Pigeon Flying Montana Style
Pigeon flying in Montana began in Wisconsin when a four year old boy was adopted by a pigeon. That boy ended up in the pigeon corps during World War II and eventually found his way to Montana bringing his pigeons with him. Montana wasn’t a hot bed for pigeon flying in 1946, but Don Corcoran found a way to make it happen. He shipped his birds any way he could. He sent them out by train, by car, by truck, sometimes with scouts headed up into the Montana wilds. However he could get them down the road, he did. He kept the birds flying and bred from the best. The problem with having race birds in Montana was that he didn’t have a club to compete in. He entered in early futurities, doing pretty well, winning $35,000 in one race, so his time spent sending the birds proved to be profitable. Ironically, when a club finally got organized in the Bozeman area, Don had too many years under his belt to compete. He did, however, give the new club members birds. These birds proved their worth over and over again as they were from stock that could fly the rugged environment we call Big Sky Country, Montana.
Montana has had several racing pigeon clubs over the years. Today, there are only two AU clubs. The Great Northern Racing Pigeon Club in the northwest corner at Eureka, Montana and the Bridger Mountain Racing Pigeon Club of Bozeman, Montana in the south-central part, as well as one IF club, the Five Valley Club on the western edge, south of Missoula, Montana. The three clubs are 200 miles apart so it is impossible for them to join forces to race together, but it seems most of the pigeon “guys” in Montana know each other. None of the clubs are big, but they are friendly and offer competitive racing for those who dare to challenge the elements of Montana weather and terrain.
The Bridger Mountain Racing Pigeon Club was chartered in 1996. It was the result of an October 1995 newspaper article on Don Corcoran and his birds. Two flyers had moved to the area and both contacted Don. Through Don, they got together and a club was formed. (Those two flyers were Brian Perin and Dave Rewitz, who are still the heart and soul of the club today.) The club is healthy and growing, adding a new member this year from Czechoslovakia. It is also progressive, working on a south course for greater distance flying, and a futurity for out of area fanciers who want to test their birds against the Montana environment.
The biggest hurtle in flying pigeons in Montana is mountains. They seem to get in the way of good pigeon races. For the Bridger Mountain Club, they stand like great castle walls, protecting from the outside world, but also keeping the birds from coming home. Bozeman, Montana is surrounded on three sides by towering mountain peaks. To the north, the Canadian border makes it impossible to fly any distance races from that direction. The mountain range to the east is lower than the south or west, but holds another menace, wind. Lots of wind! The Dakota prairies start in Montana, and the wind is born here as well. That wind is headed east for parts unknown, and woe to the poor pigeon that gets in it’s way. The interstate highway headed west over the mountains seemed liked the easiest way to get down the road so the club began flying from the west. That meant going over the continental divide just to achieve even a 100-mile race. How to get the bird over the Rocky Mountains and back again was a daunting task.
Over the years, the club developed a system of training that has proved very successful in getting the birds home. The club members do their initial training alone or in pairs, but once the racing season nears and the distance increases, the club trains together. The birds are released from strategic points moving them toward the mountain passes. It is very important that all the birds be trained on this course or there is a good chance they will be lost. This course development was paved by the white bleached bones of many a lost pigeon released elsewhere. The clubs attitude is that they want everyone to be successful in the pigeon sport, so they make sure new flyers, as well as veteran, get their birds trained out. It is a “one for all and all for one mentality” Once the pigeons are released high up on a mountain pass several times, they are then ready to be released on the other side. It is a gut wrenching release every year. Watching those birds mount up from the valley floor, soaring towards the mountains that stretch as far as the eye can see, well, if you love your birds, it puts a lump in your throat. Usually, the last trainer is “salted” with some old birds to help the young ones find the pass. If they don’t hit the right mountain pass, they can end up miles off course headed in the wrong direction. In the last several years, the club has gotten high percentage returns from using this method and breeding from pigeons that have flown this course. It isn’t just a matter of getting the birds over one mountain pass. The Rocky Mountain Range consists of high mountain valleys sheltered by massive mountain ranges. The birds have to negotiate pass after pass after pass in order to break over the Rocky Mountains. The club found that the best release sites were from the tops of the mountain passes working their way west. Once they truck the birds over the Rocky Mountains, they come out on the great Camas Prairie of Washington State. They begin working their way toward the coastal range for their final release point, Snoqualmie Pass, Washington. The pigeons are released in the shadow of ski lifts. This is the clubs 500-mile race point. As the pigeons circle, they can see to the west the great city of Seattle and to the east the Rocky Mountain Range 250 miles away. The trick for the birds is find the right corridors to fly through that will get them home quickly. The good ones manage it.
The club has a philosophy of taking it easy on their yearlings and young birds, trying to develop seasoned veterans for the long race from Snoqualmie. Most of the young birds are only raced 4 or 5 races and then only to 250 miles, the yearlings out to 300. One of the charter member’s, Dave Rewitz, has dominated the 500 miler over the years. He will often have several on the drop before most even see a bird. In the 2004 Snoqualmie race, he had four on the drop, the only day birds in the club. While Rewitz wins more then his share at the distance, the club isn’t dominated by a single flyer. In the last old bird season, most of the flyers won at least one race and all placed some pigeons high up in the standings. That was true of the 2004 young bird series as well.
One of the great advantages of flying in Montana is their mild summers. With cool mornings, the young bird season can begin in July, working out to greater distances as the fall weather comes. It is said that Montana is the “last great places”. In many ways, that is true. Montana has great summer weather and winters for those who love to play in the snow as well as world-class hunting and fishing. The state is growing in pockets like Bozeman, Missoula, and Kalispell, while other areas are shrinking as the population shifts.
Pigeon racing is tough in Montana. Besides the terrain and weather, huge distances and low population (which those of us who live here love) make it hard to keep a club going. The Montana clubs seem to keep plugging along. The core groups that fly the birds are in it for life.
If a stray pigeon hadn’t wandered into Don Corcoran path, if he hadn’t served in the pigeon corps and landed in Montana, if the newspaper hadn’t run a full page story on his passion for pigeons, well, a lot of us would have missed out on one of the great joys in life. Flying pigeons, Montana style!