Richard Clark - Top Gun Loft - Leland, NC
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1. TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF?
Not much has changed since the year 2000 interview except me getting older. I still find the sport to be interesting and challenging. Every year I find that something I thought was the only way of doing
something is certainly not the only way. As my wife says “There’s more than one way to get there.” I try to
listen to the new flyers as they always have a lot of questions. It's through these questions that my own
thoughts are questioned. These questions help them and me to continue to improve. Listening to the
answers given by the other established flyers also leads to more personal thought generation and
method comparison.

2. DO YOU THINK YOUR POSITION IS A GOOD
ONE AS FAR AS COMBINE RACES ARE
CONCERNED?
I'm located in the middle and a little more to the far end. Our concourse is continually growing with new
members joining in all areas.My location, in my opinion, is not an advantage. There doesn't seem to be
any one area that dominates.We have an extremely competitive concourse with many great flyers.

3. DO YOU HAVE AN ORIGINAL FAMILY OF
PIGEONS?
Years ago I purchased top quality birds from Alex Bieche, Rick Mardis, Horst Hackemer, and Frank
McLaughlin. Over the years I mated them by performance and not by strain name or where they
came from. The birds from these breeders have done well up to the 500 mile station. Last year our
concourse added a 600-mile race station. For this one race station I have added a couple of long distance
strains to my breeding loft for next years breeding. It will be interesting to see how they perform.

4.WHAT TYPE OF BIRD DO YOU FLY?
I'm asked frequently what type of bird I fly.What strain? I don't like strain names. I like performance at certain distances. Some of my birds will do well up to 300 miles. Some up to 500 miles. I do believe that it
takes two different families to compete at the short and long races.With the addition of the distance birds mentioned in question 3, I now have three families of birds. In each family, some birds are larger and some
are smaller. I don’t have a set physical type. I’m more concerned with performance than size, wing shape or
any other measurement.

5. CAN YOU GIVE US A LITTLE HISTORY ON
YOUR CHAMPION LOFT?
In 2000 my loft won the I.F Old Bird Champion Loft Award. I did not fly the 2000 Young Bird season
or the 2001 Old Bird season. In 2002 my loft placed 6th in the I.F. Old Bird Champion Loft Awards and
7th in the I.F. Young Bird Champion Loft Awards. In 2003 I placed 3rd in Old Birds and 9th in Young Birds.
It's an honor to place 2nd in 2004 Old Birds this year in the 25-75 Loft category and 4th in the 5-25
Loft category.

6. HOW BIG IS YOUR OLD BIRD TEAM? HOW BIG
IS YOUR YOUNG BIRD TEAM?
Our concourse historically has had a 25 bird shipping limit in old birds. In young birds we have an
A, B and C race with a 10 bird shipping limit. I always overbreed, expecting to lose birds, but I rarely do lose
them.

7. DO YOU USE A SYSTEM?
I don't have a system. Some may call what I do the natural system and that’s probably correct. I tried the
light and dark systems but they didn't do anything special for me. I raise early in the year and systems
don't seem to be worth the trouble. I treat the young birds the same way I treat the old birds. I support the
use of systems for others that feel it helps them. I like to look at what others are doing when they race well.
If they do something that I like, I will try it also. During the time of year when the hawks are not a
problem, I give the birds open loft all day. Every day the weather is good I give the birds a training flight.
After the initial short training tosses, they get either a 28 mile or 45 mile toss. I rarely go past the 45
mile station.

8. DO YOU CUT FLIGHTS, PULL TAIL FEATHERS,
DO YOU HAVE YOUR BIRDS FINISHED WITH
THE BODY MOLT WHEN RACES START? IF SO
WHEN DO YOU START TO BREED?
I have, over the last couple of years, cut the outer two flights on all of the young birds. I do this to all of
them when the last youngster is weaned. Two weeks later I pull the cut flights. This assures that all of the
youngsters will have a full wing for the races. I put my breeders together the first week of December. I'm
through breeding by the middle of March. This gives the youngsters enough time to complete the molt
before the races begin in September. I have never pulled the tail feathers.

9. DO YOU FLY TO THE PERCH? DO YOU FLY
WIDOWHOOD? SEPARATE THE SEXES?
EXPLAIN YOUR METHOD IN OLD BIRDS AND
YOUNG BIRDS.
I fly to the perch or nest box area. I don't fly widowhood. I never separate the sexes. After the
breeding season, I take out the nest box floors and all nesting material. The breeders stay together and keep
claim to their nesting spots or perches. After a couple of weeks the hens stop laying eggs. All of the breeders are content and happy with no undue stress put on them.When breeding time comes, I put back in the nest floors, nest bowls with nest pads, and soon there are eggs everywhere. I do use special individual
breeding sections for when I want to regulate who is with whom. For the others, I separate the families in
individual sections and let them choose their own mates.

10. DESCRIBE YOUR LOFT. IS THERE AIRFLOW
IN THE LOFT? DO YOU USE FANS?
My breeder loft is a twelve foot by forty foot mobile home that I converted into a loft. I cut the floors and
walls out and replace the floors with expanded metal. I built walls out of wood and wire to separate the
compartments. It works well. For the racing loft I built an eight foot by fifty six foot open style loft with wood
walls though out for wind protection and airflow control. It is completely open on the front, partially
closed on the back and completely closed on the ends. There are five separate sections to this loft that can be closed if needed, but left open most of the time so the birds can use the whole loft to find their special place.

11. DESCRIBE HOW YOU FEED? WHICH
MIXTURE DO YOU USE?
I use a standard commercial feed from Purgrain. During breeding season and young bird development,
I use a 16% mix. After that I use their 13% mix. On the longer races I will add peanuts and safflower to
the mix.

12. HOW DO YOU TRAIN YOUR BIRDS?
For young birds I start about two months before the races begin with short tosses. The first toss will be a
one mile, then two, four, eight, twenty, twenty eight and then forty five miles. Only after they come home
in good time from one station do I move to the next. If they have a problem at one station I drop back to the shorter station and continue. Rarely do I go past the forty five mile station. In old birds, it’s the same,
but I start out at the four mile station. I don’t single toss. I would if I had the time, but only after they were
well trained from the last station.

13. IS THERE A HEALTH PROGRAM THAT
YOU USE?
Several years ago I followed a program published by one of the major breeders in this country. I believe
that over time I destroyed my birds from over medication. Some were dying with no indication of
illness. I think it was a long term effect from the continual use of medications. Now I medicate only
when needed as far as the breeders are concerned. For the racers, I do give a MutiMix preventive medication
during the race season every other week for two days.

14. HOW OFTEN DO YOU RACE YOUR BIRDS?
Young birds go to every race during the season. In old birds I send the family best suited to the race
entered. Speed birds go to the short races, distance birds go to the longer races. I will send a couple of
distance birds to the short races in case of a bad race. If the weather looks like a fast long race I will send a
couple speed birds to that.

15. DO YOU BELIEVE IN BIRD ENTRY LIMITS?
CLOCKING LIMITS?
I like entry limits. They should be set at a number large enough to keep the large team flyers happy, but
small enough to keep the small team flyers competitive. I know this is difficult, but we need to try
not to lose members by limits. I personally would like a fifty bird shipping limit with only one release in old
birds. For young birds, I would like three races, an A, B and C release with a twenty bird shipping limit in
each. These numbers would allow the flyer that raises one hundred birds or more to fly most of them and allow the flyer that raise fifty or less to still be competitive. I do not like clocking limits. That allows a
bird to get a higher score than it deserves by not allowing birds that had a better return to be counted.
To me this is a faulty race report. All birds should get the position they earn.

16. IS THERE A FLYER OR BREEDER THAT
HAS HELPED YOU BECOME A BETTER
PIGEON FLYER?
Several. Alex Bieche has been a true friend from the beginning. He has always been available with answers
and suggestions to help me. Jim Brown in Oklahoma with his unique style and willingness to help me and
others; Frank McLauglin, Rick Mardis, Jim Portenga and Horst Hackemer for their support. And, all of the
local flyers without whom there would not be a club, combine or concourse.

17. COMPOSE A LIST OF AWARDS YOU HAVE
RECEIVED AT THE CLUB, COMBINE,
CONCOURSE AND NATIONAL LEVELS.
Numerous club, combine and concourse awards over the years.
On the National level:
2000 I.F. Old Bird Champion Loft 15-50 loft category,
2000 Old Bird All American Award Low Middle category,
2000 I.F. Hall Of Fame Old Birds for 3 different pigeons,
2002 6th Place I.F Old Bird Champion Loft 25-75 loft category,
2002 7th Place I.F Young Bird Champion Loft 5-25 loft category,
2002-2003 A.U. President’s Cup Award,
2003 3rd Place I.F Old Bird Champion Loft 5-25 loft category,
2003 I.F. 9th Place Young Bird Champion Loft 5-25 loft category,
2003 Lou McElroy Futurity Winning Handler Award,
2004 I.F. 2nd Place Old Bird Champion Loft 26-75 loft category, and numerous Racing Pigeon Digest Awards over the years.

18. IF YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO
CHANGE SOMETHING IN THE PIGEON GAME,
WHAT WOULD IT BE?
What it costs to be in this sport.We all know that we need to continue to increase membership for the
hobby to survive. The fact that the costs of all aspects of keeping and racing birds is increasing makes it
difficult for people to get started in this sport. It is expensive already, to say the least.We all need to look
for ways to make this sport more available to other potential flyers. The bird merchants, supplies
merchants, and everyone else involved should look for ways to help others get started and ways to keep them in racing Homing Pigeons.