Last Stop Loft

09/10/2026

Spent a few days out in the Black Hills attending the Sturgis Mustang Rally....The show was great but the real fun is driving through all the awesome areas with the top down....One of my favorite and most beautiful places on earth! Corey got the birds tossed while I was away and I got them down the road this morning. They are doing better and today they were just under 1400 YPM and arrived in a group......There is hope! Our first race of the season is Saturday.....Not sure they're ready but we're going to find out! We had several members get hit with a serious virus of some sort and it wiped out their young bird teams.....Looks like we'll be down to 6 or 7 flyers this Fall. We'll be flying a Southwest course this year instead of a straight West course using several of our same stations we fly for old birds.....this will help balance out the mileage for our new members in Yankton. The weather is finally starting to cool off a bit and the humidity is a bit lower as well....That should help the birds on race day. We are using the new Benzing timers for the first time Saturday.....I'm sure there will be a bit of a learning curve.....Hope it's not to much of a disaster for our race secretary! Let the fun begin!!

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09/01/2026

Corey tossed the birds from 25 miles or so on both Saturday and Sunday last weekend. Very similar results as last weekend.....On Saturday, they returned home in groups of 1's and 2's throughout the day....Sunday, a little better as a larger group arrived with a few stragglers. Not sure what's going on but I've talked to many flyers experiencing similar results all around the country and yet there are others who are having good success training this year. We have talked extensively about what may be the problem with no real answers or solutions.....All we can do is keep doing our best! I did take the birds out 35 miles or so today and the results were a bit better, especially considering it down poured for the majority of the trip home. They arrived in decent time and as a group for the most part.....Hopefully, this is the start of them getting back on track. I'll be out in the Hills for the Mustang Nationals in Sturgis the rest of the week so Corey will be in charge of getting them down the road when he can......The weather is extremely hot and humid for September with the temps reaching the high 90's each day and training in the afternoon is nearly impossible. We'll get them down the road next week and see how they shape up for our first race on the 12th! It's been a very strange year with the youngsters to say the least!!

08/25/2026

First training toss of the season for the youngsters last Saturday. Not the result we were looking for. Corey decided to toss them from 11 miles......lost over 40% of the birds and they returned home alone or in groups of two or three spread out over the entire day. Not sure what happened......Thinking something hit the flock and split them up. Trained the birds that returned from the same place on Sunday morning with much better results....the birds returned in a large group and even drug a few from Saturday with them. I had trained from 25 or 30 miles first toss the last 5 or 6 years and never lost a bird first toss......Not sure what is different this year? Try to get them down the road a couple evenings this week and then stretch them out a bit farther this weekend. Always a problem to solve.....It's never easy but that's what makes this sport so interesting!

08/15/2026

Traveled out to the loft Thursday afternoon and the result was the same.....Got the birds out for a little exercise but it was extremely hot/humid and they barely made a couple of laps before they were on the roof panting. Decided to go out today in the morning hoping the somewhat cooler weather would entice them to fly a bit more.....Same result.....a couple of laps and back on the roof panting. It was a little cooler, maybe 75 degrees but it was drizzling a little and the humidity was nearly 100%. It was really hot in the loft and the air was really heavy....not sure we're getting enough fresh air through the loft. I really wanted to scrape the loft but I could barely take it in there just the few minutes it took to release them.....This weather combined with the birds really takes a toll on my lungs and wearing a mask restricts my air flow just that much more. The boss will be back from vacation tomorrow and hopefully we'll get them squared away and ready to begin some road training. This is a very time consuming sport and we need to take a break and spend time with family enjoying something other than the birds. I'm glad Corey was able to get away and do just that!

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08/10/2026

Made a trip to the loft this afternoon to give the birds some exercise/freedom while the boss is away. Ended up being a mostly wasted trip as the heat index was 100 degrees or so and the birds only flew for a very short while and were back down panting like crazy! They are molting like crazy.....feathers everywhere! I would have liked to have cleaned the loft but with the heat/humidity and my breathing issues..... I decided against it. Since combining our birds, we have an over abundance of breeders which in turn led to an excessive number of young birds this year. We will need to begin getting them down the road when the boss returns and ready them for the upcoming races this Fall. Most of the club members are a ways down the road already.....some out 50 to 75 miles. Still almost 4 weeks before our first race so there's plenty of time. There will definitely have to be some hard decisions made after the race season....We definitely won't Winter nearly the number of birds we currently have on hand. If anyone who follows this page is interested in some birds....please let us know.....Always glad to help promote our sport!

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08/04/2026

Slow time of year around the loft.....Not much going on! I don't get out to the loft as much as I should....since I don't have the birds in the back yard and they're a 30 minute drive away, I've been getting back into my other passion....the collector car hobby. My partner in crime will be vacationing the end of the week so I'll get out there and get them exercised while he's away. The older youngsters are routing while we still have a younger group wanting to remain on the roof. It's tough when you have that age gap.....sometimes we're forced to push those later birds a bit faster than we should. We are about 5 weeks from our first race......Many of the guys have their birds out 50 miles or more already......We will begin training when Corey returns from vacation. Not sure at what distance we'll begin. I have always started my YB's out at 25 or 30 miles but I know Corey likes to start them at a much shorter distance. As long as he's the one crating them....I'm OK with whatever he decides. It has always been my belief that if the birds are routing for 60 to 90 minutes, they are covering that first 25 miles or so during exercise. I have began at 25 or 30 miles every year since re-entering the sport and have had nearly 0 losses on that first toss. Our young bird schedule has been set and we will be shifting our race course a bit more South.....actually using a few of the stations we use in old birds. We have a new group of flyers in Yankton, South Dakota that have joined our club and the change was needed to get their distances more compatible with everyone else. It adds more road miles to drive but is more fair for all involved. Our club is also in the process of switching clocks.....we are going from Topigeon to Benzing......This will allow everyone in the combine to see the results live as they happen. The Benzing clocks have a few more bells and whistles compared to Topigeon but are almost 3 times the money for the same components. If anyone who follows my page has an interest, our club members will have their clocks and accessories for sale. Been hot and humid the last few weeks......we are blessed with a cooler day and a little much needed rain.....I think I'll go get wet!

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07/07/2026

The 2026 Old Bird season is a wrap! We were blessed to win our fair share of races and the weather was definitely a tough test for the birds most weekends! Our last 400 was what I would call an average day weather wise......we were blessed to have one way out front but the 600 the following day was a different story.....No day birds and only 28 second day birds in the entire combine! It's time to take a well deserved break and the birds certainly deserve a well earned rest before we begin preparing the youngsters for this Fall's races. It's also a time to reflect on what went well and what we need to change to hopefully improve our results going forward. I am certain the new addition to the loft will help us improve but it ultimately comes down to selecting the best birds for the task at hand whether it be as breeders or racers. We will be evaluating the performances of both our breeders and our race team and selecting the ones we believe will keep us at the top of the race sheet......that is a task much easier talked about than completed....That's what makes this sport so interesting!

06/24/2026

Last training toss for the 26 Old Bird Season.....my old truck needs an oil change and a rest! Home in 45 minutes from 50 miles! Hope they're ready for our last 400/600 double race weekend to end our season. Last weeks race was brought back from 300 miles to our 250 mile station due to the weather and still turned out to be a really, really tough one with the winning speed in our club at just over 400 YPM. We had a new winner in our club and also the Lincoln club who just joined our combine got their first combine win. Our birds were a ways down the sheet which is a bit disappointing but also understandable since we are not really set up loft wise to fly old birds especially the longer/tougher races where the extra motivation is needed to perform at the top level. We didn't get started on the loft addition last weekend due to the weather, I'm away this weekend and the next is the 4th of July weekend so not sure when we'll get started but really looking forward to having the proper setup to hopefully improve our results next old bird season. It's time to take some time and reflect on our successes and failures of the season, evaluate the birds performances and decide who goes and who earned a spot for next year. I haven't been to the loft for a couple weeks but assume the youngsters are doing well and are beginning to travel some distance away from the loft......Corey is in charge of the daily care and does a good job. Looking forward to seeing what this group can accomplish this Fall!

06/19/2026

Tossed the birds from 50 miles yesterday....the wind went from SouthEast when I left to straight North when I returned all within a 2 1/2 hour span! They did well and hopefully are ready to go this weekend. The weather looks very unfriendly again this weekend for our last 300 with strong cross/headwinds over the race course. Last weeks race was a rough one from 500 miles with only about 35 or so birds making it on the day in the entire combine. We put a couple in the top 10 in our club but were a few places down from the top. We are not setup to fly old birds correctly this year with our birds basically relying on a mate and a perch as motivation to return home with no nest boxes in the old bird loft. On these tough races, I believe, a nest box and space they can claim as their own are vital to a good performance......Our results have been above expectations without having the correct setup. With the planned addition to the loft, our old bird team will have much more room with access to 48 or so individual nest areas that they can claim as their own.....this hopefully/should improve our results for next year. The youngsters are looking good and starting to kit up a bit. Weather permitting, I'm planning to pick up some material tomorrow and Corey and I will get started on the loft addition Saturday morning.

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06/13/2026

Just back from a week of vacation! Spent the week with our entire family in Branson Missouri! Nice to get away but also nice to get back home. Tough 300 last week.....the first birds were nearly 9 1/2 hours on the wing on a 90 degree day. We were blessed to win our club race and place 4th in the combine. This week the birds are racing 500 miles.....the weather in the morning at release looks to be clear and cool with a swirling wind. However, a few miles into the race, the winds shift to a head wind and become pretty strong with a few possible pop up showers as they get closer to home. I wasn't here for basketing so not sure what our club sent but I suspect many of the guys sent a very small team this week. Hopefully with the North wind the weather stays a bit cooler than it has been and the birds will persevere and make it on the day. I am planning to visit the loft tomorrow and sort through a few of our 3rd round youngsters and see what we have. Received another 4 pallets of feed while I was away.....I am very pleased with the quality and cleanliness of the Lizzy Mae feeds and the birds are performing very well on it. Every aspect of the business is first rate and I highly recommend trying it if you haven't already! I won't be able to stick around tomorrow and watch the birds return but I'm hoping we have a couple good ones out there......we'll know soon enough!