Arrivals with GPS Rings Argenton 09/06/2023
While we wrote in the previous article that Bourges might also be the final stop as preparation for the Barcelona pigeons, we nevertheless basketed them for Argenton.
Both the cocks and the hens were allowed to fly, 30 of them to be precise.
I hesitated for a long time between Argenton and Valence.
The wind was slightly behind from Valence, but due to the threatening rain front near Valence, I opted for Argenton.
Basketting was postponed, as was the release. The result… the working man didn’t see his pigeons arrive, but there’s no other way. Better that than sitting in the basket for four days.
It was difficult, and actually, a pigeon arrived on time… 2nd in the club, 4th in the combined race, and 14th provincial, according to the reports.
It was a granddaughter of “Het Geschelpt 776” (mother of De Vale and Aginnum, a.o.), who died last week. Apparently, it was quiet for a long time, and my smartphone also remained silent regarding notifications from the PAS app.
In the end, we won 9 prizes from the 30 pigeons entered, and it was a tough preparatory flight, but the pigeons look good.
At the time of writing (Saturday 7:30 AM), there are still 2 pigeons short; one was waiting at 6:00 AM yesterday, so 27/30.
You can see the arrivals below, but now for some information about the GPS rings.
Two pigeons were basketed with a GPS ring, and it really shows what the wind can do.
The pigeons (or at least both GPS rings) were blown away towards the French coast, specifically to Le Havre.
There, they follow the coastline for a while before heading back inland for a much longer flight against the easterly wind.
We also once printed the podium of the flight on the GPS tracker. Everyone can fill in their own opinion 🙂 I believe that besides REALLY good pigeons, you also need a bit of luck with the wind and the location.
Argenton is normally 562km in a straight line for me.
One pigeon flies 745km and the other 692km. So they cover a considerable extra distance.
Of course, the pigeons weren’t the first to arrive home. One arrived at 7:46 PM and the other at 8:45 PM. The one from 8:45 PM rested for a total of 1 hour and 21 minutes in two separate spots, and the other for 13 minutes.
For completeness, here’s an overview of the arrivals:
