1997 Young Birds
1998 Old Birds
1998 Young Birds
1999 Old Birds
1999 Young Birds
2000 Old Birds
2000 Young Birds
2001 Old Birds
2001 Young Birds
2002 Young Birds
2003 Young Birds
2004 Young Birds
2004 Champions
2005 Old Birds

In the fall of 2001, we had put together two fabulous young bird teams to fly. The kids were going to fly one team and Craig would fly the other team. We were so excited to fly and hoped that we would have another fantastic winning season like we had done the year before. We were also excited because The Northern Utah Combine was going to join with the rest of the flyers along the Wasatch Front and fly as a Wasatch Front Concourse on a trial basis. This would give us the opprotunity to compete with much larger numbers of pigeons. The first week we had a great race and took sixth place in the club, the combine and the concourse. We also had twenty nine pigeons who earned points on the races.

The next week we had some really unusual hot weather. I wanted to train my pigeons, but because of some early morning meetings, I could not take them on a long enough toss before work in the morning. My oldest daughter took them out right after school on Tuesday afternoon for a short toss.It was a really hot afternoon, so I worried about them, but thought for sure they would make it home fine.

The results of that toss were scary. The pigeons did not come home. I lost about twenty pigeons on what should have been an easy toss. I knew something was just not quite right. As the week progressed, the birds did not recover well from the previous week. Friday night, I took my birds over to the club to enter them in the race, then my wife and I left to drive to Colorado for the Spirit of Colorado pigeon race. We drove all night long.

The next day, the race at home was a disaster. I had huge losses again. The birds that did come home looked terrible. My daughter and my brother, David clocked them in. We placed fifth and ninth in the race, but had terrible returns on the race, getting back only about twenty of sixty pigeons on the first day. We knew we had a health problem that needed immediate attention. As I waited for the pigeons to come in for the Spirit of Colorado race, my mind kicked into gear and started analyzing all of the clues to this problem.

Week two as I had put pigeons in the race crates, I had noticed feed in the crates. Some birds had thrown up the food that was in their craw on the previous race. This would be easy for other birds to eat while in the race crates on the way to the race. My birds had gotten sick within three days of this first race, so that gave me an incubation time on the disease. I guessed that the birds that had not returned from the training toss and the race had been sick and died on the way home. My birds had not recovered from the race and they had been really light on their weight all week. I had also noticed foul smelling droppings in the loft, but I had been so busy getting ready to leave for the Colorado race that I had not payed attention to all of these signs.

I took the opportunity to discuss things with a great friend of mine, Frank McLaughlin. He immediately thought I had the Adeno Virus and told me all that he knew about the disease. On Sunday evening when we got home from Colorado, I called another great friend, Mike Brown in California. He also thought I was dealing with the Adeno Virus.

Monday morning, I made a call to Jedd's to see what medications they had to deal with this new virus. They recommended I treat with Ammoxicillin for three weeks. The Adeno Virus is a virus and therefore antibiotics will not kill the virus. However, the antibiotic would help stop the spread of secondary infections that would hit as the pigeons' immunitiy systems were low. I ordered it and started to treat the pigeons as soon as it arrived. A few more pigeons made it home on Sunday and Monday, but they did not look great.

By this time, my whole young bird team seemed to be infected. I decided not to continue flying the season and to let my birds have time to recover. I had some really great birds that I did not want to lose and I felt like it was my fault for letting the problem get out of hand before I recognized it. I hoped my pigeons would recover and be ready to fly in the spring. The antibiotic helped and most of my pigeons recovered just fine. The few that did not respond to the medication were culled.

I watched the rest of the season carefully as the other flyers in the club continued to send birds each week. I knew that others in the club must also have sick birds. The losses that season were tremendous. The returns from the races were so poor. Each week the number of lofts diminished and the number of birds being sent diminished. Even though these flyers knew why I had quit racing, most were unwilling to admit they had sick birds or to do anything to stop the progress of the Adeno Virus. I am grateful that I chose to stop flying because some of the birds that recovered from this illness proved to be great flyers and breeders later on. My biggest regret about this season was that I never got the opportunity to see how my birds would really do at the concourse level. I hope someday to have the opportunity to fly with the entire Wasatch Front Concourse. I am closer to that dream now during the 2004 young bird season. See my 2004 Young Bird Race Results to see the amazing results of this opportunity!