Doug Harms is nationally recognized for his achievements in pigeon racing, a pastime he picked up as a kid. But the Rock Falls resident says the most important aspect of the hobby is to have fun.

How did you get into pigeon racing?

I grew up on a dairy farm east of Rock Falls, and there was a pigeon with bands on his legs. Me being inquisitive, I caught the pigeon and I started asking around about it, and they said it was a racing pigeon. I found a fellow who had racing pigeons and he got me into the same club I’m in now – the Rock River Valley Racing Pigeon Club – in 1963 and 1964 when I was in high school.

Then, I went to the service and I didn’t have racing pigeons for a number of years. But a friend of mine moved to Florida and had racing pigeons there.

I went to see him every year for about 15 years, and we raced them and we’d go out in the Gulf of Mexico and go deep-sea fishing. He got cancer, and so he said I was welcome to take any of his pigeons that he wanted. So that’s how I got started 10 years ago.

What’s it been like for you since then?

It’s been remarkable. I’ve had more than my share of success. ... I don’t know how much I want to blow my own horn. The American Racing Pigeon Union has been in existence over 100 years, and each year they sell just less than 1 million bands. That’s a permanent band that you put on their leg when they’re a week old. In that whole time, there have been 249 pigeons that have achieved status of elite champion, and out of 249 elite champions, I have six of them.

To what do you attribute that?

It’s several things. You have to have genetics. A good bloodline. And it’s imperative that the pigeons are healthy. And then you have to have training where you let the birds fly around at home and exercise at home. And then you have some road training where you let them come home. And you train them by taking them further and further.

Do you name the pigeons?

The only ones that I’ve ever named are these elite champions: The Cowboy; Matthew, named after my grandson; one that I call Jimmy; one called Ross, those are both relatives; one that I call the Scottish Bonny Lad; and then I’ve got one that I call Birthday Suit because on my birthday for 2 years in a row, the first year, that pigeon flew 588 miles in one day on my birthday. And he won the race. And then, last year on my birthday, again he flew 637 miles in one day, and won the race again.

It’s all fun. It’s all about having fun with this. As far as new club members, if they join, we will help teach them how to do it, because we want the new people to excel so they stay interested. It’s a fantastic club with a lot of camaraderie. The more people, the merrier.

Is it an expensive hobby?

It’s kind of like with cars. You can go out and buy a brand new car or buy a used car and sometimes be just as happy. With pigeons, a lot of times people will just give you pigeons. There are merchants out there, but most of the time, local pigeon flyers will give them to you. The cost is that you have to have a loft – that’s the home. You have to have a small building at least 8-foot-by-12-foot. And then you have the cost of some feeders and water and the cost of the feed.

When is racing season?

You have two seasons. You fly 10 weeks in the spring and 11 weeks in the fall.

Have you ever lost a pigeon?

On a rare occasion, we do have some that don’t come home, and you’ve gotta keep in mind that they don’t have to come home. Sometimes, they find a place they’d rather live, or they find a mate ... and they would just rather stay there. But on occasion, you have people who locate a pigeon with a band on its leg, and you can look up the band owner and get the pigeon sent back through the U.S. Post Office. I’ve had them come home as much as a year later. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for him to be able to tell you where he’s been?

What’s your greatest accomplishment?

There’s an American Champion Award. It’s a historical award; it’s a national award. It compares your race results to the people all across the nation, and in one category, I’m fifth in the nation of all time.