Race # 4       Date:  October 25th, 2009       Location:  Elko, Nevada (305 Miles)      

Release Time:  07:45 AM     Birds Entered:  62

Weather:  Cold (24 Degrees) @ Release with Clear Sky/Light Winds.  Light Winds most of the course with 5-8 MPH tailwinds for a stretch of 100 Miles.  Clear and warm at the loft (80 Degrees)

With the exception of a hawk incident it was a perfect day for Race 4.  What a difference a week makes, as the birds put on a lot better performance than last week.  The weather conditions turned out to be better than forecasted as the ridge of high pressure strengthened overnight and it tore apart all of the clouds we were supposed to get in Nevada and the Sierra's.  The result was mostly sunny skies the entire course with light winds and a stretch of light tailwinds for about 100 miles in the middle of the course.  It was very cold at release and the driver reported that the birds left quickly.

Things got interesting and took a wild turn around 1:45 when a group of 4 birds arrived out of the east.  I threw both droppers out and just as the birds hit the landing board and were getting ready to trap, a female cooper's hawk came out from over the top of the loft and swooped down at one of the birds on the board.  Needless to say this was a huge surprise and horrible timing.  The four birds scattered and all took off flying again.  We spent the next minute or so throwing droppers trying to get them to land and finally WSJ 1139 MLY landed and went in on it's own.  WSJ 736 BLKWF also made an attempt to land and go in but was too spooked from the hawk.  Finally after a couple of minutes three more birds arrived (who didn't know about the hawk) and they actually came right down and brought the remaining three birds in with them.  In accordance with the rules of the race and just like with any other one loft race, WSJ 1139 MLY was declared the sole first drop as it trapped into the loft before the next arrivals appeared and landed.  The next six birds are declared as the second drop.  Having a hawk hit on race day is always something that's in the back of your mind, but not something you expect to happen on the biggest race and on the first drop.  It's not something you can completely prevent from happening, there are always hawks in the area.  Fall is a really bad time of the year for hawks as they migrate and move down from the higher elevations.  A week and a half ago we had three hawks hanging around and a few days later we only had one.

After the first drops the birds came in very steady in small to mid sized groups.  All of the arrivals after the hawk incident landed and trapped very well.  We ended up with 46 of 62 birds on the day which is pretty good for 305 Miles.  I will list second day returns at the end of tomorrow.  Congratulations to Roan & Haack and all of the other breeders who had birds in the second drop.  Ace Pigeon standings have been updated and the 1st Place Overall Ace Pigeon is WDRP 211 GRIZ of Don and Kathy Dusart.  Congratulations to Don and Kathy and also to Doug Sanders who was a very close 2nd for Overall Ace Pigeon.

Special Thanks to Tristen Wells and Nancy who put on an outstanding BBQ!  The food was great and it was definitely the best BBQ we have had in the three years of the race.  I think everybody was very happy with the food and also with the selection of food. 

At the end of the day, other than the hawk incident it was a nearly perfect race.  It was a nice finish to what has been an interesting year and an up & down group of birds.  Thank you to all of the breeder's for their support in this year's race and we hope to see all of you and some new faces back next year.   - Jon & Matt Hans

18:16:16:00

Day 2

Day 3