This week the birds have been loft flown on Wednesday, trained on Thursday 46 miles, & trained on Friday 46 miles, in preparation for the final race on Monday.
(Birds arrived home today and we have had 2 visits from hawks since they've come back.  It has the birds still flying currently)

We are about 3 days away from the final race for the 2022 season, with the birds being shipped on Sunday.  We have received several emails regarding the schedule for the final race. 
Below is an itinerary for the weekend events.

Saturday:
Ganus Family BBQ & Auction
0499 S. Holmesville Rd
LaPorte IN  46350
Gate opens - 2:00 pm
Lunch Served - 3:00 pm
Auction Starts - 5:00 pm

Sunday:
Basketing at the Loft - 1:00 pm (Light Lunch Served)
10258 S 1150 W
Wanatah, IN  46390

Banquet Dinner to follow - Dinner served 5:30 pm
Drinks served throughout the night
Loft  Auction - 6:30 pm (in person only)
4 Bird  Benefit Auction (in person only)
On Tuesday October 4th, Angie Oehman & her 14 yr old son Joey were killed in a tragic car accident while going to school.  Our 3 sons have grown up playing sports and attending school with this family. 
Angie leaves behind her husband, an older son, and a young daughter.
All proceeds from this auction will be donated directly to the family.
The Hoosier Classic Family will be donating a bird for this auction, along with Andy Skwiat, Mike Ganus, & Tom Schilling.

Monday:
Race Day 
Gate opens 11:30 pm
Lunch Served - 12:30 pm
Drinks served throughout the day 


If you plan on attending either days events and would like to purchase Vita King Products and know what you need, please call the office today (Friday) to place an order and have it ready.  
We will have it ready to be loaded when you arrive
Office - 219-733-0011

Congratulations to all of yesterdays winners, especially Mrs. Olivia Herrera (Aztec Loft), for having the 1st bird in the clock and winning $5000.

Yesterday the birds started out with a head/shoulder wind and had to battle what became a very strong side wind.  Weather conditions here have not been great.  We have been dealing with high winds for several days with no signs of it letting up.  
I am very proud of all the day birds yesterday. We had gusts of wind up to 20 mph here at the loft. I don't think there is anything they can't fly through after yesterday.  

We have continued to see birds come home this morning and have also seen a few hawks make a visit. 

Within the next few days we will email out information for the upcoming final race including event locations, times, and what's in store. 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

The birds were basketed for Race 3, set for tomorrow Saturday October 15th.  We are set for an 8:00 am CST release.  The weather tomorrow looks to be a slight head/shoulder wind at release with it turning to a side wind around the 125-mile mark.  We have been monitoring the weather all week and have watched it change every few hours.  Sunday is calling for a 10-20 mph west wind and Monday is a 10-20 NW wind, with rain both Monday & Tuesday.  Our conclusion was that tomorrow is the better of the days without going into the later part of next week.  

There are prizes on tomorrow's race by clocking order:
1st Place - $5000
2nd - 35th Place $1000 each

Good Luck Everyone

There were 63 birds on the drop yesterday for the 2nd Hoosier Classic Race.  
Congratulations to Dani Cicio for having the 1st Bird in the clock.  Dani  has been flying with us since our 1st year back in 2013.  He is also a top flyer in Chicago, dominating the Windy City Race in 2021.  Hopefully, he will have room for some of our birds at his new loft for the 2023 season.  
While we are talking about Chicago fanciers, Congratulations to Rico LLamzon, winner of Sunday's Windy City Classic Race!

Also, if anyone is talking to Tom Schilling, can you please remind him that there is NOT a trophy for 4th place on the 165 mile race..

Birds are still coming in and all from the north.  We have rain for a few days coming in.  We should be able to train by Thursday.  We will continue to update throughout the week. 

The birds arrived much faster than anticipated today.  We watched the forecast closely for a week and it forecasted southwest winds 5-10 mph.  We have had wind gusts well over 15 mph today.  First groups of birds came right on line. After 450-500 birds having arrived home, the birds started to come out of the north, which is an overfly.  Winds are still strong here.  Birds would not have raced if they were unhealthy.  They looked and felt good.  We are disappointed with the returns as we are sure some of you are.  We feel confident with the health of the birds that we will see many more return.  

We will update again in a day or 2. 

Thanks,

Jim

The birds have been basketed for Race 2 - 165 miles, for tomorrow Monday 10/10. 
We are scheduled for an 8:00 am CST release.  Should be a beautiful sunny day tomorrow with very light wind. 

Best of Luck to everyone!

The birds have been loft flown yesterday and again today.  We were expected to have rain today which is about to come through soon.  Wind today is about 14 mph out of the north and we have seen about a 15 degree temperature drop from yesterday to today. 

Our plan is to road train tomorrow, and allow the birds to rest Sunday, and race on Monday.  The weather looks to be the best on Monday with sunny skies and very little wind.  

There have been a few payments returned from fanciers for activation payments.  If any outstanding payments are not resolved before Sunday we will sell the birds.

Congratulations to High Flight Farm and McLaughlin Lofts for having the 1st bird in the clock and to all the breeders on the 1st drop.

We had perfect weather for the 1st race yesterday, with the majority of the birds coming right on line.  There were only a few groups that came back from the north.  

Moving forward, the next 2 days we will have 15/20 mph winds from the South on Thursday and then switching to the North on Friday. If this holds, we will train on Saturday and plan to race again on Monday.  Hopefully wind will not be so strong Friday and we can train that day as well. 

The Knockout Competition has begun with the 1st race.  The top 33% of birds that have returned will stay in the Knockout, the rest will be eliminated.  The top 33% will be calculated based on what was shipped to the first race.  Based on our calculations, the top 732 birds will stay in the competition.