Bubba has a $5,000 pigeon. It’s a racer

story and photos by Marla Cantrell
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Bubba Wilson needed a hobby when he retired.

He golfed, but it wasn’t something he wanted to do every day, so he kept looking. As a boy he kept a few wild pigeons. Racing homing pigeons seemed like a natural progression, so he decided to give it a try.

That was seven years ago.  Four years ago Wilson started the Arkansas River Racing Club. There are now nine members in the group. It is one of four racing clubs in Arkansas and one of 1,000 in the nation. According to the American Racing Pigeon Union, there are 15,000 pigeon fanciers in the United States. Worldwide that number climbs to one million.

Wilson, who lives in Alma, had a mentor when he started. An Oregon man helped him learn the ropes and answered questions every newcomer has. It is how the system works: one fancier in a different part of the country will help another, who will return the favor as he advances. The actual training, however, is left to the student.

“At first they’re just like kids, they’re landing on rooftops and in the trees,” Wilson explained. “But after a while they’ll start routing. They fly as a flock. They’ll start circling.  They’ll get farther and farther out. They’ll learn where the sun is at different times of the day. … I go about 40 miles with young birds to train. I’ll come back and start going 10 miles at points around the clock. Once they get trained to the north, I go east, west or south. They can fly 700 miles a day, 55 or 60 miles an hour.”

SMART BIRDS
Wilson said the pigeons are born with a built-in GPS.

“A racing pigeon has three magnets in its head, one on its forehead and two on each side. They can smell, they can hear. If one of our birds is up, they can tell the difference between the west coast and the east coasts by smelling the oceans.”

Racing Homers find landmarks, like water towers or highways, and remember them forever. Wilson said the birds are able to discern minute differences in a landscape. In one study, the birds were shown a series of photographs and given food when they identified a certain face. The pigeons became so proficient at the task, they were able to recognize the person when shown only small pieces of the picture, such as the corner of an eye, or the curve of a cheek.

Club members mark the pigeons by attaching a band, which is approximately the circumference of a pencil eraser, on its leg. Before a race, another band with an electronic ID is added. The birds are taken to a designated start line, scanned, just like at a grocery store, and a portable module, that looks a lot like a garage door opener, downloads race information, wind speed and weather conditions. The races can be as short as 100 miles and long as 700.

Once the birds are released, owners wait anxiously at home for the pigeons to return.  Each member’s loft has a scanner pad the birds must walk across to get inside to its food and cage. That pad records the time of arrival. The homing pigeon with the fastest time wins the race.

PRICEY BIRDS
Wilson’s homing pigeons have taken prizes in the loft of the year, average speed, and the bird of the year categories.

The most he’s paid for a Racing Homer is $500; however, he has a few birds that are worth $5,000. One of his more costly pigeons is from the Netherlands, where the sport likely began. Another is from Belgium, where pigeon racing is as popular as football is in this country. But the cost of Wilson’s birds is chicken feed compared to some. Wilson said two months ago a pigeon in Europe sold for $123,000.

Wilson is now breeding his own line, the Bubba Jansen. The Jansen part of the line was developed by four brothers in Belgium. He blended several other lines together and is hoping for a champion one day.

Working with Racing Homers is good for enthusiasts of any age. It’s a great way to teach responsibility to the younger racers, something he said has been lost since the days when children worked with animals on the family farm. Families find common ground in the sport, husbands and wives team up and grandparents learn racing alongside their grandchildren.

HISTORIC BIRDS
It’s a sport that’s been around for a really long time.

“The old English lords had pigeons, the Romans had pigeons and they used them to send messages and in World War I and World War II they were there,” Wilson said. “They were in the Korean war. Right up here in Missouri was a big pigeon raising and training site.”

Historians can trace the birds back 5,000 years. Their role in advancing society is well documented. In the 12th century they were used by postmasters to deliver letters. Later, they carried information for newspapers. In the early 19th century they flew across the English Channel to bring stock exchange quotes to Belgium.

In the beginning the birds traveled no more than 40 miles a day, but breeding has improved the pigeons. The top birds can now fly 15 hours non-stop and travel 500 miles in a single day.

While pigeon racing can be an expensive endeavor — the Queen of England keeps a loft of Racing Homers — it doesn’t have to be. The lofts needed to house the birds don’t have to be ornate structures. All the birds need is shelter from the elements and predators, good ventilation and cages.

Wilson’s setup is much more elaborate than the standard loft. He has three buildings devoted to his birds, including an area for the breeders, an infirmary and sections for older and younger birds. He also has a custom trailer that can transport 750 birds.

The birds live a long time if cared for properly; he lost his oldest bird, a 15-year-old, this winter. He is continually training new birds. There is always something to do, and the next race to prepare for. It’s made retirement much easier.

He never thought he’d know as much as he does about Racing Homers or that he’d been so enthusiastic about the sport. But the birds are like pets to him, and although he doesn’t name each one — he has hundreds — he said they each have a distinct personality. Getting to know the birds the way Wilson does is one of the keys to raising a champion. The possibility that a champion is already sitting inside his loft is what keeps him in the game.