Message Pages

	News and Updates
	Sep-14-2019
Good Morning Flyers, Congratulations to John from Greek Connections for getting the first bird in the loft on the 250 mile race. There were 14 birds on the drop and then the birds just continued to come in steady. I couldn't have asked for a better day for a race. Beautiful blue skies with a slight head wind the whole way. I love this time of year. The soonest we could possibly do the 300 mile race is Thursday. I have rain coming Sunday night and sticking with us through Wednesday, so we will have to wait and see. I will do a training toss tomorrow before the rain arrives. The birds have bounced back nicely from the 250 and will be ready for the 300 when the weather cooperates. I have posted the payout on the website...I have a check lost in the mail but all others have cleared. Take care and I will keep you posted. Lucas -- Lucas Cramer 503-510-2661 CrookedRiverChallenge.com Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, *Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B*
	Sep-10-2019
Good Morning Flyers, Tomorrow is looking like a great day for the 250 mile race. Plan is for the birds to go up around 7 and forecast is showing light headwinds along the entire course...nothing in excess of 7 mph. Temperature at release will be about 40 degrees and around 70 at the loft by the time they get home. Clear skies in the forecast. There are 28 birds in the optional B race...please let me know early today if you'd like to add or change your entries. Please double check and make sure there is a green dot in the "B" column of your entry. Good Luck tomorrow Lucas -- Lucas Cramer 503-510-2661 CrookedRiverChallenge.com Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, *Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B*
	Sep-08-2019
Good Morning Flyers, After looking over the weather forecast for tomorrow along the course, I have decided to move the race to Wednesday. Looks like tomorrow there is will be 15-20 mph tail wind bringing moisture onto the course and possibly socking in the mountain passes with clouds. Wednesday looks like there will be much more sun and less tail winds. Still mild temperatures. Loft fly today and road train tomorrow. Have a great day. Lucas -- Lucas Cramer 503-510-2661 CrookedRiverChallenge.com Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, *Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B*
	Sep-07-2019
Good Morning Flyers, I am keeping an eye on the weather forecast for Monday. It still looks pretty good for a race but there is some weather along the course that I am watching. If Monday doesn't work, then Wednesday is looking like the next best day. If I have to delay then I will get them on another road trainer. Good news is the temperatures are cooling down making it feel more like autumn. Birds are looking good. The raptors are definitely becoming more of an issue for us, so I am keeping a close eye on them during loft flights. Unfortunately, on Thursday I had a peregrine come in and grab a bird while the flock was trying to evade her.....super frustrating at this point in the game. There are 25 birds in the B race at the moment...please let me know if anyone would like to add to that list. Please check your green dots and make sure the correct birds are nominated. Entry for the B race is $500. Thank you all for the support. Lucas -- Lucas Cramer 503-510-2661 CrookedRiverChallenge.com Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, *Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B*
	Sep-03-2019
Good Morning Flyers, Congratulations to Sterchi from Sierra Ranch on getting the first bird in the loft yesterday. There were around 26 birds that came first but mixed with the next group before all were trapped. Overall, I am happy with their performance and their recovery. Lots of birds wing pumping and wanting to go out and loft fly this morning. Exactly what I want to see. The 250 mile race will be next week Monday or Tuesday....weather permitting. We are getting more of cool down, so next week highs will be in the 70's. B race category entries are now due. Please take a look at the rules if you have any questions. Entry fee is $500. Average speed for the B race includes the 250, 300, and 350 mile races. For those that have already paid...please make sure their is a green dot in the B race category. Optional B Entry: B Race category $500 per bird-A & B races flown together. (Payout 50/30/20 split to first 3 birds in 300/350/average speed...drop, then clocking order). Birds selected after 200 mile activation race. Plan will be to loft fly tomorrow and road train Thursday and Friday. Take Care Lucas -- Lucas Cramer 503-510-2661 CrookedRiverChallenge.com Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, *Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B*
	Sep-01-2019
Good Morning Flyers, Tomorrow is looking like a good day for the 200 mile race. Forecast is showing clear skies along the entire course with headwinds and tailwinds neither of which exceeding 10 mph. Headwinds to start turning to tailwinds and then back to headwinds closer to home. Temperature at release should be around 50 degrees and 80 degrees by noon at the loft. The birds are looking good and trained well this last week. There are 3 birds available for activation...they are listed under "Crooked River Challenge" on the breeder list, if anyone is interested. Click on the pigeon and the training history will pop up. Good luck tomorrow. Lucas -- Lucas Cramer 503-510-2661 CrookedRiverChallenge.com Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, *Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B*
	Aug-26-2019
Good Morning Flyers, Unfortunately, I had a bird killed by a raptor right in front of the traps this morning....so birds are home but flying and reluctant to trap. I am planning on doing the first 200 mile race on Monday. We are going to see a cooling trend over the weekend and now I am going to have to get the bird's confidence back on trapping. Birds are looking good. I have had a couple late ones return that look like they have been hanging out in someone's loft for a bit. Entry fees are due now. I will publish a list of birds Saturday of any unpaid that will be available for purchase. There is currently one bird available that is under "Crooked River Challenge" if anyone is interested in activating. Hopefully, these birds don't stay out all day. Take Care
	Aug-21-2019
Good Morning Flyers, Well, the 150 mile activation did not go as well as I expected. The first drop made great speeds over 1500 ypm and we had the first 400 birds in an hour of the first bird....then they just trickled in. I had quite a few birds coming back from the north, so they obviously took a wrong turn somewhere. I am still seeing some birds come in today, surprisingly most are in pretty good condition. It seems the ones that found good water had enough reserves to make it back. One bird yesterday came home covered in oil. Tough birds. Our climate and terrain can be pretty unforgiving if the birds get off course due to the lack of good water. I am wracking my brain on why we had such poor returns on what seemed to be a beautiful day. I arrived at the release point around midnight and the birds rested well. Birds were watered at 6am, so they had plenty of time to drink. Birds headed straight out of the trailer at release and never seemed to look back. Health wise when I handled birds I did not see any signs of canker or respiratory issues. Moving forward...I am running the birds on some respiratory medication to rule that out. I do not like to road train while the birds are on antibiotics, so they will just loft fly through this week. Luckily, they are loft flying great for me. Late birds will be assessed as they arrive. I will pull any bird I do not think will be able to make the first race. The earliest I am looking at doing the first race is the end of next week. The weather and lack of smoke has been great this year, so we have plenty of time to get to the races. I want to make sure these birds are ready to roll once we get the first race under our belt. Thank you for getting your entry fees in. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Text, email, messenger is best...if you call, please leave a message our reception is not great. Take Care Lucas -- Lucas Cramer 503-510-2661 CrookedRiverChallenge.com Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, *Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B*
	Aug-12-2019
Good Morning Flyers, Birds are out enjoying a cool morning loft fly. Tomorrow looks like a good day for a 100 mile toss. The birds are looking and feeling great. I am still getting a few injuries but they seem to be a bit better about staying out of the wires. I am a little ahead of schedule due to the lack of smoke compared to past years and will most likely shoot for the 150 mile activation race on August 19th. Birds will be offered a bath today once they come in and have breakfast and a nap. Appetites are great and consumption definitely goes up when we have these cooler night time temperatures. Good luck to those starting their YB seasons...we had our first this past weekend. Take Care Lucas -- Lucas Cramer 503-510-2661 CrookedRiverChallenge.com Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, *Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B*
	Jul-31-2019
Good Morning Flyers, It is a beautiful sunny morning here at the loft. The birds will be relaxing today and staying in the loft. They are currently enjoying several bunches of kale and will get to have salt water baths later this morning. The birds are training well and seem to be coming along well. Unfortunately, I am seeing a lot of injuries this year. I've had several birds with broken legs this week and several needing stitches. These are all looking like wire strike injuries. There are several high tension lines that run along and across the course that we can't avoid and I think these are the ones that are causing them trouble. I will continue to patch up the ones that have minor injuries and notify breeders. Appetites continue to be good and the birds continue to receive Primalac, Garlic, or Ropa B in the water daily. I have been rotating some electrolytes in now that we are getting into the 90's. Road training will continue tomorrow and Friday with 54 mile tosses...loft fly over the weekend and then shoot for a 60 and an 80 next week. I hope everyone is having a great summer. Take Care Lucas Lucas Cramer 503-510-2661 CrookedRiverChallenge.com Crooked River Challenge is a proud user of Primalac, *Topigeon clocking system, and Ropa B*
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Optional B Entry: B Race category $500 per bird-A & B races flown together. (Payout 50/30/20 split to first 3 birds in 300/350/average speed...drop, then clocking order). Birds selected after 200 mile activation race.