyer you need your team to be driving the batch home like a train if there middle or back there going where the driving batch is going, that's how u get the big drops 75 to 90 percent of team on drop race day.

You would never get those sort of drops in our combine. Even the best fanciers don’t get big percentage drops. Yes they get drops of 10+ birds but these are fanciers sending 50+. Also how many of the ones that drop with the leading bunch to a fancier have just followed their loft mates. I remember one difficult young bird race last year where one of our members who had been having big drops and taking a lot of the top positions before this race had 3 I think it was drop together but then had to wait an hour before getting another one. In that time I had got most of mine.

Absolutely right Andy, the bigger the area the fed covers and the further they go the less likely it is you'll get a big percentage drop. The job of the fancier to get the best out of them for the situation you race in.

always compassed trained