‘Mr. Dovely’ and his fabulous flying flock

Local area pigeon flyer Clint Fitzhugh has made a career out of his all-white doves

By Geoff Pursinger

The Times, Nov 19, 2009

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“I have to train them, they have to be able to find their way home,” he said. “Because I never know where I am going to be for an event, I could be in Milwaukie or Gresham, or Newberg or Salem. I’ve done events in Eugene and Ecola State Park.”

That is why Fitzhugh trains his pigeons so thoroughly before they start working at events.

“When you’ve got a bird that’s 3 or 4 years old, you won’t lose as many,” he said.

That doesn’t mean, however, that losses don’t happen.

Power lines are a big problem for area pigeon flyers, because the birds may not be able to see the thin wires as they fly, striking them at speeds approaching 40 miles per hour.

But, Fitzhugh said, the main problem is hawks.

“Oh man, do we have hawk problems,” he said. “If the birds are on the ground Cooper’s hawks will catch them, if a bird lands in a tree, the red-tailed hawks will dive right into the trees after them, Peregrine falcons will take them right out of the sky.”

But Fitzhugh said that while hawks are a definite problem for him – he lost 20 pigeons to hawks before this year’s racing season began – he wouldn’t dare kill one.

In 2007, three Portland-area pigeon breeders plead guilty to killing hawks that tried to eat their pigeons. Hawks are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Protection Act.

‘Give up weekends’

Now semi-retired, Fitzhugh mostly relies on “do-it-yourself kits” for funerals and other events. The pigeons are placed in large gift-bags, tied with bows and taken to the event, where they can be released at the party’s convenience.

“People don’t always want a stranger at their event, especially if it’s a funeral with just family,” he said. “And they see me as a stranger, so the kits really help with that.”

Not every event goes smoothly, however, like the time that Ftizhugh was releasing pigeons at a wedding that featured a horse-drawn carriage.

“I was releasing 25 doves behind a horse and carriage, but I was on the blind side of this horse, so I told the driver that the horse may become spooked, and asked if he had control of him? And he said sure – you know, he was this macho guy – so I did my speech and I release the 25 doves and they went around the front of the horse and that horse reared up and took off with the bride and groom in the back of this carriage, over the curb right into a hedge. And the horse was still trying to run and the lower limbs of the tree were grabbing the brides veil – it was ugly.”

Fitzhugh has also released his birds at deeply emotional events.

“The hard ones are when you do a child’s funeral,” he said. “I mean that just tears you up inside. If they ask me to speak, I still choke up and start to cry. I’ve never been able to build up a shell when it comes to that. You’ll hear about a murder, or a suicide and then three days later there you are, right next to the family, right there at the gravesite. You deal with all of their sorrow.”

Fitzhugh has stayed in the business because of high demand.

“Oh there’s a demand for it, but people have to stick with it. You’ve got to give up weekends and time on holidays. If you start making excuses or not showing up, they won’t call you back.”

But even without the business, Fitzhugh would be happy, as long as he has pigeons.

“Just the hobby of having pigeons is fun for me,” he said. “Even just going out there and feeding them in the morning is great. And it keeps me busy.”

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