Rooster J. Cogburn

Hope to get the 1st round started next week around 15-20 miles wi some auld yins.

Some of them have had it easier than others but theres a few of the cocks have had every fed race out to Eastbourne.Will put 1010 by til next year once hes home the morra *fingers crossed*.Hes a big bugger-yer da told me to keep him gawn

Well the Youngyins tellt me hes sending 7 so I'll just have to content myself with 8th this year I've sent yer da's pick actually-"1010" remember where,remember when Its his 11th race of the year.Hope it turns out to be a goodyin for myself and all

Fair doos John Hope to see yer name in the lights from Ypres again this year Best of luck this weekend

Understand what your saying John and as stated on the other thread it was only a suggestion from a member of the SNFC (who has little to no experience in the running of clubs) as a possible way to try and increase birdages and members sending to the races over the course of the year. Again I don't know exact figures but I am lead to believe the SNFC is no ordinary club in as much as it has in excess of £100,000 at its disposal with no suggestions as of yet to spend this on??Why can't some of this money be used short term to encourage members to send to SNFC races even if it is only one or two a year?? Is a £4 fee to be paid before April first in order for members to recieve a yearbook and a SNFC membership number with the remaining £21 split accordingly over the races(depending on how much they cost for the club to host) a totally ridiculous suggestion??

Ad Scharlaeckens sums it up well for me You can ask the best 10 young bird racers in the country what they feed and doubt you'll get the same answer twice

sent 12 from Boness Would say it couldn't go any worst than last week but suppose I could lose 12 this time

Think someone suggested a pay per race system on another thread

No doubt at this sale there is the best of best on offer.I went once though and when seeing how much the bird I liked went for I kinnae thought...eh naw!!! I spoke to the guy direct,he turned out to be a complete gent.I spent an afternoon with him,his wife and his pigeons-I was lucky enough to purchase 6 latebreds direct out of the pigeons he had timed that year from the channel all for hundreds of £££s less than what I would have paid for that one pigeon that Sunday in September Two youngsters out of those latebreds have won in the club this year,one was my first pigeon from Eastbourne and one I am very hopeful of getting from Ypres. I am on the same boat as yersel though-trying to build a team.As stated by others it takes time and there is no set formula to get there. All the best anyway GEO

446 miles to me Got 14 I've been workin on for it but will decide whats going on Thursday

Well to be honest Henrik as i stated in an earlier post I think the biggest AGM decision,race programme,should be taken out of the hands of the SNFC members. What I put about paying per race,adding prize money and lowering birdages were not refined ideas but were basically put in to make the point that I think our SNFC has to spend its way to a better future as it has the capital to do so. If you were I suppose to refine the pay per race idea then a small fee would have to be paid before April 1st only to cover the cost of sending out the annual yearbook.Obviously anyone who has paid this small fee will have a SNFC membership number.Anyone with this number should be allowed to vote at the AGM and pay only for the races they enter. So to re word the pay per race idea-Lower subscribtion from £25 to rougly £4 then divide the £21 between the races according to estimated birdages and what races are the most expensive to run for the club. Anyway I've got in too deep here I've never been bothered by doo politics and I'll support the SNFC and enter as many races as I can in the future regardless of subscription or racepoints. Lookin forward to Ypres this weekend

Firstly it was only an idea,a bit of brainstorming Secondly on a personal level I would like to attend every SNFC race but with the most experienced pigeons in my loft being a few 08 latebreds and 2 year olds(three of which are yet to return from Messac)This will take time before I have the strength in depth to do so. Many people are in a similar position or keep a small team therefore cannot cover every race and are put off paying a full subscription therefore they don't attend any races or they send to a race where there is big prize money-such as the 3 bird club. If there was prize money up for grabs and pay per race system you would attract more of the members on this boat. As said before the SNFC would still get the full subscription from the people who attend every race so I guess they would lose out with the people who don't.Is this a hit financially our National can cope with for a few years in exchange for more members and pigeons entering races ????

I feel unless the SNFC come up with something useful to spend the money on then there is nothing better it could be used for than making it more affordable for its current members and more atractive to prospective members. Obviously it'd be ridiculous to just blow all the money throwing it around willy nilly but feel it would be of benefit long term if short term the birdages were lowered and good prize money was put up for every race. Paying per race would attract many more fanciers and entries for certain events as well,as many don't want to pay a full subscription to enter only one or two races.The people who do want to enter every race would be no worst off as the current subscription would be divided up into fees of entry over all the races. Basically if the SNFC is to have a bright future they need to do something to attract more members and raise the birdages in its channel races.If this means taking a hit financially,which everyone feels they are able to do,then don't you think this is the way to go??

Thats a biggy.How far is it to him?? As long as he does what you showed him I'm sure he'll dae awrite

Found it useful for early short tosses with young birds if you let your doos out for a fly before you basket them and take them away. Last couple of years I've started them at around 15miles after letting them out and not lost many tossing.

Is that Phillipe?? Wull

I personally feel the only way to create a race programme that is as fair as possible and best for the birds welfare is to put it in the hands of someone or an organisation who aren't actually members of the SNFC. The membership will never decide on this as people will only vote on what suits them individually and not for the greater good. A brief should be made-for example we want 1 inland race,4 channel races and a young bird race. Information should be provided on all the racepoints used in the past and approximate stats on returns and where each of the section winners featured on the result etc. The layout of Scotland's landscape,details of provailing winds and routes raced by the federations that make up each section and why these feds race these routes(natural hazards-BOPS etc) should also be taken into account. The brief and all the information should be given to pigeon people outwith Scotland to create the SNFC a race programme.Be they English??Irish??Welsh??French?? thats irrelevant,the point is they should be totally impartial. We should then stick to this programme for a minimum of 5 years,during which time birdages should be lowered,Prize money should be provided for the first three in each section and you should only pay fees for the races you enter.

Or the first 10 could be the starter,the 2nd 10 the main course and the next could be the pudding Nah I'm just joking I've found better returns from tossing letting them go in smaller groups

My entries were all 2 year olds and had never been across the channel before.Can imagine a very big percentage of the convoy would be the same. One if the biggest differences in channel racing and pigeon racing in general compared to days gone by is a lack of older experienced birds in the convoy,be it due to the hawk problem or whatever.People don't have as many pigeon 3 or over. I once heard the 3yo plus pigeons described as pilots and the 2 yos and yearling were the passengers aboard the plane across the English channel.With fewer of these experienced pigeons and more inexperienced pigeons does this have any bearing on poor racing??? If your in a plane without a pilot chances are your not gonna be doin to well

Would say this could be partly true for Marlborough as a lot of people view it as a "toss" implying the doos arnae fully fit.Flying 300+ miles in a North Wind is a big ask for a pigeon not fully fit.Going on my own feds racing it was easy up until then with many very quick races so some of the doos maybe wernae ready for what they were to experience that day?? As for Messac I'd say this cannae be true.I didnae time in and I thought what I sent were up for-this obviously doesnae count for much but when you see the fanciers who have been timing in at this level year after year I think they'd know if there pigeons were right to go or not??And I'm sure there'll be very many doos yet to return that have numerous prizes at this level before

Would be interesting to know if any European organsiastions were racing from the same area on Friday??? A man in the know told me he always fears for the Tours birds being libbed on a Saturday or Sunday as there are thousands of pigeons crossing all over France at weekends.

Ypres saw a good few doos in our section on the night last year so optimistic yel no get drubbed Broon

thats not good at all in 2002 though we had something similar.took 65 youngsters to 15 mile for their first toss. Only one came on time the rest worked back over 3 days.Ended up with 53 They were all sent to every race including the Combine and some went to the National. Finished the racing with 49 of the 53 you'll lose some but the ones you get back in the next couple of days will be a lot harder to lose

great news John Its been a dissapointing start to the channel campaign with the McCalley Mk II team but at least I wasn't stung by a wasp My doos for next week should be back from Coldstream soon so I'm away back out to the hut

So going on this a lot of the doos may not even be in the UK at the moment