Coming from Dutch heritage, where racing pigeons are highly regarded as a very popular sport in Holland, Oscar still vividly remembered their humble beginnings when the DeVries family immigrated to Canada in the late 1970s. The DeVries family settled on a farm over 400 acres outside of South Mountain, which is about 45 minutes south of Ottawa, Canada’s national capital.
“I always had an interest in pigeons and it was a big sport in Holland at that time and even now. I got started when my father gave me a couple of pigeons when I was 10 years old. When I was 12, I joined a club and raced my pigeons although it was short-lived, as my favorite pastime of pigeon racing came to an end a few years later when we immigrated to Canada for good.
Soon after arriving here in Canada on South Mountain, I caught an AU banded bird in one of our silos. I had seen what looked like a pigeon loft in the area and contacted the owner, returned the pigeon and found out there was a pigeon racing club in the area.
In 1995, I made a trip back to Holland. While visiting an old-school friend and handling some of his pigeons, my enthusiasm for racing pigeons was rekindled again. As I came back to Canada, I soon had a loft with some pigeons and raced my very first young birds in 1996. Racing of course is not all there is to the sport, there are sales, award nights, conventions and I met Linda at one of these functions. Linda raced together with her late father, Jack Hicks, who was a Champion and an active pigeon flyer in their area. Neither of her brother or sister were interested in the pigeons, so she and her dad had a great time and fond memories racing together. As Linda grew older, she took over the main responsibility of caring for and training the pigeons. One thing led to another and in 1998 we were married. From this, the Oscar and Linda DeVries Loft was born.”
Since then, Oscar and Linda’s strong partnership, combined with the same love and passion for the racing pigeon sport has naturally transformed and blossomed into countless winnings and achievements not only in Canada but also in North America.
A sample of some of our best performances:
- 1st , 2nd , 4th , 7th , Provincial Cochrane 617 km against 1,562 pigeons
- 1st , 2 nd , 5th , 8th , Smooth Rock Falls Classic (670 km) against 2,030 pigeons
- 1st , 2 nd , 3rd , 4th etc. Englehart 465 km against 388 pigeons
- 1st thru 5th and 34 prizes of the 39 shipped from 257 km against 611 pigeons
- 1st thru 27th of 36 shipped to Marten River 393 km 353 pigeons 6 min ahead of next loft
- 1st thru 13th from 257 km against 587 pigeons
- 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8 th against 840 pigeons
- 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th and 26 of the 29 shipped in the prizes 355 km against 311 pigeons
- 1st thru 15th against 699 pigeons from 290 km
- 1st National Ace Pigeon Short Distance – 2014
- 1st National Overall Ace Pigeon – 2009
Racing Pigeon Digest 2015
- 1st Champion Loft YB Division 4
- 1st Ace Pigeon Overall
- 2nd Ace Pigeon Overall
- 3rd Ace Pigeon Overall
- 4th Ace Pigeon Overall
- 1st Ace Pigeon Short Distance
- 3rd Ace Pigeon Short Distance
- 5th Ace Pigeon Short Distance
- 6th Ace Pigeon Short Distance
- 7th Ace Pigeon Short Distance
- 9th Ace Pigeon Short Distance
- 1st Ace Pigeon Middle Distance
- 2nd Ace Pigeon Middle Distance
- 4th Ace Pigeon Middle Distance
Contact us at: DutchTouchOLR@gmail.com
