|
The Original All Roller Talk Discussion Board Archive >
JoeBob Stuka
JoeBob Stuka
Page:
1
siddiqir
58 posts
Oct 06, 2005
1:27 PM
|
About JoeBob Stuka & His Birds : Source
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/
Posted on Sun, Sep. 18, 2005
His pigeons are acrobats of the air
JoeBob Stuka raises and trains rare breed of bird for competition
LINDA HASTINGS
Special Correspondent
WAXHAW - JoeBob Stuka spends his days working with pigeons, about 150 of them.
The retired Air Force major, who flew F4s and C130s, closely monitors each one's diet and weight. He analyzes flying habits, teamwork and work ethic to determine who will make the cut.
It's all part of the routine when you're raising Birmingham rollers, an unusual breed of pigeon that performs acrobatic feats flying through the air. And Stuka's one of the best at breeding and training them for competition.
The 54-year-old Waxhaw resident won the 2005 World Cup championship for Birmingham rollers in July, finishing ahead of 1,065 competitors throughout the United States, Canada, Holland, Denmark, South Africa, Australia and England.
He's now preparing for the National Birmingham Roller Club National Fly, in October.
"It's just like getting somebody ready for the Olympics," said Stuka, who received the third-highest score in the World Cup's 14-year history.
Unteachable skill
The Birmingham roller is one of 200 breeds of pigeon. It has the innate ability to fly through the air, come to a dead stop and begin a vertical descent doing rapid backward somersaults -- as many as 10 to 12 revolutions per second, Stuka says.The bird, which originated in England and comes in a variety of colors, can fall as far as 100 feet before coming out of a roll and ascending again to begin another roll. (Stuka says not all birds excel at it -- some crash into the ground or trees, others get sick from the rolling.)
It's a skill no person can teach: "It's just in them," Stuka said.
Participants fly their best 15 to 20 birds in the World Cup, the largest international competition "kit fly" for Birmingham rollers.
One unusual aspect is that the judge comes to the trainer's home to score competitions. Points are based on how many birds can perform the vertical descent simultaneously and other factors.
It's not an easy contest.
Birds have to stay in the air close to each other and within site of the judge for at least 15 minutes. The judges give points only when a minimum of five birds perform the proper quality and depth of roll at one time.
The birds must drop a minimum of 10 feet during each roll and the trainer is disqualified if more than one bird lands before 15 minutes is up. Stuka said success often depends on how the birds are feeling and the weather.
When Stuka competed in the 1998 World Cup finals, a heavy fog drifted in over his back yard right after he released his pigeons. All 20 birds landed on a power line within two minutes of the release. Immediate disqualification.
"It's frustrating," he said.
Started when he was 8
Stuka started raising pigeons at age 8, when he and his family lived at Seymour Johnson Air Force base in Goldsboro. His dad served a tailgunner on B-52s.
One day a pigeon landed on the family's roof and stayed there. Stuka put some popcorn out and captured the bird when it roosted in his family's carport. He trained it to fly away and come back, but soon heard about roller pigeons and was hooked.
He raised them for the next 15 years until he got married and joined the Air Force.
He's done well. Since the World Cup started, he's made the finals six times (winning his region), and finished in the top 20 five times. He's also been a judge on several occasions.
"I think it's amazing and his excitement about it and his knowledge is so extensive, it's like having champion horses," said Amy McDonnell, the oldest of Stuka's three daughters. McDonnell lives in Charlotte and helped tend the birds when her father was serving in the Persian Gulf for several months.
Since he retired in 1994, Stuka has been working three to eight hours a day with the birds -- he said his wife, Maureen, "tolerates" his hobby. He keeps a mental record of every pigeon, noting each one's weaknesses and strengths and if they're good enough to compete.
"I know every pigeon," he said.
When the birds aren't flying, they're locked up in a loft, as much for protection from predators as anything else. Stuka loses about 20 birds a year, many to hawks, which can nab the 10- to 12-ounce pigeons in the air.
Birds also go missing. He lost eight of his top birds this year during the World Cup regional competition in May.
That left him less than a month to prepare more birds to compete in the World Cup finals.
But he got the job done, and during the competition had at least five birds performing the somersault together 44 times. The best roll was when 16 of his birds descended together.
"Everything clicked," he said.
Last Edited by siddiqir on Oct 06, 2005 1:30 PM
|
Ballrollers
88 posts
Oct 06, 2005
5:14 PM
|
Nice post sid, Thanks for sharing. YITS Cliff
|
Double D
35 posts
Oct 07, 2005
12:31 PM
|
If you read the article and see what Joe Bob's doing, while it doesn't give the details, you can see the difference between his program and most fanciers' programs. This alludes to what I was talking about in being successful. 3 to 8 hours per day, are you kidding me?
Great Post!
|
J_Star
73 posts
Oct 07, 2005
12:45 PM
|
This becomes a job not a hobby. But if you are retired and has nothing else to do, then it is by far the best hobby (job) you can have. Better than fishing for some, because it is all in your own backyard.
But I know of others who won W/C and Nationals without spending that kind of hours with their birds.
Jay
|
Double D
36 posts
Oct 07, 2005
5:51 PM
|
The amount of time spent the right way definitey ups your chances however! LOL
|
Post a Message
|
|
|